OLYMPICS: McGill rowing grad advances to repechage, while volleyball grad drops beach opener
LONDON – Here is a Day 2 update on McGill University’s six Olympians competing at the Summer Games in London.
In rowing, Doug Vandor of Dewittville, Que., placed third in the opening heat of the men's lightweight double sculls, Sunday. Meanwhile, in women's beach volleyball, McGill grad Marie-Andrée Lessard of LaSalle, Que., lost 2-1 in her pairs preliminary opener to Britain.
On Saturday, the Canadian women's 4x100m freestyle relay team, which included Victoria Poon, a former McGill swimmer from LaSalle, Que., missed the final, finishing 11th with a time 3:39.60. Her next event, the 50m freestyle, is scheduled for Aug. 3 at 5 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
The 37-year-old Vandor, who began is rowing career at McGill more than a decade ago, teamed up with Morgan Jarvis, a former Queen's University rower from Winnipeg, to complete their 2,000-metre race in six minutes, 42.59 seconds. A boat from Italy won the event in 6:35.72 and a Portuguese crew placed second in 6:37.91. The top two boats advanced to Wednesday morning's semifinal round, while Canada can advance if they place among the top two from Tuesday's repechage - a second chance for rowers to advance to the next round - slated for 5:30 a.m. (Eastern). The top two boats in the repechage will advance to Thursday's medal round at 5:50 a.m.
In the beach volleyball match-up, Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin of the host British team, rallied to win by set scores of 17-21, 21-14 and 15-13. Lessard and teammate Annie Martin enjoyed a great start to the match and built a lead as high as six points midway through the first set. But it was the complete reverse in the second set, where Dampney and Mullin led from the start.
"They destabilized us with their service reception in the second set," Lessard told the media.
The second prelim match for Lessard and Martin will be against Russia on Tuesday (3 p.m.), followed by Italy on Friday (7 a.m.).
Another McGill rower, Derek O'Farrell of Montreal, makes his debut on Monday (5:40 a.m.) in the men's heavyweight four. He will be sitting in the stroke seat along with Queen's grad Michael Wilkinson (bow), Anthony Jacob (seat 2) of Vancouver, B.C., and William Dean (seat 3) of Kelowna, B.C. Canada's heat in the men's four includes boats from New Zealand, Australia, Serbia and Germany. The repechage is slated for Tuesday (5 a.m.), with the semifinals on Thursday (5:10 a.m.) and the finals on Saturday (5:30 a.m.).
Wrestler Martine Dugrenier, the fifth McGill grad competing at the Games, is scheduled for her inaugural bout in the women's 63 kg weight class on Aug. 8 (1 p.m.).
In synchronized swimming, Montrealer Jo-Annie Fortin, who will enter McGill as a psychology freshman in September, begins her competition on Aug. 9 (10 a.m.).
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
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