Bielby and Benoit bronzed as 10 McGill records fall at CIS swim championship meet
(Steven Bielby (left) and Marc-Andre Benoit pose on podium after winning bronze. Photo by James Hajjar, courtesy Univ. de Montreal)
MONTREAL - McGill swimmers took home three bronze medals and broke an unprecedented 10 school records at the CIS championships, a three-day event hosted by the Universite de Montreal that concluded Saturday at the CEPSUM pool.
McGill finished seventh of 22 schools on the men's side and 12th in the women's division.
Complete results are available online at: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/swim/index
Teammates Steven Bielby of Pte. Claire, Que., and Marc-Andre Benoit, from Montreal, came through with strong performances on the final day as each captured bronze medals despite swimming from Lane 7, in the 200-metre individual medley (2:01.47) and the 100 freestyle (49.56), respectively.
It was the second bronze of the meet for Bielby, who also finished tied for third in the 400m individual medley (4:18.18) on Thursday and helped the relay squads eclipse two school records. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound engineering senior has become McGill's most decorated swimmer, with 11 career CIS medals -- a school record six gold, to go along with one silver and four bronzes. His tally surpasses the team mark for most CIS podium finishes (10) set by Alexandre Pichette (2 golds, 3 silvers, 5 bronzes) who swam for the Redmen from 2000 to 2003.
"The meet ended on a very high note," said McGill head coach Peter Carpenter. "We were four points back of McMaster on the men's side going into the final session and ended up beating them by seven in the end, which made for a very exciting finish. Our men's team improved four spots on their final standing in last year's championship and the women moved up two spots as well, so I'm really proud of the team. They showed a lot of resilience and character over the weekend. "
Benoit, a management freshman, smashed school records in five events, including the 50 butterfly (24.65), 100 butterfly (54.78) and 100 freestyle (49.37).
He teamed up with Bielby to better the school standards in the 4x200 freestyle relay (7:25.91), along with Joseph Toops of Evanston, Ill., and Pierre-Alexandre Renaud of Laval, Que. Then Benoit managed a similiar feat with the 4x100 medley relay (3:42.63), composed of Bielby, Toops and Matthew Khatchadourian, in addition to the 4x100 free relay (3:20.85), which was composed of Benoit, Toops, Luck and Bielby.
Khatchadourian, a senior from Beaconsfiled, Que., also toppled a team mark in the 100 breast (1:02.62), while Toops accomplished the feat in the 100 fly (54.70) and Montrealer Michael Luck, a freshman, who established a new barrier in the 50 breast (28.95).
The only Martlets record to tumble occurred in the 200 breast (2:33.25) set by Valerie De Broux, a freshman from Montreal whose grandfather Charlie Lafontaine skated for the hockey Redmen in the last 1940s.
The UBC women dominated the three-day meet from start to finish and ended up with a championship record 811.5 points, good for a remarkable 206-point advantage over the three-time defending champion Calgary Dinos (605.5). The Toronto Varsity Blues rounded out the podium (355.5). Calgary had set the previous standard of 791 points in 2009.
It marked the first women's title in four seasons for the Thunderbirds, who had captured a record 11 consecutive banners from 1998 to 2008 before watching archrival Calgary triumph each of the last three years.
The men's race was much closer. Heading into the final event, the always spectacular 4x100m medley, UBC held a slim seven-point lead over Toronto (524-517). The Thunderbirds secured the team title with a second-place finish in the relay behind Calgary, while the Blues settled for fourth position.
UBC ended up with 558 points and Toronto with 547, while two-time defending champion Calgary was a distant third at 383.
UBC swept all four individual awards on the women's side. Olympian Savannah King of Vancouver was named swimmer of the year, Tera Van Beilen earned top-rookie honours, Price was voted coach of the year, while Hayley Pipher of Kelowna, B.C., received the inaugural Student-athlete Community Service Award.
On the men's side, T-Bird standout Tommy Gossland of Nanaimo, B.C., was named MVP. The other male awards went to Alberta's Joe Byram of Vernon, B.C. (rookie of the year), Toronto's Byron MacDonald (coach of the year) and Laval's Simon Couillard-Castonguay of Quebec City (Student-athlete Community Service Award).
