Swimming Championships

Canada West swimming championships: UBC claim both team titles; King, Allen, Coach Price among award winners

Canada West swimming championships: UBC claim both team titles; King, Allen, Coach Price among award winners

Source: Ben Matchett, Calgary / Canada West Universities Athletic Association / Photo credit David Moll

CALGARY - Domination by UBC continued to be the story Sunday as the Thunderbirds were crowned conference champions in both men's and women's swimming as the 2014 Canada West swimming championships wrapped up at the University of Calgary Aquatic Centre.

Led by swimmer of the year Savannah King, the Thunderbird women ran away with the Felstad Memorial Trophy, setting a conference record with 1,017 points, finishing nearly 500 points ahead of second-place Calgary (574) in the team race. Alberta came in third with 473.5 points, followed by Lethbridge (294.5), Victoria (272.5), Manitoba (176), and Regina (102.5).

The men's race was far closer, but it was still a comfortable lead for UBC led by male swimmer of the year Coleman Allen. The Thunderbirds captured 941 points to earn the E.W. Griffiths Trophy, nearly 200 better than second-place Calgary's 755 points. Alberta's 404 was good enough for third as they edged Victoria (398) by just six points, while Lethbridge (310), Manitoba (173), and Regina (133) rounded out the men's standings.

UBC's head coach Steve Price earned coach of the year honours for both the men's and women's teams after his swimmers scored their dominant victories, and he was enthusiastic about the effort put forward by his squad.

"We're very, very pleased with how we swam, it's quite outstanding," said Price. "We had some high hopes coming into the weekend, and our kids stepped up and surpassed what we thought they could do. We have seen what we wanted to see at this point in the season, and our women are in a great spot. We have a very young men's team and they stepped up this weekend. We know we'll be in tough against Toronto, but they have certainly done their job for now."

The UBC women head to the CIS championships, Feb. 20-22 at the University of Toronto, looking for a third consecutive national title, while the men will try to wrestle it back from the host Varsity Blues, who put an end to 18 years of Canada West domination with their CIS title in 2013.

Allen and King both added to their medal hauls Sunday as they earned the swimmer of the meet awards. King, the 2013 CIS swimmer of the year, scored the best swim of the meet in the final event, the women's 400-metre freestyle to win her fourth individual gold medal of the event. Her times in the 400 and 800 freestyle events gave her a combined FINA points total of 1,669. Allen, meanwhile, completed the butterfly triple, setting new Canada West records at all three distances in the stroke, capped off with his 1:57.59 swim in the 200-metre event Sunday to lower his own record by half a second. His 100- and 200-metre butterfly swims gave him a total of 1,604 FINA points.

The Thunderbirds also swept the rookie of the year honours, with the women's going to Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson and the men's to Johnathan Brown. Both were two-time gold medalists: Seltenreich-Hodgson won both the 200- and 400-metre individual medleys, while Brown took gold in the distance events, the 1500- and 400-metre freestyle. Brown added a silver in the 200 IM and a bronze in the 400 IM, while Seltenreich-Hodgson also took a bronze medal in the 200-metre butterfly.

Calgary's Russell Wood, the 2013 Canada West rookie of the year, completed a strong meet with a tough three-swim stretch Sunday afternoon. Wood picked up his third gold medal of the meet in the 200 IM, then grabbed a fourth just minutes later in the 100-metre backstroke to sweep the three distances in that discipline. Minutes after that, he swam the opening leg for the Dinos in the 4x100-metre medley relay, where Calgary finished second.

In total, five conference records went down during the meet: three from Allen in the 50-, 100-, and 200-metre butterfly, one by Wood in the 200 backstroke, and in the most exciting race of the event, the men's 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay on Friday night, Calgary and UBC tied for the gold medal and the Canada West record.

UBC's dominance on the women's side was illustrated most notably in three events where the Thunderbirds swept the podium. Heather MacLean led the UBC sweep in the 100 freestyle, as did Erin Stamp in the 100 backstroke. And in the 200 IM, Seltenreich-Hodgson's gold medal led a flock of no less than seven Thunderbirds in the 'A' final, with Calgary's Alana Skocdopole the only non-UBC swimmer in the entire race.

Other champions on Sunday included Victoria's Stephanie Horner in the 200-metre butterfly , UBC's Luke Peddie in the 100-metre freestyle, and UBC's Tera Van Beilen in the 200 breaststroke. Alberta rookie Nick Kostiuk took home gold in the men's 200 breaststroke, while the Thunderbirds swept the relay golds.

The student-athlete community service awards went to Alberta's Kristan Kushlyk and Brad Crocker from the University of Calgary.

A second-year swimmer, Kushlyk is a volunteer on the Executive of the University of Alberta Oxfam chapter that promotes Human Rights through research, advocacy and the campaign against poverty. The Science major is also on the Executive of the University of Alberta Canfar chapter which raises awareness of HIV and AIDS and raises funds for the Canada Foundation for AIDS research. From a swimming standpoint, Kushlyk also volunteers her time teaching fundamental competitive swimming skills to swimmers that have sensory, physical and intellectual impairment through the University of Alberta Para-Swimming Development Program.

