LETHBRIDGE – For the seventh consecutive year, the UBC Thunderbirds are Canada West men's and women's swimming champions, but it wasn't without a dramatic finish in the men's standings to earn the 'Birds a record tying 20^th conference crown.

Heading into the final event of the championships, the medley relay, the T-Birds trailed the Calgary Dinos by a single point before second-year Calgary native Alex Pratt came up with back-to-back impressive performances to lead the T-Birds to the conference crown. With the 20th title in their program's history, the T-Bird men now sit in a tie with the Dinos for the most conference titles.


 
"What can I say, we did the math and we could see the number of swims we had and the number of swims Calgary had," said Thunderbird head coach Derrick Schoof. "We knew we basically had to get as many close victories as we could and add them up throughout the night. Our guys really stepped up and they won the small battles when they needed to.
 
In the final individual event, Pratt won the 400 freestyle to bring UBC within striking distance and then on the anchor leg of the medley relay he pulled his team from behind to edge the Dinos at the wall to snatch the Canada West title away from the Dinos.


 
Pratt finished the day with two individual gold medals to go along with the relay medal. His swim in the 400 freestyle also lifted Pratt to the Male Swimmer of the Meet award.
 
"Alex came up big when he needed to and he is a swimmer that is getting ready for not only great varsity things but great international things." said Schoof of Pratt's performance. "He came to this meet excited to be a big part of the team and he really delivered when he had to, so I am really happy with his swims for sure."
 
On the women's side, the T-Birds opened the day with a narrow 22.5 point lead over the Calgary Dinos and increased that lead immediately, building a 119 point cushion through the third event of the finals session. The T-Birds finished with 905 points, with the Dinos second with 812. Victoria rounded out the top three with 529 points.


 
"I couldn't be more proud of a group of athletes, both our men and our women, just good people that come and work hard every day and are great student-athletes," continued Schoof. "The women, they also knew what they needed to do this morning and really got the job done, getting a number of 'A' final swims, but I have to mention Calgary, I think they did a great job this weekend too and were a great competitor this weekend, making the meet a lot of fun."


 
Victoria's Danielle Hanus and Manitoba's Kelsey Wog continued their assault on the Canada West record book, each breaking another record on day three.
 
Hanus bettered the mark in the 100 backstroke by nearly a full second (57.57), her third Canada West record of the meet and was named the Female Swimmer of the Meet. She also broke the Canada West records in the 100 fly and opened the championships with conference record in the 50 backstroke.
 
Wog broke her second Canada West record of the meet in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.20 en route to her third individual gold medal of the weekend. She set a new mark in the 100 breaststroke on day two. 
 
UBC's haul continued after the meet with Anna Dumont-Belanger and Raben Dommann being named the Rookies of the meet and Olivia Ellard being named the Student-Athlete Community Service award winner.
 
In his first conference championships as the T-Birds head coach Derrick Schoof was named the Women's Coach of the Year, while Calgary's Mike Blondal was named the Men's Coach of the Year.
 
Qualified swimmers will now begin preparing for the 2020 U SPORTS national swimming championships hosted by the University of Victoria in February.
 
 
2019 Canada West Award Winners

Swimmers of the Meet
Women: Danielle Hanus, Victoria
Men: Alex Pratt, UBC

Rookies of the Meet
Women: Anna Dumont-Belanger, UBC
Men: Raben Dommann, UBC

Student-Athlete Community Service
Women: Olivia Ellard, UBC

Coach of the Year
Women: Derrick Schoof, UBC
Men: Mike Blondal, Calgary
 
Team Standings (Final)
 
WOMEN
 
1. UBC, 905 pts.
2. Calgary, 812
3. Victoria, 529
4. Manitoba, 275
5. Alberta, 261
6. Lethbridge, 181
7. Regina, 51
8. Thompson Rivers, 19
 
MEN
 
1. UBC, 785 pts.
2. Calgary, 780
3. Victoria, 451
4. Alberta, 335
5. Regina, 297
6. Lethbridge, 259
7. Manitoba, 180
8. Thompson Rivers, 100 

DAY 3 Medalists

Women's 200 Butterfly
1. Danielle Hanus, VIC (2:10.16)
2. Josie Field, UBC (2:14.35)
3. Kirsten Douglas, UBC (2:14.35)
 
Men's 200 Butterfly
1. Etienne Paquin-Foisy, REG (1:59.91)
2. Dmitriy Lim, UBC (2:00.68)
3. Emil Goin, CGY (2:02.52)
 