King, who was named CIS rookie of the year last season and represented Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finished the weekend with five medals, including gold in the 800 and 400 free, silver in the 4x200 free relay, and bronze in the 200 back and 200 free.
After breaking both the championship and Canadian records in the 400 free on Friday, the second-year arts student set a new meet standard of 8:25.68 in the 800 free on Saturday, eclipsing the previous mark of 8:30.39 established by UNB's Carla Geurts back in 2003. Those two swims were the difference for the MVP award, which goes to the athlete with the highest aggregate point total for her two best races as based on Swim Canada's performance charts.
Gossland finished the meet with five gold medals, including in the 50, 100 and 200 free and the 4x100 free and 4x200 free relays, as well as silver in the 4x100 medley.
In addition to male-MVP honours, the fifth-year kinesiology student was awarded the Sprinter's Cup for his victories in the 50 and 100 free. He secured the trophy on Saturday with a winning time of 47.82 in the shorter event.
Aside from King's performance in the 800 free, two more championship records fell on Day 3 to bring the weekend total to seven.
Freshman Geneviève Cantin of Jonquière, Que., a linguistics student at Laval University, clocked 2:06.19 in the women's 200 back to shatter former Calgary star Katy Murdoch's 2009 time of 2:06.81.
In the women's 4x100 medley, the Thunderbirds put an exclamation mark on a dominating meet. The foursome of Rachelle Salli of Langley, B.C., Van Beilen, Grainne Pierse of Edmonton and Heather MacLean of Toronto touched the wall in 4:02.45 to eclipse Calgary's performance from 2010 (4:03.28).
The University of Calgary will host the 2013 CIS swimming championships.
INDIVIDUAL HONOURS
Women
Swimmer of the year: Savannah King, UBC
Rookie of the year: Tera Van Beilen, UBC
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): no winner
Coach of the year: Steve Price, UBC
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Hayley Pipher, UBC
Men
Swimmer of the year: Tommy Gossland, UBC
Rookie of the year: Joe Byram, Alberta
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Tommy Gossland, UBC
Coach of the year: Byron MacDonald, Toronto
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Simon Couillard-Castonguay, Laval
NOTE (swimmers of the year): Female and male swimmers with the highest aggregate point total for his/her two best swims as based on Swim Canada's performance charts.
NOTE (All-Canadians): All gold medallists at the CIS championships - including relays - are first-team all-Canadians for the 2011-12 season. All silver medallists - who did not win a gold medal - are second-team all-Canadians.
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
Women
1. UBC, 811.5 points (CIS championship record)
2. Calgary, 605.5
3. Toronto, 355.5
4. Laval, 252.5
5. Western, 238
6. Alberta, 207
7. Dalhousie, 202.5
8. Ottawa, 171
9. Montreal, 103.5
10. Guelph, 103
11. McMaster, 97
12. McGill, 50.5
13. UQTR, 49
14. Manitoba, 34
15. Victoria, 32
16. Laurentian, 24
17. Lethbridge, 17.5
18. UPEI, 14
18. UNB, 14
20. Regina, 8
Men (Nelson C. Hart trophy)
1. UBC, 558 points
2. Toronto, 547
3. Calgary, 383
