Recap: Day 1 of the 2024 U SPORTS Men's Swimming Championships

An 11-year-old record fell to highlight Day 1 of the U SPORTS national swim championships, a three-day meet hosted by McGill University at the Pointe Claire Aquatic Centre, Thursday.

Toronto, which leads the men's division with 396 points, captured two of the six gold medals handed out, to go along with five silvers and one bronze. UBC, which collected three bronze medals, sits second with 320 points, followed by Calgary (291), McGill (221) and Ottawa (165) to round out the top five.

The day started off with a bang when Andrew Herman of the Toronto Varsity Blues set a short-course championship meet record in the morning preliminaries of the 50-metre backstroke. He was clocked in 24.03 seconds to break the previous mark of 24.03 set by UBC's Kelly Aspinallin 2013.

"It was a fantastic prelim and final session for us today," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "The men have far-exceeded the pre-meet predictions and because of that have a huge lead over the favourite Calgary. The nice thing is we know Day 3 is our best day and we can pick up 50 points, so really (Day 2) is key to put it away if we can."

Freshman Bill Dongfang won gold and silver medals to pace the Varsity Blues. The economics major from Victoria, B.C., finished first in 100-metre butterfly in 54.48 seconds and was second in the 200 freestyle (1:52.12).

"It really showed something… that we're ready to win," said Dongfang. "It was definitely shocking, my first reaction was that I thought that my teammate had won the (100 fly) race… (In the prelims) this morning, just before the 200 freestyle heat, my cap ripped and a teammate immediately ran over to get me his cap and sacrificed his race and that's the reason why I was able to win a silver medal tonight."

The 200 free was won by McGill's Pablo Collin (1:51.76), who also helped his 4x100 freestyle relay foursome win silver (3:23.73), missing gold by a fraction at the touch. It was an emotional win for Collin, a 22-year-old computer science junior from Marseille, France, who was sidelined in the fall semester after a bike accident while training for a triathlon and more recently, was hospitalized with an inner-ear infection midway through the RSEQ conference championships in Quebec City.

"I felt like trash a few weeks ago and didn't really know what to expect at this meet," said Collin, who upped his lifetime medal tally at Nationals to four golds, two silvers and three bronzes. ". It feels great… to win gold in our first event of the day and it kind of releases the pressure that we had on our shoulders. It sends a good (vibe) throughout the whole team."

Other Day 1 gold medalists included Toronto's Jacob Gallant (200 individual medley, 4:22.88), Ottawa's Hugo Lemesle (100 breaststroke, 1:02.82) and Lethbridge's Christopher Alexander(50 backstroke, 25.89). The final race was the 4x100 freestyle relay, which the won by Calgary in 3:23.65. The winning quartet featured Stephen Calkins, Gibson Black, Addison Butler and Thomas McDonald.

The meet continues on Friday with morning prelims at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern), followed by evening finals at 5:30 p.m.

All sessions are streamed live in English on CBC GEM and cbcsports.ca  and in French on Radio-Canada.ca/Sports and ICI Tou.TV

INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS:

WOMEN

200 Freestyle: 1. Anna Dumont-Belanger, UBC, 2:02.35; 2. Ainsley Mcmurray, Toronto 2:02.61; 3. Haley Klenk, Toronto, 2:04.21.

100 Breaststroke: 1. Shona Brandon, Western, 1:07.64; 2. Alexanne Lepage, Calgary 1:08.07; 3. Eloise Allen, UBC, 1:10.43.

100 Butterfly: 1. Nina Mollin, Toronto,1:01.51; 2. Anais Arlandis, Montréal 1:01.73; 3. Sela Wist, UBC, 1:01.96.

50 Backstroke: 1. Bridget Burton, UBC, 28.91; 2. Eloise Allen, UBC, 29.29; 3. Hannah Johnsen, Calgary, 29.30.

400 Individual Medley: 1. Alexanne LePage, Calgary, 4:50.26; 2. Olivia Brendzan, Alberta, 4:54.59; 3. Nina Mollin, Toronto, 4:56.09.

4 x 100 Freestyle Relay: 1. Toronto (Teagan Vander Leek, Raili Kary, Lily Chubaty, Ainsley McMurray), 3:50.26; 2. Calgary (Hannah Bennett, Eliza Housman, Hannah Johnsen, Alexanne LePage), 3:51.31; 3. UBC (Anna Dumont-Belanger, Eloise Allen, Brooklyn Wiens, Bridget Burton), 3:51.60.

MEN

200 Freestyle: 1. Pablo Collin, McGill, 1:51.76; 2. Bill Dongfang, Toronto, 1:52.12; 3. Paul McKenzie Calgary, 1:53.21.

100 Breaststroke: 1. Hugo Lemesle, Ottawa, 1:02.82. 2. Gabe Mastromatteo, Toronto, 1:02.92; 3. Graeme Aylward, Toronto,1:02.93.

100 Butterfly: 1. Bill Dongfang, Toronto, 54.48; 2. Ahmed El Tatawy, Toronto, 54.64; 3. Thomas McDonald, Calgary, 54.67.

50 Backstroke: 1. Christopher Alexander, Lethbridge, 25.89; 2. Andrew Herman, Toronto, 25.91; 3. Hugh McNeill, UBC, 25.97.

400 Individual Medley: 1. Jacob Gallant, Toronto, 4:22.8; 2. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 4:23.34; 3. Hugh McNeill, UBC, 4:24.75.

4 x 100 Freestyle Relay: 1. Calgary (Stephen Calkins, Gibson Black, Addison Butler, Thomas Mcdonald) 3:23.65; 2. McGill (Pablo Collin, Erik Linseisen, Hazem Issa, Malachy Belkhelladi) 3:23.73; 3. UBC (Siu Lun Ho, Joel Blanco, Hugh McNeill, Jake Gaunt), 3:24.40.

TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1

WOMEN:

1. UBC, 550; 2. Toronto, 441.5; 3. Calgary, 272.5; 4. McGill, 223.5; 5. Western, 111.5; 6. McMaster, 70; 7. Manitoba, 60; 8. Victoria, 56.5; 9. Lethbridge, 53; 10. Alberta, 43; 11. Waterloo, 42; 12. Dalhousie, 34; 13. Acadia, 32; 14. Laval, 31; 15. Montréal, 28; 16. Guelph, 23; 17. Ottawa 21; 18. Brock 16 ; 19. Sherbrooke 13; 20. Regina,12.

MEN:

1. Toronto, 396; 2. UBC, 320; 3. Calgary, 291; 4. McGill, 221; 5. Ottawa, 165; 6. Alberta, 125; 7. Western, 95; 8. Waterloo, 67; 9. Lethbridge, 57; 10. Laval, 56; 11. Victoria, 47.5; 12. Dalhousie, 43; 13. McMaster, 41; 14. Laurier, 35; 15. Sherbrooke, 33; 16. Carleton, 26; 17. York, 23; 18. Manitoba, 22; 19. UQTR, 17; 20. (tie) Acadia and Regina 16; 22. UNB, 11.