Crocker is a second-year kinesiology student and volunteers at the Rehab Fitness Centre. He works with people that have mobility restrictions and aids in developing rehab fitness programs to encourage physical activity and promote goals for recovery. Outside of the pool, Crocker volunteers his time at the Colonel Belcher's Senior Residence.

WOMEN
1. UBC, 1071 points (Canada West record)
2. Calgary, 574
3. Alberta, 473.5
4. Lethbridge, 294.5
5. Victoria, 272.5
6. Manitoba, 176
7. Regina, 102.5

MEN
1. UBC, 941
2. Calgary, 755
3. Alberta, 404
4. Victoria, 398
5. Lethbridge, 310
6. Manitoba, 173
7. Regina, 133

CANADA WEST AWARD WINNERS

Swimmers of the Meet
Men: Coleman Allen, UBC
Women: Savannah King, UBC

Rookies of the Year
Men: Jonathan Brown, UBC
Women: Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, UBC

Student-Athlete Community Service
Men: Brad Crocker, Calgary
Women: Kristan Kushlyk, Alberta

Coach of the Year
Men: Steve Price, UBC
Women: Steve Price, UBC

First Team Canada West All-Stars
(all gold medal winners)

MEN
Coleman Allen, UBC
Jonathan Brown, UBC
Justin Chan, UBC
Sergey Holson, UBC
Bogdan Knezevic, Calgary
Nick Kostiuk, Alberta
Stefan Milosevic, UBC
Lucas Otruba, UBC
Luke Peddie, UBC
Luke Reilly, UBC
Reid Scarrow, Calgary
Russell Wood, Calgary
David Woodman, Calgary
Keegan Zanatta, Victoria

WOMEN
Kendra Chernoff, Alberta
Fiona Doyle, Calgary
Brittney Harley, UBC
Stephanie Horner, Victoria
Savannah King, UBC
Heather MacLean, UBC
Sarah McLean, UBC
Charlotte Philpotts, UBC
Fionnuala Pierse, UBC
Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, UBC
Erin Stamp, UBC
Rebecca Terejko, UBC
Tera Van Beilen, UBC

All qualifiers now head to the CIS championship meet, February 20-22 at the University of Toronto.

DAY 3 RESULTS (SUNDAY)

Women 200 Butterfly
1. Stephanie Horner, Victoria, 2:13.32
2. Kendra Chernoff, Alberta, 2:13.60
3. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, UBC, 2:14.91

Men 200 Butterfly
1. Coleman Allen, UBC, 1:57.59 (Canada West record)
2. Thomas Jobin, Calgary, 1:59.80
3. Keegan Zanatta, Victoria, 2:00.13

Women 100 Freestyle
1. Heather MacLean, UBC, 55.62
2. Fionnuala Pierse, UBC, 56.29
3. Rebecca Terejko, UBC, 56.39

Men 100 Freestyle
1. Luke Peddie, UBC, 49.82
2. David Woodman, Calgary, 49.84
3. Stefan Milosevic, UBC, 49.97

Women 200 IM
1. Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, UBC, 2:12.48
2. Erin Stamp, UBC, 2:13.50
3. Laura Thompson, UBC, 2:14.77

Men 200 IM
1. Russell Wood, Calgary, 2:00.91
2. Jonathan Brown, UBC, 2:02.90
3. Tristan Cote, Calgary, 2:04.95

Women 100 Backstroke
1. Erin Stamp, UBC, 1:01.33
2. Sarahn McLean, UBC, 1:02.09
3. McKenzie Summers, UBC, 1:03.14

Men 100 Backstroke
1. Russell Wood, Calgary, 53.85
2. Joe Byram, Alberta, 54.35
3. Lucas Otruba, UBC, 55.08

Women 200 Breaststroke
1. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 2:24.35
2. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 2:25.86
3. Tianna Rissling, Calgary, 2:28.27

Men 200 Breaststroke
1. Nick Kostiuk, Alberta, 2:12.46
2. Dillon Perron, Manitoba, 2:13.21
3. Bogdan Knezevic, Calgary, 2:16.20

Women 400 Freestyle
1. Savannah King, UBC, 2:08.39
2. Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, 4:16.80
3. Talia Benson, Calgary, 4:24.13

Men 400 Freestyle
1. Jonathan Brown, UBC, 3:52.92
2. Tristan Cote, Calgary, 3:54.58
3. David Woodman, Calgary, 3:56.05

Women 4x100 Medley Relay
1. UBC (Erin Stamp, Tera Van Beilen, Charlotte Philpotts, Heather MacLean), 4:03.66
2. Calgary (Tianna Rissling, Fiona Doyle, Chelsea Shaul, Lindsay Delmar), 4:11.24
3. Victoria (Stephanie Horner, Jordan Stariha, Rachael Newman, Sarah Galbraith), 4:18.53

Men 4x100 Medley Relay
1. UBC (Lucas Otruba, Sergey Holson, Coleman Allen, Luke Peddie), 3:37.78
2. Calgary (Russell Wood, Bogdan Knezevic, Thomas Jobin, David Woodman), 3:39.26
3. Alberta (Joe Byram, Nick Kostiuk, Scott Stewart, Hunter Balch), 3:40.96

Day 1 Results

Day 2 Results

Canada West Records

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