4. Alberta, 337
5. Laval, 236.5
6. Dalhousie, 234
7. McGill, 217.5
8. McMaster, 210.5
9. Western, 166
10. Montreal, 110.5
11. Guelph, 110
12. Ottawa, 86
13. Victoria, 63
14. Lethbridge, 55
15. Waterloo, 46
16. Manitoba, 7
17. Acadia, 5
DAY 3 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Saturday)
Women 800m Free
1. Savannah King, UBC, 8:25.68 (CIS championship record)
2. Bridget Coley, Toronto, 8:37.71
3. Breanna Hendriks, Calgary, 8:44.68
Men 50m Breast
1. Jason Block, Calgary, 28.09
2. Brian Lee, Toronto, 28.17
3. Jake Armstrong, Western, 28.24
W 50m Breast
1. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 31.01
2. Martha McCabe, UBC, 31.24
3. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 31.37
M 200m Back
1. Matthew Myers, Toronto, 1:56.46
2. Joe Byram, Alberta, 1:57.12
3. Gleb Suvorov, Calgary, 1:58. 24
W 200m Back
1. Geneviève Cantin, Laval, 2:06.19 (CIS championship record)
2. Rachelle Salli, UBC, 2:10.98
3. Savannah King, UBC, 2:11.10
M 100m Free
1. Tommy Gossland, UBC, 47.82
2. Rory Biskupski, UBC, 49.19
3. Marc-André Benoit, McGill, 49.56
W 100m Free
1. Heather MacLean, UBC, 53.98
2. Amanda Reason, Calgary, 54.02
3. Caroline Lapierre-Lemire, UQTR, 54.92
M 200m IM
1. Gleb Suvorov, Calgary, 2:01.13
2. Frédéric Le Blanc, Montreal, 2:01.40
3. Steven Bielby, McGill, 2:01.47
W 200m IM
1. Vanessa Treasure, Toronto, 2:13.93
2. Brittney Harley, UBC, 2:14.36
3. Laura Thompson, UBC, 2:14.62
M 1500m Free
1. Robert Wise, Western, 15:14.02
2. Chris Reith, Dalhousie, 15:19.86
3. Brian Yakiwchuk, Alberta, 15:24.21
W 4 x 100m Medley Relay
1. UBC, 4:02.45 (CIS championship record)
(Rachelle Salli, Tera Van Beilen, Grainne Pierse, Heather MacLean)
2. Calgary 4:03.69
(Jessika Craig, Fiona Doyle, Jessica Johnson, Amanda Reason)
3. Alberta, 4:08.70
(Sasha Sproule, Kayla Voytechek, Erin Miller, Bobbie Mielnichuk)
M 4 x 100m Medley Relay
1. Calgary, 3:36.47
(Michael Lowenstein, Jason Block, Gleb Suvorov, Colin Miazga)
2. UBC, 3:38.68
(Kelly Aspinall, Sam Acton, Rory Biskupski, Tommy Gossland)
3. Alberta, 3:39.86
(Joe Byram, Stephen Giovanetto, Joshua Au, Robert MacKinnon)
DAY 2 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Friday)
Women 100m Back
1. Andrea Jurenovskis, Toronto, 1:00.32
2. Geneviève Cantin, Laval, 1:00.53
3. Rachelle Salli, UBC, 1:01.13
Men 100m Back
1. Gleb Suvorov, Calgary, 52.82
2. Joe Byram, Alberta, 53.30
3. Craig Brazier, UBC, 54.40
W 50m Fly
1. Alisha Harricharan, Guelph, 27.02
2. Erin Miller, Alberta, 27.41
3. Vanessa Charron, Laval, 27.45
M 50m Fly
1. Mike Smerek, Toronto, 23.33 (CIS championship record)
2. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 23.78
3. Brian Lee, Toronto, 24.22
W 400m Free
1. Savannah King, UBC, 4:02.76 (CIS championship record / Canadian record)
2. Heather MacLean, UBC, 4:09.34
3. Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, 4:11.11
M 400m Free
1. Frank Despond, Toronto, 3:47.58
2. Robert Wise, Western, 3:52.26
3. Cameron Bailey, McMaster, 3:52.49
W 200m Breast
1. Martha McCabe, UBC 2:23.02
2. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 2:23.06
3. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 2:25.69
M 200m Breast
1. Frédéric Le Blanc, Montreal, 2:10.29
2. Jason Block, Calgary, 2:11.88
3. Matthew Stephenson, Guelph, 2:13.52
W 50m Free
