VANCOUVER – With the U SPORTS national championship just over a month away, the UBC Thunderbirds swim teams returned to varsity action this weekend with a pair of events: a tri-meet against Victoria and host Simon Fraser Friday, and then the January LMR Invitational at UBC on Saturday.
 
The women's scores from Friday's short-course (25-metre) event were: UBC 148-89 Victoria and UBC 137-111 Simon Fraser.
 
On the men's side, it was Victoria 135-109 UBC and SFU 167-81 UBC.
 
"After coming off an intensive training camp over the Christmas break and keeping the training hammer down through to this week, to see the promising results of our first swim meet of the new year was quite satisfying," said UBC head coach Steve Price. "What a great opportunity to see the three major university programs in BC race head to head to head at SFU. To have our team be greeted by SFU Senior Athletic Director, Theresa Hanson, was also special."    
 

The UBC women won 10 of 14 races, including both relay events, with Maia Brundage and Hoi Lam Karen Tam each taking first place twice.
 
Fifth-year veterans Connor Wilkins and Alex Loginov earned race wins for the T-Bird men as did youngsters Martin Dimitrov and Nic Duke.
 
Brundage led UBC podium sweeps in the 200-metre freestyle and 200 individual medley races, winning with times of 2 minutes, 2.31 seconds and 2:17.17, respectively.
 
In the 200 free, Mackenzie Gunther (2:05.29) and Paige Bergen (2:05.37) earned second and third place, while Hillary Metcalfe (2:17.89) and Jacomie Strydom (2:22.31) were second and third in the 200 IM.
 
Tam and Quincy Brozo went 1-2 in the both 50 free and the 100 butterfly. Tam, who won two relay medals for Hong Kong at the 2018 Asian Games, won the 50 free in 25.87 while Brozo touched the wall in 26.22. In the 100 fly, Tam was first in 1:01.84 with Brozo next in 1:03.25.
 
Meredith Levorson won the 100 backstroke final with a time of 1:04.59, Bergen did the same in the 100 free (58.53), Olivia Ellard finished more than five seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in the 200 back (2:14.78), and Metcalfe dominated the 200 breaststroke, taking the race in 2:34.15, more than seven seconds ahead of the next swimmer.
 
Ellard, Metcalfe, Strydom, and Brundage teamed up to give UBC the win the 4x100 medley relay (4:09.08) while the winning Thunderbirds team in the 4x100 free relay was composed of Brozo, Gunther, Levorson and Tam (3:48.49).
 

Loginov won the 50 free (23.11), while Wilkins was first in the 200 butterfly (2:01.46) and was followed closely by rookie Dmitriy Lim in second (2:02.05).
 
Dimitrov posted a time of 8:23.35 to earn the win in the 800 free, and Duke triumphed in the 200 back in 2:01.86.
 
The UBC swimmers who are part of Swimming Canada High Performance Centre – Vancouver (HPC-Vancouver) missed this weekend's action as they are at a training camp in Hawaii, while Hau-Li Fan just returned from a three-week open water and distance training camp in Germany.
 
"With 10 of our top swimmers not in attendance, the rest of the program stepped up," remarked Price. "Led by seniors Maia Brundage, Jacomie Strydom, Connor Wilkins and Alex Loginov, the 'Birds put up some dominant performances winning most of their heats and many events.  All in all, a good start to the winter season with just 33 days to the U SPORTS Championships at UBC."  
 
Brundage won the women's 200 free in 2:04.90 at the 2019 January LMR Invitational Saturday, a long-course meet at UBC.
 
The men's squad had three race winners.
 
Lim was first in the 200 butterfly (2:04.12), Loginov was best in the 50 free (23.66), and rookie Stuart Pliuskaitis won the 800 free by posting a time of 8:41.81.
 
"With the U SPORTS championships format set as short-course meters (25) for prelims and long-course meters (50) for finals, these two meets are great practice for what's to come. The more the swimmers are race hardened the better they will compete at the national championships," commented Price.
 
UBC will welcome some of the world's top swimmers to campus as it hosts the U SPORTS national meet Feb. 21-23 at the UBC Aquatic Centre.