QUEBEC CITY (U SPORTS) – The 2022 U SPORTS Swimming Championships at Laval University in Quebec City are now officially in the books and for a fifth straight season, the UBC Thunderbirds are standing atop the men's podium, while the Toronto Varsity Blues climbed on the highest step in the women's competition for the first time since 2016. It has been a long two years of waiting, but university national championships were celebrated Saturday night.
The T-Birds have clinched their 19th national championship, tying Toronto as the most decorated men's swimming program in the country. UBC completed all 38 events on the weekend with 1,207 points, way ahead of the Calgary Dinos (917.50) and the McGill Redbirds (757). In the women's competition, Toronto picked up no less than 1,359.50 points at the conclusion of the 38-event program, comfortably ahead of UBC (1,039) and Calgary (888). This is Toronto's 16th title in the program's history.
"It's been a long time since I jumped in the pool, but this is a special team and I think it called for it this time around," said Thunderbirds head coach Derrick Schoof who jumped fully dressed in the water of the Centre Aquatique Desjardins. "It's been two years in the making. To see our team persevere, work so hard and come together as one is special. Winning is fantastic, but seeing how great kids are with each other, support one another… they just showed tremendous core values all weekend long and all year long."
Schoof, who was named U SPORTS men's swimming coach of the year at the conclusion of the event also touched on how unique a championships this was and how much he appreciated the athletes resilience and focus after not being able to compete for nationals in two consecutive years due to the restrictions and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic.
"Absolutely, without a doubt this was a different championships," added Schoof. "We were all just so grateful it happened. Our team is quite young so many had never experienced a championship like this before. As the week developed we really came together as one team to support each other and celebrate our successes."
Soaked from head to toe, Blues' head coach Byron MacDonald still had a huge grin on his face after his team's victory. The last time Toronto won the women's title goes back to 2016, when the event was also hosted by Laval University.
"It's been a long process to get here. It's been a horrific past two years due to COVID, shutdown, all university for an entire year. We didn't think it would be this big of a win to be very honest. Our women swam absolutely out of their mind. There is a saying that when you win a big banner, it means a lot to you and you have to jump in the water so I had to go with the girls here, said the 2022 Fox 40 U SPORTS Coach of the Year. Our depth made the difference. We were one of the only team on the women side that had a full complement of 18 women qualified. We actually left three or four at home because we were only allowed to bring 18. We have some stars, but everybody scored points and it was important."
The most decorated individual athlete on the weekend was UBC's Danielle Hanus, who unsurprisingly won the Swimmer of the year award after collecting five gold medals (including the 200m backstroke, and the 4x100m medley relay on Saturday) along with a silver medal. "Honestly I don't really see it as an individual award I see it as a team award. No matter what I do in the pool, it's still a team-based race. I've never experienced something so uplifting, and I'm just proud to be a Bird," she said.
Concluding the meet with six medals (four gold and two silver), McGill's Clément Secchi won the U SPORTS Swimmer of the Year award. "I'm very happy since it was a great battle to the end with Sebastian Paulins (Western) and Blake Tierney (UBC). It's also great to get this award. I was very far from this four years ago so this makes me very happy."
Three more records were improved upon on Saturday for nine records set over the weekend in the PEPS pool. Lethbridge's Apollo Hess started the day with a new best time of 26.74 seconds in the 50m breaststroke. Later in the evening, the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year winner improved his personal best and a Canadian senior record with a time of 26.65 seconds.
In the same event on the women's side, Manitoba's Kelsey Wog improved a mark she previously shared with Calgary's Fiona Doyle (30.70), stopping the watch at 30.45 seconds for a fourth gold medal at these championships.
The UBC Thunderbirds improved their own U SPORTS record of 3:32.36 in the men's 4x100m medley relay going back to 2017. On their last race of the season this weekend, Tayden De Pol, Keir Ogilvie, Justice Migneault and Blake Tierney contributed to the time of 3:29.74.
Female Rookie of the Year Emma O'Croinin of UBC won the first event of the evening, the 800m freestyle, touching the wall in 8:33.35. It was Emma's fourth gold medal at these Championships, to add to her two silver medals.
"There were so many great performances all around from both our men and women," continued Schoof upon final reflection on yet another standout showing on the national stage for the storied Thunderbirds swimming program. "We saw several team records, U Sport Records and even a National record fall. It's always difficult to single out individual performances, there were just too many. The highlight of the meet for me were the 4x100 medley relays for both teams in the final day of competition. Our women led start to finish and just missed the U SPORTS record. And our men swam with their eye on the u sport and national record which they crushed on the last race of the competition. Always nice to see our team really make a statement on day three at the U SPORTS championships."
Individual Awards
Women
- Swimmer of the Year: Danielle Hanus, UBC
- Rookie of the Year: Emma O'Croinin, UBC
- Fox 40 Coach of the Year: Byron Macdonald, Toronto
- Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Malorie Kanaan, Ottawa
Men
- Swimmer of the Year: Clément Secchi, McGill
- Rookie of the Year: Apollo Hess, Lethbridge
- Fox 40 Coach of the Year: Derrick Schoof, UBC
- Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Kier Przyswitt, Alberta
The Swimmer of the Year is awared to the athlete with the largest amount of points based on their two performances, based on Swimming Canada's table. Gold medallists (including the members of a winning relay team) are named U SPORTS' First-team All-Stars, and the silver medallists who have not won a gold medal, (including during a relay event) are named U SPORTS Second-Team All-Canadians.
