Ali Baggott, Vikes Communications
VICTORIA – An impressive 10 conference records were broken on Day 2 of the Canada West Swimming Championships held in Victoria, Nov. 24-26, at Commonwealth Pool. Six of those shattered records were won by UBC swimmers, including both 4x100-m freestyle relay teams, as the T-Birds continue to sit at the top of the team standings for both men and women.
The UBC women seem untouchable with 676 points after five gold medals on Day 2 alone. Calgary trail with 331 points, while Regina follow in third with 236.5 points. The UBC women earned gold in the 50-m freestyle, 200-m freestyle, 200-m backstroke, swept the podium in the 400-m individual medley and set a Canada West record to win the 4x100-m freestyle relay.
The Thunderbirds men also lead the team standings with 549 points and Calgary are in second with 435 points and hosts, Victoria, are in third with 315 points. The UBC men also dominated in the pool winning the 50-m freestyle, 100-m butterfly, 200-m freestyle and also set a Canada West record to win the 4x10-m freestyle relay.
In an exciting start to the day UBC's Quincy Brozo and Regina's Eva Madar touched in 25.69 to tie for gold in the women's 50-m freestyle. UBC's Hoi Lam Tam took bronze in 25.72. In the men's 50-m freestyle Olympian and T-Bird Yuri Kisil broke his own 2016 conference record of 22.0. Kisil touched in 21.78 for gold and was followed by team mate Luke Peddie for silver and Lethbridge's Owen Guyn for bronze.
The Thunderbirds women swept the podium in the 400-m individual medley as Emily Overholt took gold in 4:39.71 and was joined on the podium by Megan Dalke and Maia Brundage who won silver and bronze, respectively.
Calgary's Tristan Cote was the first non-Thunderbird to take the top of the podium on Day 2. Cote wiped UBC Brian John's record of 4:13.06 in the 400-m individual medley to take gold in a time of 4:12.22.
"It means a lot," said Cote about breaking a record. "I was kind of just going for the best time I could and I didn't even know what the Canada West record was. Picking up a record is always a good thing."
Victoria's Josh Zakala took silver in front of a home crowd, while Mark Thormeyer earned bronze.
Danielle Hanus was the third swimmer to break a Canada West record as the second-year Victoria Vike won gold in the 100-m butterfly in 59.09. Josiah Binnema of UBC earned gold in the men's 100-m butterfly in 52.29.
Canada West records were broken in both the women's and men's 200-m backstroke races. UBC's Ingrid Wilm, breaking her third record of the meet, touched in 2:06.98 for gold, while Calgary's Robert Hill topped the podium on the men's side in 1:55.83.
The speed of Commonwealth Pool continued to show as Manitoba's Kelsey Wog earned her second gold medal of the weekend winning the 100m breaststroke in 1:05.59. Entering the meet Wog already held the record in this event and went on to break her own record earlier in the day in preliminaries (1:06.13) and then break it again in the finals.
"It went better than I expected," said Wog, the 2016 Canada West Female Rookie of the meet. "I was going for the gold in the 100-metre breast and I wanted to get the best time, which I did so, I'm super happy."
Frederik Kamminga earned the Dinos their third gold of the night as he won the 100-m breaststroke in a time of 1:01.01.
The final four races of the night were swept by UBC and in each of those races a Canada West record fell. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson beat Ludlow's 2016 record in the 200-m freestyle in 1:57.23, while Ludlow did earn silver for this year in 1:58.54.
"That was really exciting," said Seltenreich-Hodgson about breaking a Canada West record in the 200-m freestyle. "This is by far the best I've ever been at this point in the season so I'm really stoked on that and it was a tough race so I'm happy with it."
UBC's Thormeyer edged team mate Kisil for gold in the men's 200-m freestyle, breaking the conference record in 1:45.29.
The 4x100-m relays were won in convincing fashion as the T-Birds women were 10 seconds ahead of silver medallists Manitoba.
"I think everybody really stepped up and put up awesome splits," added Seltenreich-Hodgson about her team's relay performance. "Three of our four girls were in the 200-metre freestyle just two minutes before the race so we were all hurting going in but we did what we needed to do to get that record."
On the men's side, Kisil anchored UBC to gold in 3:17.98, while Alberta took second in 3:22.34.
Canada West Swimming Championship action continues Nov. 26 with heats starting at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time and finals at 3:00 p.m. Major awards and championship banner presentations will follow the final races. All heats and finals will be webcast live by pay-per-view at Canadawest.TV.
