Canada West swimming championship recap: UBC claims men's & women's titles; Jason Block, Savannah King named Athetes of the Meet

Source: Alberta Sports Info / Canada West Communications

EDMONTON – For a second consecutive season the UBC Thunderbirds have claimed the conference team title in both men’s and women’s competition at the 2012 Canada West swimming championships, hosted Friday through Sunday by the University of Alberta the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre in Edmonton.

UBC has now won three straight times on the women’s side.

UBC was followed by Alberta (silver) and Calgary (bronze) on the men’s side, while Calgary earned a team silver medal on the women’s side and Alberta the bronze.

“It was a great team win, and I thought we really showed a lot of character coming into another team’s pool and defending our championship,” said first year UBC head coach Steve Price. “We got some really great swims from our rookies on the women’s side, as well as from our veteran swimmers like Tommy Gossland and Martha McCabe.”

Individually, Athletes of the Meet were Jason Block of Calgary and UBC’s Savannah King.

Block, a quadruple gold medalist over the weekend, established new meet records in the men’s 50m and 100m breaststroke, took another gold in the 200m breaststroke, shared gold as a member of the Dinos’ 400m Medley Relay team and grabbed a silver medal in 200m Individual Medley to make it a five-medal event. A triple-gold medalist, King was a part of the Thunderbirds’ record-setting 800m freestyle relay team on Friday. She also won the very first event of the meet, the 800m freestyle, and on Sunday afternoon won the 400m freestyle, won a silver in the 200m freestyle and bronze in the 200m backstroke for a total of five medals.

Rookie of the Year honours went to members of the Calgary Dinos, as Andrew Makosiej won the men’s award and Lindsay Delmar was the top women’s first-year swimmer.

Makosiej earned two medals, including a bronze in the 400m and 1500m freestyle. He also finished sixth in the 200m backstroke. Delmar, who won six medals, was a member of the Dinos squad that won gold and set a new Canada West record in Saturday’s 400m freestyle relay. The Calgary native also won silver in the 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, with the Dinos’ 800m freestyle relay team and 400m Medley Relay squad, along with a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle final.

Honoured as Canada West nominees for the CIS student-athlete awards are Matthew Mastromatteo from the Lethbridge Pronghorns and UBC’s Hayley Pipher.

Mastromatteo, a fifth-year Urban and Regional Studies student, has spent the past four seasons as the Can Swim Coach, coaching four times a week. He also volunteers for Operation Red Nose and participated in 'Movember' in the fall of 2011 raising $600.00 for prostate cancer awareness. He qualified for the CIS championship in every season at Lethbridge. At this week’ event Mastromatteo placed 11th in the men’s 200m backstroke, 12th in the 50m backstroke and 13th in the 100m backstroke.

Pipher, a second-year Bachelor of Science major, is a two-year member of African Awareness Initiative service club. She was also part of Vancouver’s Me to We Mobilizers, which sees Vancouver youth fundraise to put on community events at indigenous communities overseas. Over the weekend, Pipher was a bronze medalist in the 400m IM, 6th in the 200m backstroke and 200m IM, 11th in the 50m backstroke.

Named Coach of the Year for the men’s event in his sixth season at the helm was Alberta’s Bill Humby, who guided the Golden Bears to silver medal, their highest finish at the conference meet since 1995. First-year UBC head coach Steve Price claimed honours for guiding the UBC women’s team to gold.

“It feels pretty satisfying coming back to Edmonton for the first time since leaving the club and performing well here and getting the win,” noted Price.

At the 2012 event, nine meet records fell – two on Friday night, four on Saturday and three more on Sunday afternoon.

Following is a list of 2012 Canada West swimming Awards & All-Stars:

AWARDS

Athletes of the Meet
Male: Jason Block, Calgary
Female: Savannah King, UBC

Rookie of the Year
Male: Andrew Makosiej, Calgary
Female: Lindsey Delmar, Calgary

Student Athlete/Community Service Nominee
Male: Matthew Mastromatteo, Lethbridge
Female: Hayley Pipher, UBC

Coach of the Year
Male: Bill Humby, Alberta
Female: Steve Price, UBC

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS
(all gold medal winners)

MEN
Kelly Aspinall, UBC
Joshua Au, Alberta
Rory Bikuspi, UBC
Jason Block, Calgary
Craig Brazier, UBC
Joe Byram, Alberta
Gavin D’Amico, Alberta
Duncan Furrer, UBC
Tommy Gossland, UBC
Michael Lowenstein, Calgary
Connor Maxey, Calgary
Gleb Suvorov, Calgary
Brian Yakiwchuk, Alberta

WOMEN
Lindsay Delmar, Calgary
Brittney Harley, UBC
Jessica Johnson, Calgary
Savannah King, UBC
Heather MacLean, UBC
Martha McCabe, UBC
Erin Miller, Alberta
Seanna Mitchell, Calgary
Fionnuala Pierse
Grainne Pierse, UBC
Amanda reason, Calgary
Rachelle Salli, UBC
Terry Van Beilen, UBC
Erin Wamsteeker, Calgary

All qualifiers now head to the CIS championship meet, February 23-25 at University of Montreal.

