VANCOUVER – All things considered, UBC head swimming coach
Steve Price is pleased with how both his men's and women's swim teams performed at the 2017 Colleges Cup Mountain Swim Meet this weekend. The meet is the final warm-up for the 'Birds, both ranked number one in Canada, before the U Sports National Championships this February 23-25 in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
The meet, which was held in Calgary on Friday and Saturday, saw the Thunderbirds brave some wild winter travel conditions, as they scrambled to get flights out of Vancouver Int'l Airport.
"It was a 'Gong Show' with the weather. We almost didn't get there on Friday and arrived late," said Price. "Six swimmers didn't make the meet Friday, with their flights cancelled or delayed."
Despite the travel chaos and not dressing their full roster, the Thunderbirds still found more than their share of first place finishes Friday.
Megan Dalke (400m IM),
Coleman Allen (100m freestyle),
Jacomie Strydom (200m fly) and the 400m freestyle women's team (
Quincy Brozo, Dalke,
Paige Bergen, and
Erin Stamp) all won their races for the 'Blue and Gold'.
On Saturday the 'Birds struck gold once again.
Jonathan Brown (100m breaststroke) and
Hau-Li Fan (1500m freestyle) both won their races. In the 200m freestyle the T-Birds swept the podium, with
Quincy Brozo,
Hillary Metcalfe and
Maia Brundage going one-two-three.
The Thunderbirds had an even tougher time getting back home to Vancouver on Saturday night. Their flight had to make a pit stop in Seattle, while the runways at YVR were cleared of snow and ice.
See entire results of Colleges Cup-Mountain here.
Coach Price is proud of how the student-athletes responded to the less than ideal conditions.
"I particularly like the way we rallied after a long day Friday and stepped it up on Saturday. We prepared like championship teams. We know Calgary is never an easy place to race, especially on the day of travel," said Price. "Perfect conditions are nice but not always the case in competition and not what you need to swim fast. We relied on ourselves and our teammates to step it up, so it was a job well done."
