EDMONTON – Four records fell during the opening day of the 2016 Canada West swimming championships, and the UBC Thunderbirds lead the women's standings while the host Alberta Golden Bears lead the men's table following the first of three days of action to be held at the Kinsmen Sports Centre pool on Friday night.
The mighty T-Birds, winners of seven straight women's Canada West titles and three consecutive men's conference banners, earned a combined 10 men's and women's medals on Day 1, as well as three new conference records, The Point Grey women lead the standings with 237 points, which is a full 73 points ahead of second place.
"It was a good start to the meet," said UBC Head Coach
Steve Price. "We have a young group here with a lot of rookies and I think they really stepped up and the veterans were there to lead the way. So, I'm really happy with both teams."
Calgary sits in second place with 292 points, while the Alberta Pandas are in third with 288 points.
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On the men's side, the hosts lead with 192 points, but UBC is close behind with 189 points. The Dinos are third with 162, which creates an exciting top three mix that is separated by the slimmest of margins on the eve of Day 2, a race day filled with distance races
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The first record to fall on Friday was courtesy of
Luke Peddie's performance in the men's 50-metre butterfly as the T-Bird hit the wall with a time of 23.85. That bested teammate
Coleman Allen's time of 23.91 from 2014. Allen finished second in the fly sprint with a time of 24.12, while U of A rookie Skyler Kerr earned bronze with a 24.61 time.
"The fact that
Luke Peddie set a meet record in his hometown was really cool," said Price.
UBC continued the assault on the record books in the very next swim when
Ingrid Wilm set a new standard in the 50m backstroke with a time 27.26. That beat the 27.95 that was set in 2009 by Hanna Kubas of Calgary. Danielle Hanus of Victoria also broke that 2009 standard, with a time of 27.76, but was overshadowed by Wilm. Calgary's Leah Smal was bronze with a time of 28.78.
"Ingrid dominated," said Price. "I told her and Luke (Peddie) they had to win in their hometowns and that's what they did."
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Manitoba's Kelsey Wog was the next to break a conference record as the Bison swam to a time of 30.54 in the women's 50m breaststroke. Calgary's Tianna Rissling, who earned bronze in the event this year, had previously set the mark at 31.11 in 2013. UBC's
Erin Stamp earned the silver with what would have been a record breaking time of 30.98.
Fourth-year University of Alberta Golden Bear Nick Kostiuk then broke the record in the men's 50m breaststroke when he touched the pads at 27.76, which was better than the 27.92 record set in 2013 by Calgary's Jason Block.
Warren Mayer of UBC and Joel Robinson of Lethbridge earned silver and bronze respectively.
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The fourth record in the day's final event as UBC's 800m freestyle team earned gold with a time of 7:15.56, which was just slightly better than the 7:16.88 standard set in 2014 by both UBC and Calgary teams.
Carson Olafson,
Stefan Milosevic,
Coleman Allen and
Keegan Zanatta all own the conference record for UBC now.
They were trailed by Calgary's quartet of Peter Brothers, Christopher Neave, Teddy Kalp and Tristan Cote, as the Dinos earned silver, while Alberta's foursome of Caleb VanderLeek, Nick Kostiuk, Josiah Binnema and Bjoern-Ole Schrader picked up bronze.
"It's a much better feeling than last year, knowing going in we have the depth to rely on, rather than scrambling and trying to keep up with the teams that have seven or eight swimmers on us," said UBC men's captain Zanatta.
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UBC women's captain
Erin Stamp echoed the sentiment about the team depth.
"It's been really exciting, we had at least two girls in every final. The first years especially are outdoing their expectations. We are looking to take down the points standards this year and win all the relays."
Day two preliminary action begins at 10 a.m. MT, followed by a second set of preliminaries at 3:30 p.m. and finals at 5 p.m. MT. Both sets of preliminary heats, as well as the finals, can be watched live on Canadawest.tv
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DAY 1 RESULTS
Women's 800 Freestyle
1. Danica Ludlow, Calgary (8:36.74)
2.
Megan Dalke, UBC (8:40.52)
3.
Maia Brundage, UBC (8:43.88)
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Men's 1500 Freestyle
1. Eric Hedlin, Victoria (15:14.20)
2.
Jonathan Brown, UBC (15:23.21)
3.
Keegan Zanatta, UBC (15:27.29)
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Women's 50 Butterfly
1. Georgia Kidd, Alberta (27.36)
2. Eva Madar, Regina (27.54)
3.
Jacomie Strydom, UBC (27.70)
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Men's 50 Butterfly
1.
Luke Peddie, UBC (23.85)
*Canada West Record
2.
Coleman Allen, UBC (24.12)
3. Skyeler Kerr, Alberta (24.61)
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Women's 50 Backstroke
1.
Ingrid Wilm, UBC (27.26)
*Canada West Record
2. Danielle Hanus, Victoria (27.76)
3. Leah Smal, Calgary (28.78)
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Men's 50 Backstroke
1. Josh Dow, Calgary (24.97)
2. Josiah Binnema, Alberta (25.09)
3. Christopher Courtis, Calgary (25.11)
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Women's 50 Breaststroke
1. Kelsey Wog, Manitoba (30.54)
*Canada West Record
2.
Erin Stamp, UBC (30.98)
3. Tianna Rissling, Calgary (31.62)
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Men's 50 Breaststroke
1. Nick Kostiuk, Alberta (27.76)
*Canada West Record
2.
Warren Mayer, UBC (28.38)
3. Joel Robinson, Lethbridge (28.41)
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Women's 800 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (Erika Seltenreich-Hodson,
Megan Dalke,
Ingrid Wilm,
Maia Brundage) 8:00.10
2. Alberta (Georgia Kidd, Nikki MacLeod, Nichole Moen, Madalyn Smith) 8:15.99
3. Calgary (Danica Ludlow, Robyn Lee, Lauren Teghtsoonian, Leah Smal) 8:16.26
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Men's 800 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (
Carson Olafson,
Stefan Milosevic,
Coleman Allen,
Keegan Zanatta) 7:15.56
*Canada West Record
2. Calgary (Peter Brothers, Christopher Neave, Teddy Kalp, Tristan Cote) 7:24.09
3. Alberta (Caleb Vander Leek, Nick Kostiuk, Josiah Binnema, Bjoern-Ole Schrader) 7:29.68
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TEAM STANDINGS – After Day 1
WOMEN
1. UBC, 237
2. Calgary, 164
3. Alberta, 128
4. Victoria, 87
5. Lethbridge, 80
6. Regina, 76
7. Manitoba, 62
8. Thompson Rivers, 22
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MEN
1. Alberta, 192
2. UBC, 189
3. Calgary, 162
4. Victoria, 120
5. Regina, 78
6. Lethbridge, 58
7. Manitoba, 35
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