With two-thirds of the Canada West Swimming Championships in the books, the Thunderbirds continue to perform at a very high level on both the men's and women's sides of the event. UBC swimmers earned gold in 11 of the 14 events on Day 2, with a handful of conference records broken for good measure.
In the overall team standings, the T-Birds remain in first place with 707.5 on the women's side and 719.5 on the men's. Calgary's women's and men's teams are the closest behind them, with 496.5 and 529.5 respectively.
Kayla Sanchez kicked off the night by setting another individual Canada West record at 23.90 in the women's 50m freestyle, after breaking her own previous one set in 2024. Calgary's Eliza Housman earned second (25.35), and Ella Howe of the University of Manitoba earned their first medal, finishing with a time of 25.50.
In the men's event,
Yuri Kisil claimed the top spot, touching the wall in 21.50, smashing his 2017 record of 21.78. Kisil's teammate
Frank Ho clinched second (22.62) and Gibson Black from the Dinos came in third to the wall, coming in at 22.65.
The next event saw Calgary star Alexanne Lepage win her second of the competition in the women's 400m individual medley with a time of 4:41.05. Dinos teammate Sarah Haugen finished second with 4:48.54, and UBC's
Lindsay Gordon finished third with 4:54.68.
In the men's 400m individual medley, UBC took the first and second spot on the podium with
Aiden Kirk (4:14.69) claiming the gold and
Jaques Harrison (4:15.96) finishing with silver. Carter Scheffel earned 16 points for the Dinos with a time of 4:20.23.
The Thunderbirds completed a podium sweep in the women's 100m butterfly, with the final placements coming down to the tenths of a second.
Sela Wist earned gold in 1:00.00, followed by teammates
Benya Mattig (1:00.65) and
Brooklyn Wiens (1:00.66)
Claiming gold in the men's 100m butterfly in 51.93 was the Dinos' Nicholas Duncan. Thomas McDonald of Calgary (52.72) clinched second, while
Wells Ginzer from UBC (52.76) rounded out the podium.
In the women's 200m backstroke, UBC swept the podium with
Bridget Burton earning gold with a time of 2:06.75. Emma O'Cronin finishing in 2:11.50 took silver, while
Piper Mitchell got third in 2:13.61.
Harrison (1:55.91) and
Raben Dommann (1:58.26) from UBC claimed first and second respectively on the men's side of the 200m backstroke, with Calgary's Ewan Shearer (2:00.04) coming in third.
After the second medal ceremony of the night, Alexanne Lepage continued to show her dominance in the pool with a gold medal performance (1:05.54) in the women's 100m breaststroke. UBC's
Eloise Allen was second in 1:06.64, while the Pronghorns' Ryenne Katerhagen won her team's first bronze medal of the Championship with a time of 1:09.87.
In the men's event,
Justice Migneault (59.62) from the T-Birds was on the podium in first, while the Dinos' Duncan finished next in 59.863. We saw our first tie of the night when Dinos swimmer Ian Cameron and UBC's
Ethan Hemeon both hit the wall with a time of 59.92.
The top two spots in the women's 200m freestyle went to Birds, with Sanchez crushing the competition with a time of 1:55.49, and
Ruby Kehler and Calgary's Myriam Hickey following behind at 2:02.43 and 2:02.95, respectively.
The final individual event of the night saw similar outcomes to the women's finish. UBC took the gold and silver with
Paul Hebrard finishing in 1:47.92 and
Jake Gaunt close behind with 1:48.15. Victoria's Keir Oglivie was third with a time of 1:49.10.
The Thunderbirds broke Canada West records in both 400m freestyle relays, with the women smashing their previous record at 3:36.54 and the men finishing in 3:14.90.
The 2025 Canada West Swimming Championships end on Sunday, with prelims beginning at 8:00 a.m. and finals at 3 p.m. (PT).
Team Scores
WOMEN
UBC – 707.5
Calgary – 496.5
Victoria – 286
Lethbridge – 223
Manitoba – 117
Regina – 93
MEN
UBC – 719.5
Calgary – 529.5
Victoria – 283
Lethbridge – 192
Manitoba – 112
Regina – 79