1. Amanda Reason, Calgary, 25.13
2. Caroline Lapierre-Lemire, UQTR, 25.28
3. Seanna Mitchell, Calgary, 25.45
M 50m Free
1. Tommy Gossland, UBC, 22.15
2. Brian Lee, Toronto, 22.50
2. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 22.50
W 200m Fly
1. Erin Miller, Alberta, 2:11.58
2. Jessica Johnson, Calgary, 2:12.44
3. Vanessa Charron, Laval, 2:12.82
3. Vanessa Treasure, Toronto, 2:12.82
M 200m Fly
1. David Sharpe, Dalhousie, 1:57.13
2. Curtis Samuel, Toronto, 1:59.09
3. Marc-André Ruel, Montreal, 2:01.23
W 4 x 200m Free Relay
1. Calgary, 7:57.43
(Amanda Reason, Breanna Hendriks, Fiona Doyle, Lindsay Delmar)
2. UBC, 7:59.73
(Savannah King, Brittney Harley, Fionnuala Pierse, Heather MacLean)
3. Toronto, 8:07.10
(Andrea Jurenovskis, Bridget Coley, Pamela Ruskys, Heather Maitland)
M 4 x 200m Free Relay
1. UBC, 7:14.28
(Matthew Godbeer, Tommy Gossland, Rory Biskupski, Duncan Furrer)
2. Calgary, 7:17.41
(Bryan Wray, Colin Miazga, David Woodman, Connor Maxey)
3. Toronto, 7:22.16
(Matthew Myers, Frank Despond, Taylor Bond, Curtis Samuel)
DAY 1 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Thursday)
Women 200m Free
1. Heather MacLean, UBC, 1:57.44
2. Amanda Reason, Calgary, 1:57.51
3. Savannah King, UBC, 1:57.56
Men 200m Free
1. Tommy Gossland, UBC, 1:46.93
2. Cameron Bailey, McMaster, 1:48.10
3. Frank Despond, Toronto, 1:48.50
W 50m Back
1. Andrea Jurenovskis, Toronto, 28.11
2. Grainne Pierse, UBC, 28.55
3. Geneviève Cantin, Laval, 28.63
M 50m Back
1. Gleb Suvorov, Calgary, 24.74
2. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 24.82
3. David Sharpe, Dalhousie, 25.24
W 100m Breast
1. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 1:05.89
2. Martha McCabe, UBC, 1:06.83
3. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 1:07.32
M 100m Breast
1. Jason Block, Calgary, 1:00.48
2. Frédéric Le Blanc, Montreal, 1:00.64
3. Jake Armstrong, Western, 1:01.18
W 100m Fly
1. Erin Miller, Alberta, 59.12 (CIS championship record)
2. Jessica Johnson, Calgary, 1:00.39
3. Alisha Harricharan, Guelph, 1:00.50
M 100m Fly
1. Mike Smerek, Toronto, 52.87
2. Wil Wright, Guelph, 53.72
3. David Sharpe, Dalhousie, 53.91
W 400m IM
1. Vanessa Treasure, Toronto, 4:38.76
2. Geneviève Cantin, Laval, 4:40.93
3. Jessica Johnson, Calgary, 4:41.27
M 400m IM
1. Jeremie Holdom, Toronto, 4:17.77
2. Zach Summerhayes, Toronto, 4:17.79
3. Steven Bielby, McGill, 4:18.18
3. Patrick Cowan, UBC, 4:18.18
W 4 x 100m Free Relay
1. Calgary 3:39.11
(Fiona Doyle, Seanna Mitchell, Amanda Reason, Lindsay Delmar)
2. UBC 3:39.38
(Heather MacLean, Brittney Harley, Rebeca Terejko, Fionnuala Pierse) *
3. Western 3:46.91
(Paulina Bond, Ashleigh Dunnington, Katie Keeping, Hayley Nell)
* NOTE: Heather MacLean of UBC new CIS championship record - 100m free - of 53.78.
M 4 x 100m Free Relay
1. UBC 3:15.30 (CIS championship record)
(Kelly Aspinall, Tommy Gossland, Rory Biskupski, Duncan Furrer)
2. Calgary 3:18.97
(Colin Miazga, Bryan Wray, Gleb Suvorov, Connor Maxey)
3. Toronto 3:19.96
(Mike Smerek, Taylor Bond, Frank Despond, Luke Hall)
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For more information contact:
Earl Zukerman, McGill Athletics & Recreation (514) 398-7012
Benoit Mongeon, University of Montreal, (514) 232-4420
Michel Bélanger, CIS, (613) 447-6334