TORONTO (SIC) – The University of Calgary Dinos are off to a great start at U of T's Varsity Pool where they have emerged as the outright leaders in both the women's and men's team standings after the first day of competition at the 2010 CIS swimming championships, Thursday. The defending national champion U of C women aim for a second consecutive title, while the Dino men look to reclaim the banner they last captured in 2008.
In the women's competition, the Dinos top the standings despite being well off their first-day total from last year (252) with 217 points. The 2010 Canada West champion UBC Thunderbirds sit in second place with 193 points, while the reigning Quebec champion University of Montreal Carabins, led by Olympians Audrey Lacroix and Geneviève Saumur, are within striking distance with 164 points after Thursday's finals.
The Dino men, who finished second to the T-Birds at last year's national meet, currently lead with a total of 208.5 points, while the 2009 CIS bronze-medalist and 2010 OUA champion University of Toronto Varsity Blues find themselves in second with 175. UBC is third with 126 points.
Full Results
Individually the T-Birds captured a pair of gold medals as fourth-year standouts
Hanna Pierse took her third title in the women's 400m individual medley with fellow senior
Jordan Hartney winning gold in the men's edition of the race. Fifth-year
Erin Miller added a silver in the women's 100m butterfuly while
Martha McCabe earned silver in the women's 100 breaststroke. The men also won a bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Varsity Blues superstar Colin Russell of Burlington, Ont., was the only male to repeat as champion on day one. The 2008 Olympian and CIS record-holder won the men's 200-metre freestyle in a time of 1:45.04. In 2009, Russell established a new Canadian record at the CIS championships, bettering Rick Say's previous national mark of 1:43.68 with a blistering time of 1:43.31.
Calgary's Jason Block was the only man to swim under the one-minute mark in the men's 100m breaststroke. The second-year swimmer, who finished fourth in 2009, blew away the competition in a time 59.42 seconds. Western's Bryn Jones finished second (1:01.1).
The closest race of the night saw last year's silver medalist
Jordan Hartney of the UBC Thunderbirds out-touch defending champion Steven Bielby of McGill in the men's 400 IM. A fourth-year swimmer from Surrey, B.C., Hartney finished the gruelling event in 4:14:08, seventh-tenths of a second faster than Bielby (4:14. 72), who came from behind to overtake Dinos' swimmer and 2010 bronze medalist, David Dimitrov, on the last leg of the race.
A six-time gold medalist at the QSSF championships, Saumur captured her first two CIS gold medals on Thursday evening. The Quebec conference rookie of the year was golden in her first race at the national championships, finishing first in the opening event of the three-day meet, the women's 200m freestyle, in a time of 1:57.34. Calgary's Kevyn Peterson was second (1:58.15), just ahead of teammate and 2009 bronze medalist Katy Murdoch (1:58.73).
Saumur notched her second win of the night in the 50m backstroke. The 2008 Olympian bested the veteran Murdoch at the wall for her second gold medal in as many tries. Bethany Flemington from the University of Guelph was third, one-tenth of a second ahead of Toronto's Andrea Jurenovskis.
Lacroix, the QSSF female swimmer of the year, easily won the 100m butterfly. The Pont-Rouge Que. native bettered Thunderbirds
Erin Miller by nearly a second. The current Canadian record-holder in the 100 and 200 butterfly races finished her first final in a time of 59.79.
UBC's
Hanna Pierse became a three-time champion in the women's 400 IM (4:40.45) and finished five seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Calgary's Jessica Johnson (4:45.45) fought off a late surge from Carabins swimmer Sarah-Lee Hevey (4:45.81) to take the silver.
Also earning individual victories on Thursday were Varsity Blues Zack Chetrat, last year's bronze medalist in the 100m butterfly, who claimed gold at home in a time of 53.20. Dalhousie's David Sharpe (25.17) was first in the 50m backstroke, while Calgary's Erica Morningstar's time of 1:06.71 was more than enough in order to win the 100m breaststroke.
The three-day CIS meet resumes Friday morning with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and finals at 6 p.m. EST.
DAY 1 TEAM STANDINGS
Women
1. Calgary, 217 points
2. UBC, 193
3. Montréal, 164
4. Western Ontario, 94
5. Toronto, 92
Men
1. Calgary, 208.5
2. Toronto, 175
3. UBC, 126
4. Dalhousie, 107
5. Laval, 92.5
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