VANCOUVER – The action came thick and fast on the first night of the 60th annual Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet, as top talent from around the world graced the waters of the UBC Aquatic Centre.
"Overall, the first day went great," said Thunderbirds head coach
Derrick Schoof. "The meet organizers did a fantastic job getting everything set up, and things ran really smoothly. I think all the teams here are really happy with the level of competition and they're getting a lot of great racing in."
UBC swimmers were well-represented on the podium throughout the day, with four golds, two silvers and a bronze in the individual races and a pair of silvers in the relays.
"I'm really proud of our 'Birds and how they're preparing this summer," added Schoof. "They're exactly where I'd want them to be right now at this stage of the game. We had some good things going on today and I'm looking for some more good things tomorrow."
Finlay Knox was the top T-Bird on the day with first-place finishes in both the Men's 50m Butterfly and the Men's 100m Backstroke, the latter of which he won with a time of 1:01.64, nearly 2.5 seconds ahead of second place.
Tanner Cole had a similarly dominant victory in the Men's 400m Medley, surging out in front as the race wore on and finishing with a time of 4:27.84, clearing his nearest competitor by over five full seconds.
Emma O'Croinin was the other gold medallist on the day for UBC, winning Women's 200m Freestyle with a time of 2:00.78. The most decorated T-Bird woman, however, was
Eloise Allen. While she didn't snag a gold, the third-year athlete was busy all night long with a silver in the 100m Backstroke, bronze in the 50m Butterfly, and silver in the 4x100m Freestyle, where she swam the opening leg followed by
Rose Garcia,
Jade Lo and
Camryn Stannard.
One of the closest finals was the Men's 200m Backstroke, which pitted two Canadian Olympians – Cole Pratt and UBC's
Blake Tierney – against each other. Swimming directly side-by-side in the middle of the pool, it was a photo finish as Pratt touched the wall with a time of 2:01.33, just 0.2 seconds ahead of Tierney.
Fellow Team Canada swimmer Kylie Masse also earned a silver in her lone final on the first night, doing so in the Women's 50m Butterfly.
The final medal of the day for UBC came in the final race of the day, as the quartet of
Joel Blanco,
Jake Gaunt,
Frank Ho and
Olivier Risk came second in the Men's 4x100m Freestyle. Other notable Thunderbird performances included
Justice Migneault missing the podium by just 0.03 seconds in the Men's 50m Butterfly,
Kai Lilienthal finishing fifth in the same event, and Cole and Gaunt getting fifth-place finishes in the Men's 100m Backstroke and Men's 200m Freestyle, respectively.
The high-level competition continues tomorrow, as the prelims get underway at 9:00 a.m. (PT) and the finals begin at 5:30 p.m. (PT) at the UBC Aquatic Centre.
