VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds swept top spot on the podium to conclude the second and final day of racing at the 2023 Odlum Brown Colleges Cup swim meet that showcased 250 top swimmers from western Canada inside the UBC Aquatic Centre. The T-Birds women's team finished with a whopping 1,422 points, followed by the Calgary Dinos (1,015) and Team Swim BC (797). On the men's side, the 'Birds took gold with 1,075 points, ahead of Calgary and Alberta rounded out the podium with 926 and 747 points, respectively.
 
Even with a considerable cushion in the standings after Saturday's results, UBC's women's team continued to dominate their competitors in the last finals session on Sunday evening.
 

SWIM | We're underway at the UBC Aquatic Centre for Sunday finals at the annual @Odlum_Brown Colleges Cup meet!@TBirds_Swimming looks to stay on top in day two of competition ??#GoBirdsGo

: Men's 4x50m Free pic.twitter.com/uOq0FCkNWH

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) November 5, 2023

"The women really showed me just how competitive they're going to be at U SPORTS," said head coach Derrick Schoof. "They dominated this weekend. They swam away with this thing, and they impressed the heck out of me. I'm really excited to see what they are going to be able to do at U SPORTS."


 
Emma O'Croinin scored a meet-high 96 points, topping off her weekend with two more individual wins on Saturday in the 200m and 50m freestyle races. Eloise Allen (93), Anna Dumont-Belanger (42), and Emma Spence (41) were also high earners for the hosting team.
 
On the men's side, Frank Ho, Ethan Hemeon, and Blake Tierney continued to get vital results in the pool to stay in the lead. Ho earned the top spot twice on Sunday afternoon in the 100m fly and 50m free.


 
"We had a couple of injuries to deal with today, so we were a little bit short on our numbers, but they still pulled ahead more than Calgary did," added Schoof when asked about the men's team's performance. "We're a tough team to beat, and to beat us here isn't going to happen that easily. Our guys are going to step up at every chance they get, and they showed that this weekend."
 
The weekend also saw several standout T-Birds rookie performances. Jake Gaunt earned 39 points for his team with a third-place result in the 100m free and played a crucial role in many of UBC's relay wins, while distance swimmer Olivier Risk shaved four seconds off his prelim time to claim gold in the 1,500m free. On the women's side, first-year Bridget Burton dominated the backstroke events, finding the podium in all of the 50m, 100m, and 200m.


 
The T-Birds women lit up the pool in their final race of the night when Burton, Allen, Sela Wist, and O'Croinin smashed the 400m medley meet record with a time of 4:02.38.
 
"This meet is about 20 years old; it's been every generation of the UBC swim team for the last 20 years, and we've had a lot of good teams. So, for this team to be three seconds faster than every team before is quite an accomplishment," remarked Schoof.


 
Next, the 'Birds are off to Calgary for the Canada West Swimming Championships on Friday, November 24th and Saturday, November 25th.
 
"It's definitely going to be a tougher environment for us," concluded Schoof. "Calgary is going to come out ready. Their fans are going to be there watching and screaming. They're going to put up a tough challenge for us, especially the men."
 
Day 2 Results
 
Women 200 Free Relay
1 UBC Thunderbirds  'A'        1:42.63
(Allen, Eloise / O'Croinin, Emma / Garcia, Rose / Dumont-Belanger, Anna)
2 U Of C DINOS  'A'              1:44.53
(Corson, Sarah / Moore, Julianne / Bennett, Hannah / Johnsen, Hannah)        
3 UM  'A'                                1:45.28
(Howe, Ella / Pengilly, Georgia / Schanel, Hannah / Fillion, Kelsey) 
 
Men 200 Free Relay
1 U Of C DINOS  'A'              1:31.07
(Calkins, Stephen / Butler, Addison / Dennett, Liam / Black, Gibson)    
2 UBC Thunderbirds  'A'        1:31.23
(Ho, Siu Lun / Blanco, Joel / Gaunt, Jake / Tierney, Blake)      
3 HORNS  'A'                         1:31.58
(Alexander, Chris / Brown, Parker / Bennett, Tristan / Arden, Raine)         
 
Women 100 Breast Finals
1 Lepage, Alexann      U Of C DINOS           1:07.39
2 Allen, Eloise            UBC Thunderbirds     1:08.84
3 Spence, Emma         UBC Thunderbirds     1:10.23
 