Women's 100 Free
1. Kelsey Wog, MAN (54.20) *Broke Canada West record
2. Hoi Lam Karen Tam, UBC (54.67)
3. Quincy Brozo, UBC (55.21)
 
Men's 100 Free
1. Alex Pratt, UBC (49.56)
2. Anthon Iliouchetchev MAN (50.26)
3. Kier Przyswitt ALB (50.80)
 
Women's 200 IM
1. Hillary Metcalfe, UBC (2:15.04)
2. Allison McCloy, CGY (2:16.54)
3. Olivia Ellard, UBC (2:18.04)
 
Men's 200 IM
1. Robert Hill, CGY (1:59.96)
2. Brian Palaschuk, REG (2:01.56)
3. Brodie Young, UBC (2:03.00)
 
Women's 100 Backstroke
1. Danielle Hanus, VIC (57.57) * Broke Canada West Record
2. Megan Mozill, ALB (1:00.52)
3. Olivia Ellard, UBC (1:00.94)
 
Men's 100 Backstroke
1. Nic Duke, UBC (54.20)
2. Jarod Tsang, CGY (54.87)
3. Chris Alexander, LET (54.95)
 
Women's 200 Breaststroke
1. Kelsey Wog, MAN (2:22.78)
2. Bree Crookshanks, REG (2:28.56)
3. Madison Macor, CGY (2:30.37)
 
Men's 200 Breaststroke
1. Jaren LeFranc, UBC (2:13.54)
2. Benjamin Blackmon, CGY (2:14.27)
3. Bailey Espersen, VIC (2:15.77)
 
Women's 400 Freestyle
1. Danica Ludlow, CGY (4:10.73)
2. Megan Dalke, UBC (4:12.37)
3. Marit Anderson, CGY (4:13.24)
 
Men's 400 Freestyle
1. Alex Pratt, UBC (3:48.43)
2. Peter Brothers, CGY (3:51.38)
3. Josh Zakala, VIC (3:52.89(
 
Women's 4 X 100 Medley Relay
1. UBC (Olivia Ellard, Hillary Metcalfe, Kirsten Douglas, Hoi Lam Tam) 4:06.77
2. VIC (Lauren Crisp, Jamie Hellard, Danielle Hanus, Alexandria Hedges) 4:09.31
3. MAN (Dora Modrcin, Kelsey Wog, Jamie Alexiuk, Georgia Pengilly) 4:10.74
 
 
Men's 4 X 100 Medley Relay
1. UBC (Nic Duke, Jaren LeFranc, Dmitriy Lim, Alex Pratt) 3:38.07
2. CGY (Robert, Hill, Benjamin Blackmon, Emil Goin, Paul Latkovic) 3:38.65
3. VIC (Josh Zakala, Bailey Espersen, Daniel Greer, Eric Hedlin) 3:43.13
 
DAY 1 Medalists

Women's 800 Freestyle
1. Danica Ludlow, CGY (8:34.01)
2. Megan Dalke, UBC (8:35.57)
3. Allison McCloy, CGY (8:45.58)

Men's 1500 Freestyle
1. Josh Zakala, VIC (15:15.53)
2. Hau-Li Fan, UBC (15:20.78)
3. Peter Brothers, CGY (15:21.64)

Women's 50 Butterfly
1. Hoi Lam Tam, UBC (26.79)* Canada West Record
2. Samiha Mohsen, CGY (27.60)
2.  Laura Albers, CGY (27.60)

Men's 50 Butterfly
1. Dmitriy Lim, UBC (24.85)
2. Kier Przyswitt, ALB (24.90)
3. Dante Chan, ALB (24.94)

Women's 50 Backstroke
1. Danielle Hanus, VIC (27.02) *set Canada West record in prelims (26.84)
2. Olivia Ellard, UBC (28.77)
3. Samiha Moshen, CGY (28.84)

Men's 50 Backstroke
1. Robert Hill, CGY (24.80)
2. Anders Klein, CGY (25.30)
3. Daniel Gerlach, CGY (25.31)

Women's 50 Breaststroke
1. Kelsey Wog, MAN (30.57)
2. Jamie Hellard, VIC (32.00)
3. Hillary Metcalfe, UBC (32.01)

Men's 50 Breaststroke
1. Cale Kooyman, ALB (28.21)
2. Jaren LeFranc, UBC (28.26)
3. Bailey Espersen, VIC (28.34)

Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay
1. CGY (Allison McCloy, Danica Ludlow, Marit Anderson, Laura Albers) 8:02.16
2. UBC (Megan Dalke, Quincey Brozo, Mackenzie Gunther, Anna Belanger-Dumont) 8:04.48
3. VIC (Danielle Hanus, Lauren Taylor, Allison Ballantyne, Kyla Ross) 8:22.10

Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (Brodie Young, Alex Pratt, Matthew Meuleman, Dmitriy Lim) 7:19.31
2. CGY (Peter Brothers, Teddy Kalp, Paul Latkovic, Emil Goin) 7:25.08
3. VIC (Padric Mckervill, Josh Zakala, Justin Schramm, Eric Hedlin) 7:28.78

DAY 2 Medalists

Women's 50 Freestyle
1. Hoi Lam Karen Tam, UBC (25.33)
2. Quincy Brozo, UBC (25.39)
3. Samiha Mohsen, CBY (25.56)
 
Men's 50 Freestyle
1. Anton Iliouchetchev, MAN (22.78)
2. Daniel Stayer, ALB (23.05)
3. Paul Latkovic, CGY (23.13)
 
Women's 400 IM
1. Megan Dalke, UBC (4:42.27)
2. Allison McCloy CGY (4:45.39)
3. Lauren Teghtsoonian, CGY (4:52.92)
 
Men's 400 IM
1. Josh Zakala, VIC (4:17.62)
2. Brodie Young, UBC (4:17.99)
3. Brian Palaschuk, REG (4:23.08)
 
Women's 100 Fly
1. Danielle Hanus, VIC (58.65) *Broke Canada West record in prelims (58.45)
2. Kirsten Douglas, UBC (1:00.23)
3. Hoi Lam Tam, UBC (1:01.04)
 
Men's 100 Fly
1. Robert Hill, CGY (54.53)
2. Dmitriy Lim, UBC (54.56)
3. Etienne Paquin-Foisy, REG (54.83)
 
Women's 200 Backstroke
1. Olivia Ellard, UBC (2:08.70)
2. Megan Mozill, ALB (2:11.15)
3. Lauren Crisp, VIC (2:12.23)
 
Men's 200 Backstroke
1. Nic Duke, UBC (1:57.14)
2. Robert Hill, CGY (1:59.20)
3. Anders Klein, CGY (1:59.78)
 
Women's 100 Breaststroke
1. Kelsey Wog, MAN (1:05.07) * Broke Canada West Record
2. Hillary Metcalfe, UBC (1:09.07)
3. Bree Crookshanks, REG (1:09.28)
 
Men's 100 Breaststroke
1. Jaren LeFranc, UBC (1:01.57)
2. Bailey Espersen, VIC (1:01.60)
3. Benjamin Blackmon, CGY (1:02.48)
 
Women's 200 Freestyle
1. Danica Ludlow, CGY (1:59.31)
2. Anna Dumont-Belanger, UBC (2:00.67)
3. Mackenzie Gunther, UBC (2:02.08)
 
Men's 200 Freestyle
1. Alex Pratt, UBC (1:48.42)
2. Peter Brothers, CGY (1:49.13)
3. Brian Palaschuk, REG (1:50.79)
 
Women's 4 X 100 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (Hoi Lam Karen Tam, Quincy Brozo, Mackenzie Gunther, Megan Dalke) 3:41.71
2. CGY (Samiha Mohsen, Laura Albers, Marit Anderson, Danica Ludlow) 3:46.06
3. VIC (Taylor Lauren, Danielle Hanus, Kyla Ross, Alexandria Hedges) 3:51.41
 
Men's 4 X 100 Freestyle Relay
1. UBC (Brodie Young, Alex Pratt, Matthew Meuleman, Dmitriy Lim) 3:22.82
2. LET (Tom Utas, Chris Alexander, Raine Arden, Adam Stromber) 3:24.31
3. CGY (Paul Latkovic, Parry Chirakorn, Jarod Tsang, Peter Brothers) 3:24.31
 
CANADA WEST RECORDS BROKEN
Women's 50 Butterfly -  Hoi Lam Karen Tam, UBC (26.79)
Women's 100 Free -  Kelsey Wog, MAN (54.20)
Women's 100 Breaststroke - Kelsey Wog, MAN (1:05.07)
Women's 50 Backstroke-  Danielle Hanus, VIC (26.84)
Women's 100 Fly - Danielle Hanus, VIC (58.45)
Women's 100 Backstroke -  Danielle Hanus, VIC (57.57)