DAY 2 RESULTS
Women's 50 Freestyle
1. Quincy Brozo, UBC (25.69)
1. Eva Madar, REG (25.69)
3. Hoi Lam Tam, UBC (25.72)
Men's 50 Freestyle
1. Yuri Kisil, UBC (21.78)* Canada West Record
2. Luke Peddie, UBC (22.74)
3. Owen Guyn, LET (22.80)
Women's 400 IM
1. Emily Overholt, UBC (4:39.71)
2. Megan Dalke, UBC (4:41.96)
3. Maia Brundage, UBC (4:44.57)
Men's 400 IM
1. Tristan Cote, CGY (4:12.22)* Canada West Record
2. Josh Zakala, VIC (4:14.93)
3. Mark Thormeyer, UBC (4:17.69)
Women's 100 Butterfly
1. Danielle Hanus, VIC (59.09)*Canada West Record
2. Jacomie Strydom, UBC (1:00.19)
3. Eva Madar, REG (1:00.22)
Men's 100 Butterfly
1. Josiah Binnema, UBC (52.29)
2. Bjoern-Ole Schrader, ALB (54.50)
3. Darian Fry, UBC (55.07)
Women's 200 Backstroke
1. Ingrid Wilm, UBC (2:06.98)*Canada West Record
2. Olivia Ellard, UBC (2:11.62)
3. Mckenzie Summers, UBC (2:12.68)
Men's 200 Backstroke
1. Robert Hill, CGY (1:55.83)
2. Anders Klein, CGY (1:57.54)
3. Noah Choboter, REG (1:57.62)
Women's 100 Breaststroke
1. Kelsey Wog, MAN (1:05.59)*Canada West Record
2. Hillary Metcalfe, UBC (1:09.03)
3. Christy Dashko, LET (1:09.74)
Men's 100 Breaststroke
1. Frederik Kamminga, CGY (1:01.01)
2. Jonathan Brown, UBC (1:01.32)
3. Jaren LeFranc, UBC (1:01.66)
Women's 200 Freestyle
1. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, UBC (1:57.23)*Canada West Record
2. Danica Ludlow, CGY (1:58.54)
3. Emily Overholt, UBC (2:01.49)
Men's 200 Freestyle
1. Markus Thormeyer, UBC (1:45.29)*Canada West Record
2. Yuri Kisil, UBC (1:46.80)
3. Brian Palaschuk, REG (1:49.32)
Women's 4x100 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (Ingrid Wilm, Quincy Brozo, Meredith Levorson, Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson) 3:41.46*Canada West Record
2. MAN (Kelsey Wog, Dora Modrcin, Alexandria Miko, Gio Wickett) 3:50.14
3. CGY (Helena Neise, Danica Ludlow, Hayley Sartain, Robyn Lee) 3:50.82
Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (Markus Thormeyer, Luke Peddie, Jonathan Brown, Yuri Kisil) 3:17.98*Canada West Record
2. ALB (Caleb Vander Leek, Skyeler Kerr, Daniel Stayer, Bjoern-Ole Schrader) 3:22.34
3. CGY (Tristan Cote, Robert Hill, Sterling King, Connor Matthezing) 3:23.75
TEAM STANDINGS – After Day 2
WOMEN
1. UBC, 676
2. Calgary, 331
3. Regina, 236,5
4. Lethbridge, 196
5. Victoria, 185
6. Alberta, 169,5
7. Manitoba, 151
8. Thompson Rivers, 55
MEN
1. UBC, 549
2. Calgary, 435
3. Victoria, 315
4. Alberta, 260
5. Regina, 187
6. Lethbridge, 127
7. Manitoba, 69
8. Thompson Rivers, 1
Canada West Records Broken – DAY 2
Yuri Kisil, UBC, Men's 50 Freestyle (21.78)
Tristan Cote, CGY, Men's 400 Individual Medley (4:12.22)
Danielle Hanus, VIC, Women's 100 Butterfly (59.09)
Ingrid Wilm, UBC, Women's 200 Backstroke (2:06.98)
Robert Hill, CGY, Men's 200 Backstroke (1:55.83)
Kelsey Wog, MAN, Women's 100 Breaststroke (1:05.59)
Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, UBC, Women's 200 Freestyle (1:57.23)
Markus Thormeyer, UBC, Men's 200 Freestyle (1:45.29)
UBC Women's 4x100m Relay (Ingrid Wilm, Quincy Brozo, Meredith Levorson, Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson) 3:41.46
UBC Men's 4x100m Relay (Markus Thormeyer, Luke Peddie, Jonathan Brown, Yuri Kisil) 3:17.98