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DAY 3 RECAP

EDMONTON - For a second consecutive year, the UBC Thunderbirds are the men's and women's Canada West swimming team champions as the three-day event wrapped up at the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre on Sunday.

Three more conference meet records were established on Sunday, bringing the three-day total to nine new marks overall.

- Live Results / Sunday results (.pdf)

- Canada West Records

For the second year in a row, the UBC Thunderbirds are Canada West champions of men’s and women’s swimming after Day 3 of the conference meet concluded at the Kinsmen Sports Centre in Edmonton.

The UBC men claimed first with 861 total points, while the women, who are now three-time consecutive conference champs, earned 949 points. The host University of Alberta Golden Bears achieved their highest finish at the conference event since 1995, when they won the men’s silver medal, while the Calgary Dinos, last year’s CIS champions, won the men’s bronze. The Dino women did capture silver, while the Alberta Pandas earned bronze.

Three more records fell on Sunday as well, bringing the total to nine on the weekend. Tommy Gossland, of UBC, claimed another new milestone when he broke the men’s 100m freestyle with a time of 49.28, besting Chad Hankewich’s Calgary record of 49.46 set in 2007. Alberta’s Erin Miller picked up another record as well, swimming to a new best time (2:11.53) in the women’s 200m fly. She broke a record set in 2009 by UBC’s MacKenzie Downing (2:12.02). Thunderbird Martha McCabe set a new standard in the women’s 200m breaststroke, finishing with a time of 2:22.40, which bested her own mark of 2:22.57 which she set last season.

Calgary cleaned up in the individual major awards, winning male athlete of the meet (Jason Block), male rookie of the year (Andrew Maksoiej) and female rookie of the year (Lindsay Delmar). UBC’s Savannah King was crowned the female athlete of the meet. Golden Bears’ head coach Bill Humby was named male coach of the year, while first year UBC boss Steve Price was named the female team coach of the year. Hayley Pipher, of UBC, won the Canada West female student-athlete/community service nominee, while Lethbridge’s Matthew Mastromatteo is the male nominee.

Alberta’s Erin Miller started the medal parade on Sunday, winning the women’s 200m butterfly. She was followed on the podium by Calgary’s Delmar and Jessica Johnson.

Josh Au made it two gold medals in a row for Alberta when he swam to a first place finish in the men’s 200m butterfly. He was followed by UBC’s Kevin Chu and Golden Bear Brent Trevisan.

Heather MacLean of UBC held off a pair of Dinos, Amanda Reason and Seanna Mitchell, to win the women’s 100m freestyle, while Tommy Gossland, Craig Brazier and Duncan Furrer finished 1-2-3 in the men’s 100m FS.

Calgary’s Jessica Johnson earned the top spot on the podium with her finish in the 200m individual medley, while UBC rookie Rebecca Terejko claimed silver and teammate Laura Thompson finished with bronze.

Dino Gleb Suvorov won the men’s version of the 200m IM, finishing ahead of teammate Jason Block and Patrick Cowan of UBC.

In the women’s 100m backstroke, UBC claimed the top two medals thanks to Rachelle Salli (gold) and Grainne Pierse (silver), while Calgary’s Jessika Craige collected bronze.

Suvorov picked his second gold of the day, when he won the 100m backstroke. T-Bird Kelly Aspinall won silver, while Golden Bear rookie Joe Byram won bronze.

UBC dominated the women’s 200m breaststroke, winning all three medals as Martha McCabe finished first, followed by Tera Van Beilen and Laura Thompson.

Calgary’s Jason Block won his fourth gold of the meet in the men’s 200m breaststroke, beating Lethbridge’s Jeffrey Nicol and Calgary teammate Christopher Dalen.

In the women’s 400m FS, Savannah King, of UBC, took home the gold, and was followed by Lindsay Delmar of Calgary and Heather MacLean of the Thunderbirds.

Brian Yakiwchuk of Alberta made a great run in the final 100m to win the men’s 400m FS, as he edged out teammate Scott Stewart and Calgary’s Andrew Makosiej.

The final events of the meet, the 400m medley relay saw UBC, Calgary and Alberta finish 1-2-3 in both the men’s and women’s races.