Men 100 Breast Finals
1 Hemeon, Ethan        UBC Thunderbirds     1:01.10
2 Kamminga, Frede    UALBERTA               1:02.05
3 Beggs, Carson          UM                              1:02.61
 
Women 50 Back Finals
1 Allen, Eloise            UBC Thunderbirds     27.62
2 Burton, Bridget        UBC Thunderbirds     27.92
3 Johnsen, Hannah      U Of C DINOS           27.97
 
Men 50 Back Finals
1 Alexander, Chri       HORNS                      25.35
2 Nguyen, Minh          UALBERTA               25.79
3 Lackovic, Alexa       UBC Thunderbirds     25.94
 
Women 200 Free Finals
1 O'Croinin, Emma     UBC Thunderbirds     1:56.03
2 Dumont-Belanger    UBC Thunderbirds     2:01.39
3 Stannard, Camry      UBC Thunderbirds     2:01.92
 
Men 200 Free Finals
1 McKenzie, Paul       U Of C DINOS           1:50.34
2 Paz, Diego               UALBERTA               1:50.60
3 Johnson, Niall          SBC/SPART               1:50.75
 
Women 100 Fly Finals
1 Fack, Leilani            SBC/LOSC                 59.79
2 Wist, Sela                 UBC Thunderbirds     59.88
3 Willar, Lora             UBC Thunderbirds     1:02.47
 
Men 100 Fly Finals
1 Ho, Siu Lun             UBC Thunderbirds     52.99
2 Tierney, Blake         UBC Thunderbirds     53.95
3 Mcdonald, Thoma   U Of C DINOS           54.63
 
Women 200 Back Finals
1 Burton, Bridget        UBC Thunderbirds     2:09.90
2 Leslie, Kamryn        UALBERTA               2:13.64
3 Daoud, Nadine         U Of C DINOS           2:14.89
 
Men 200 Back Finals
1 McNeill, Hugh         UBC Thunderbirds     1:58.26
2 Stokes, Richie          U Of C DINOS           2:00.46
3 Maibaum, David      SBC/RAPID               2:00.92
 
Women 50 Free Finals
1 O'Croinin, Emma     UBC Thunderbirds     25.31
2 Lehman, Delaney     HORNS                      25.83
3 Fack, Leilani            SBC/LOSC                 25.91
 
Men 50 Free Finals
1 Ho, Siu Lun             UBC Thunderbirds     22.61
2 Blanco, Joel             UBC Thunderbirds     23.08
3 Unrau, Ty                 UM                              23.09 
 
Women 200 IM Finals
1 Lepage, Alexann      U Of C DINOS           2:13.50
2 Spence, Emma         UBC Thunderbirds     2:16.70
3 Dumont-Belanger    UBC Thunderbirds     2:17.44
 
Men 200 IM Finals
1 Kamminga, Frede    UALBERTA               2:03.45
2 Young, Brodie         UBC Thunderbirds     2:04.02
3 Maibaum, David      SBC/RAPID               2:05.20
 
Women 800 Free
1 De Jager, Emily       U Of C DINOS           8:51.11
2 Davidson, Rosal       UBC Thunderbirds     8:52.81
3 Strojnowska, Ju       SBC/LOSC                 8:55.48
 
Men 1500 Free
1 Risk, Olivier            UBC Thunderbirds     15:19.15
2 Paz, Diego               UALBERTA               15:28.44
3 Versluys, Natha       U Of C DINOS           15:34.05
 
Women 400 Medley Relay
 1 UBC Thunderbirds  'A'       4:02.38
(Burton, Bridget / Allen, Eloise / Wist, Sela / O'Croinin, Emma)          
2 U Of C DINOS  'A'              4:10.46
(Johnsen, Hannah / Lepage, Alexanne / Dreyer, Kassua / Bennett, Hannah)      
3 SBC  'A'                               4:15.23
(Borromeo, Natascha / Larson, Macey / Fack, Leilani / Strojnowska, Julia) 
 
Men 400 Medley Relay
1 UBC Thunderbirds  'A'        3:36.87
(Tierney, Blake / Hemeon, Ethan / Ho, Siu Lun / Gaunt, Jake)           
2 U Of C DINOS  'A'              3:42.41
(Stokes, Richie / Luykenaar, Aiden / Mcdonald, Thomas / Calkins, Stephen) 
3 UALBERTA  'A'                 3:42.44
(Nguyen, Minh / Kamminga, Frederik /Hayhoe, Jack / Przyswitt, Kier)