UWO swimmers show their stuff

UNIVERSITY: Western is becoming known not just for greatness on the gridiron, but also in the pool

By RYAN PYETTE, The London Free Press

Last Updated: April 7, 2011 7:01am

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: Swimmer Hayley Nell, left, left, fellow swimmer Bryn Jones and football player Craig Butler show off their hardware after being named the top female and male athletes at the Western Mustangs athletic banquet at the London Convention Centre on Wednesday night. (CRAIG GLOVER, Special to The Free Press)

The pool is cool again at school.

For the first time in nearly two decades, a couple of Western swimming stars have churned their way to the top of the Mustangs athletic class.

On the men’s side, breaststroke standout Bryn Jones shared the Dr. Claude Brown Trophy with versatile footballer Craig Butler, who was named an Ontario all-star at three different positions this year.

His teammate, Hayley Nell, who led Western to an unprecedented third straight Ontario university title in February, claimed the F.W.P. Trophy as Western’s most outstanding female athlete for the 2010-11 academic season at the athletic department’s end-of-year banquet Wednesday.

But football players are often in the mix. Butler is the fourth gridiron great in the last six years (Michael Faulds in 2010, Randy McAuley in ’07 and newly NFL locked-out Chicago Bears receiver Andy Fantuz in ’06) to go Brown downtown.

And it’s with good reason.

The Western football team wins. Butler has played in four straight Yates Cup title games and won three of them.

Greg Marshall’s pigskin Mustangs have been knocking on the national title door since he breezed back into London.

Swimming, though, has been a forgotten breed.

Jones is the first Mustang male to be named top athlete since Brad Creelman in 1993. With Nell, you have to go all the way back to Heidi Thompson in 1986 for the last celebrated swimming woman.

“For both Hayley and I to win it, it’s just great for the program,” said Jones, the 24-year-old former London Aquinas grad.

“We built a swim program out of a 50, 60-year-old pool and competed with the best in Canada. I didn’t think we’d ever get into a 50-metre pool. But we did and I think there’s a bright future ahead.”

Provincially, university swimming has long been dominated by Toronto and McMaster. Western hasn’t won an Ontario title since 1960.

But that day is coming, according to Jones. “Absolutely,” he said. “It’s going to happen.”

On the women’s side, it was much the same until Nell and Co. broke Toronto’s decade-long hold on the Ontario crown in 2009.

Nell, a London native, finished fourth in the 100m freestyle at the nationals in Calgary this year and led Western to a seventh-place finish.

She won four gold medals and two silvers in the provincial championships.

Jones finished second in the 200m breaststroke and third in the 50m and 100m breast to stake Western to an eighth-place finish at the CIS championships. The Newmarket native, who moved to London in high school, won two gold and three silvers at OUAs.

Key to the program’s success has been Midgley’s seamless transition from the London Aquatic Club to the university.

“I’ve been coaching LAC swimmers for years and one-third of our swimmers at Western come from the LAC,” Midgley said. “That’s what started it all — being able to keep those good swimmers here in London and that’s the foundation of a strong program. Then, we’ve been able to go out from there and recruit around the country.”

On the football field, Butler moved from free safety to defensive halfback this season, led the Mustangs in tackles, played on the kick cover team and led the OUA in punt return yardage.

He was named Ontario all-star at all three positions and earned all-Canadian honours at halfback.

The London Aquinas grad is eligible for the CFL draft in May but can also come back to Western for a fifth season.

“Total surprise,” he said after receiving the Brown Trophy.

Butler wasn’t named MVP of the football team. That honour went to running back Jerimy Hipperson, who led the country in touchdowns.

Purple bankets for superior distinction at the provincial and national level went to Butler, Jones, Nell, John Surla (football), Andy Wedemire (basketball), Alicia Smith (track and field), Jenna Thomson (volleyball), Ellie Seedhouse (hockey), Lindsay Sferrazza (rowing), Jennifer Nguyen (wrestling), Gregory Hoegy (water polo) and Kyle O’Neill (cross country/track and field).

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