All qualifiers now head to the CIS championship meet, February 23-25 at University of Montreal.

Final team standings after Day 3:

MEN
Gold: UBC 861 points
Silver: Alberta 744
Bronze: Calgary 620
4. Lethbridge 302
5. Victoria 251
6. Regina 142
7. Manitoba 124
8. Trinity Western 60

WOMEN
Gold: UBC 949 points
Silver: Calgary 830
Bronze: Alberta 496
4. Victoria 287
5. Manitoba 218
6. Lethbridge 142
7. Regina 135
8. Trinity Western 42

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Standings after Day 2 at Kinsmen Pool, hosted in Edmonton by the University of Alberta:

MEN
1. UBC 548
2. Alberta 465
3. Calgary 370
4. Lethbridge 210
5. Victoria 151
6. Regina 105
7. Manitoba 83
8. Trinity Western 34

WOMEN
1. UBC 598
2. Calgary 494
3. Alberta 343
4. Victoria 189
5. Manitoba 133
6. Regina 93
6. Lethbridge 93
8. Trinity Western 19

EDMONTON - Four Canada West records fell, and the UBC Thunderbirds continue to lead both the men’s and women’s standings at the Canada West swimming championship at the Kinsmen Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Day 2 of the conference championship saw a pair of records broken in the preliminary races in the morning, and another two erased in the finals.

UBC’s Tommy Gossland started the record breaking when set a new standard in the men’s 50m freestyle, finishing with a time of 22.65 in the prelims. That time beat the previous record, set in 2009, of 22.78 by Calgary’s Kelly Aspinall. Erin Miller of the Alberta Pandas claimed the next record, finishing with a time of 59.16 in the women’s 100m butterfly which is the first sub sixty second time in Canada West history. Miller bettered the mark MacKenzie Downing set in 2009, which was a time of 1:00.86.

In the finals, Calgary’s Jason Block, who also broke a record on Friday, set another new standard this time in the men’s 100m breaststroke, finishing with a time of 59.84 to capture gold. The Dinos then improved one of their own records in the women’s 400m freestyle relay, clocking in at 3:41.82 which was better than the 2009 Dinos team time of 3:42.79.

The defending conference champion Thunderbirds lead the women’s standings with 598 points, and the men’s standings with 548 points. The host Alberta Golden Bears are in second place on the men’s side with 465 points, while Calgary rounds out the top three with 370 points. The Dinos are in second place on the women’s side with 494 points and the Alberta Pandas are third with 343 points.

Day 3 is Sunday, with preliminary races at 9:00 a.m., while finals begin at 2:00 p.m.

In Saturday’s opening final, Seanna Mitchell of Calgary won gold in the women’s 50m freestyle, finishing ahead of Heather MacLean and Fionnuala Pierse of UBC.

Gossland and teammate Rory Biskupski finised 1-2 in the men’s 50m FS, with Golden Bear med student Jeremy ‘Doc’ Kubik earning the bronze.

The Thunderbirds dominated the podium in the women’s 400m individual medley with Martha McCabe, Tera Van Beilen and Hayley Pipher earning gold, silver and bronze respectively.

Alberta’s Gavin D’Amico collected the gold medal in the men’s 400m IM, coming from behind to win and earn CIS qualification. Kevin Chu of UBC came in second place, while Golden Bear veteran Brian Yakiwchuk claimed the bronze.

Erin Miller continued Alberta’s golden streak in the next event, winning the women’s 100m butterfly race, finishing ahead of Dinos’ swimmers Lindsay Delmar and Seanna Mitchell.

Fourth-year Golden Bear Josh Au made it three gold medals in a row for the hosts when he finished first in the men’s 100m butterfly. Biskupski of UBC earned the silver, while fellow T-Bird and former Dino Kelly Aspinall picked up bronze.

Event 17, the women’s 200m backstroke, saw Rachelle Salli and Savannah King of UBC earn the first and third place podium placements, while Calgary’s Jessika Craig picked up second place.

Golden Bears’ rookie Joe Byram won his first conference gold when he collected the best time in the men’s 200m backstroke, stopping the clock before Gleb Suvorov of Calgary and UBC’s Craig Brazier.

UBC’s McCabe won her second medal of the day when she collected gold in the 100m breaststroke, beating teammate Van Beilen and Calgary’s Fiona Doyle.

Block stopped the clock first in the 100m breaststroke, beating teammate Christopher Dalen and Jeffrey Nicol of Lethbridge, who once again proved to be the only swimmer outside of UBC, Calgary and Alberta to win a medal.

UBC earned the top two podium spots in the women’s 200m freestyle race, with Heather MacLean coming in first and Savannah King finishing ahead of Dinos’ Lindsay Delmar.

The T-Bird men then followed suit taking gold and bronze in the same event as Gossland and Matt Godbeer finished around a silver medal performance by Alberta’s Robert MacKinnon.

Calgary claimed the women’s 400m freestyle relay, with UBC and Alberta finishing in second and third, while the Thunderbird men won the event, finishing ahead of the Golden Bears and Calgary.

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Standings after Day 1 at Kinsmen Pool, hosted in Edmonton by the University of Alberta:

MEN
1. UBC 190
2. Alberta 184
3. Calgary 167
4. Lethbridge 103
5. Victoria 88
6. Regina 47
7. Manitoba 41
8. Trinity Western 11

WOMEN
1. UBC 247
2. Calgary 191
3. Alberta 161
4. Victoria 79
5. Manitoba 58
6. Lethbridge 45
7. Regina 44
8. Trinity Western 6

NOTE: Two records fell on Friday, as UBC’s 4x200m freestyle women’s team, consisting of Heather MacLean, Fionnula Pierse, Brittney Harley and Savannah King set a new Canada West record during their gold medal swim. Their time of 8:01.50 broke the mark of 8:01.69 set in 2009 by the Calgary Dinos. Jason Block broke a three-year-old conference record in the 50-metre breaststroke by clocking in at 27.96 to become the first swimmer in conference history to break the 28-second barrier in the event.

EDMONTON - The defending Canada West men’s and women’s swimming champions, the UBC Thunderbirds, lead both standings after Day 1 of the conference championship hosted by the University of Alberta at the Kinsmen Sports Centre in Edmonton.

The Thunderbird women sit in first with 247 points, while the second place Calgary Dinos, who are the defending men’s and women’s CIS champions, has 191 points. The host Pandas sit in third with 161 points. On the men’s side, UBC leads with 190 points; Alberta is second with 184 points and the Dinos round out the top three with 167 points.

UBC’s 4x200m freestyle women’s team, consisting of Heather MacLean, Fionnula Pierse, Brittney Harley and Savannah King set a new Canada West record during their gold medal swim. Their time of 8:01.50 broke the mark of 8:01.69 set in 2009 by the Calgary Dinos.

The Victoria Vikes are fourth in the women’s table with 79 points, and are followed by Manitoba (58), Lethbridge (45), Regina (44) and Trinity Western (6). The Pronghorns are in fourth place on the men’s side with 103 points, followed by Victoria (88), Regina (47), Manitoba (41) and Trinity Western (11).

Just 10 finals took place on Day 1 with another 14 to be competed on Saturday between 5:00 and 7:30 pm. The meet will come to a close Sunday afternoon when the final 14 events will be swum. The CIS championship is February 23-25 at the University of Montreal.

UBC, Calgary and Alberta combined to capture 29 of the 30 medals handed out on Friday. Lethbridge Pronghorn swimmer Jeffrey Nichol won a bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke to break up the streak.

In the opening race, the women’s 800m FS, UBC’s Savannah King claimed gold, while Breanna Hendricks of Calgary and Alberta’s Dana Armstrong finished second and third respectively.

Fifth-year Golden Bears’ swimmer Brian Yakiwchuk captured gold in the 1,500m FS, while teammate Scott Stewart picked up silver and Dino Andre Makosiej finished third.

In the 50m fly race, Alberta Panda Erin Miller, who swam four years for UBC before joining the U of A, picked up gold, while a pair of Thunderbirds, Rebecca Terejko and Grainne Pierse, claimed silver and bronze.

Tommy Gossland of UBC earned gold in the men’s 50m fly with teammate Kelly Aspinall in second and Alberta’s Josh Au in third.

Pierse, originally from Edmonton and the Keyano Swim Club, swam to gold in the 50m backstroke, while fellow Thunderbird Rachelle Salli picked up silver and Jessika Craig of Calgary earned bronze.

The Dinos took gold and bronze in the men’s 50m backstroke with Gleb Savorov getting the top spot on the podium, and Mic Lowenstein getting bronze. Craig Brazier picked up silver for the Dinos.

UBC swam to a podium sweep in the women’s 50m breaststroke as Tera Van Beilen, Terejko and Martha McCabe finished 1-2-3.

Jason Block (Calgary), Stephen Giovanetto (Alberta) and Nicol picked the medals in the men’s 50m breaststroke.

UBC captured gold in both the men’s and women’s 4x200m FS events, with Calgary earning silver in both and Alberta picking up bronze in both events.

Day two gets underway Saturday with preliminary races at 10:00am and finals get underway at 5:00 p.m.