MASSE RANKED NO. 1 IN THE WORLD
University of Toronto Varsity Blues swimming standout Kylie Masse touched the wall in 59.60 seconds in the 100m backstroke at an international meet in Switzerland on Sunday, which moves her to the No. 1 ranking in the world in the event that she won the 2016 Olympic bronze medal in.
Masse, and three of her Varsity Blues teammates, attended the high-calibre international meet in Uster, Switzerland, just outside of Zurich.
Masse picked up a total of three gold medals, sweeping the backstroke events, while her kinesiology classmate Victoria Radounski won her first ever international medal with a bronze in the 800 freestyle.
Sophomore standout Cameron Kidd narrowly missed a medal by only 2/10ths of a second and fourth-year veteran Matthew Dans also made the top final in the 100 butterfly.
"We send a handful of our highest ranked swimmers to this meet to gain experience in racing some faster folks than in U Sports," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "And to simply swim different people in a unique location."
"The difficulty is the time change," added MacDonald. "For major games such as this summer's world championships in Hungary, the Canadian team are going to two weeks ahead of the competition to be sure they adjust to the time change. We had three days this weekend and we were still exhausted most of the time. Full kudos to the four athletes as that was a touch choice for sure."
The four Blues will have little time to rest as the University of Toronto hosts the 2017 OUA swimming championships this week, February 9-11, at Varsity Pool.
Source: http://varsityblues.ca/
DINOS SWIM TO COLLEGES CUP TITLE
CALGARY - The University of Calgary Dinos raced both Friday and Saturday at the Colleges Cup Mountain against the best teams in the west in preparation for the big U SPORTS Championships in a short couple of weeks.
This was the first opportunity the Dinos have had to race long course, and they sure didn't back down from the challenge. After a tough two days of racing, both the men's and women's teams walked away with the win and a confidence boost leading up to the national meet at the end of the month.
On the first night of racing, the event started with the women's and men's 400 IM. On the women's side Lauren Teghtsoonian placed 2nd in 5:03.68, followed by Julia Ellis-Hale in 3rd. On the men's side, Tristan Cotè brought home the win in 4:31.64. Christian Ng was close behind in 2nd, Ben Blackmon placed 3rd, and rookie Greg Crocker rounded out the top 8.
In the 100 freestyle, Danica Ludlow went head to head with University of Manitoba's Kelsey Wog and finished in 2nd place with a 57.43. On the men's side, it was a close race between our Dinos with Connor Matthezingfinishing 2nd in 53.53, Ben Blondal in 3rd, Chris Neave in 4th, and Keith Dixon finishing in 7th.
Danielle D'Aoust placed 2nd in the women's 200 butterfly with a time of 2:20.52 behind UBC's Jacomie Strydom. Rachael Grothe placed 5th overall in the event. Rob Hill won the event in 2:04.25, and teammates Teddy Kalp and Mohamed ElDeeb placed 4th and 5th, respectively.
In the 50 breast, Tianna Rissling was the top finisher in 3rd, Steph Churcher followed in 5th, and Kiersten Gilberg rounded out the event in 8th. Brent Burke took home his first win of the evening in a time of 30.45.
Next event of the evening was the 100 backstroke where Leah Smal brought home the win with a 1:04.93. Lainie Wareham placed 6th, and Stefanie Schmidt placed 8th. Rob Hill placed first on the men's side in 57.30, Jarod Tsang place 3rd, and Chris Courtis finished 6th.
Danica Ludlow captured her first win of the competition in the 400 free with a time of 4:21.41. 2nd year Lauren Teghtsoonian placed 3rd behind UBC's Megan Dalke, and rookie Robyn Lee rounded out the top 8. Five of our Dinos finished in the top 8 on the men's side. Cotè took home another win with a time of 4:07.11, Teddy Kalp was close behind in 3rd, rookie Chris Paproski finished 5th, Sterling King in 7th, and Chris Neave rounded out the event in 8th.
In the 200 breaststroke, the lady Dinos held their own with four people in the top 8. Tianna Rissling held steady in 3rd place with a 2:37.09. Julia Ellis-Hale finished 4th, Danica McDonald in 5th, and Steph Churcher finished 6th. Ben Blackmon took home the win on the men's side, and teammate Christian Ng placed 4th.
In the 50 fly, Danielle D'Aoust placed 9th, Ben Blondal placed 6th, and Chris Neave finished in 7th.
In the 400 Freestyle Relay, the women's team finished in second. Ludlow, Leah Smal, Robyn Lee and Teghtsoonian raced for the Dinos and finished with a time of 4:00.39. On the men's side, the Dinos B team consisting of Ben Blondal, Rob Hill, Keith Dixon and Teddy Kalp overtook the A team for the win in a time of 3:34.73. The B team of Cote, Matthezing, Chris Neave, and Sterling King followed in 2nd.
On day 2 of the competition, the first event of the afternoon was the women's and men's 100 breaststroke. On the women's side, Rissling was the Dinos top finish in 4th, Teghtsoonian followed in 6th, and Churcher placed 8th. Brent Burke fell to UBC's Jonathan Brown on the men's side for a second place finish, and teammate Ben Blackmon finished in 5th.
In the 50 Back, Leah Smal won her second event of the competition with a time of 30.34. Rookie Erin Fonesfinished in 3rd place, and Lainie Wareham placed 8th. Josh Dow won the event on the men's side with an impressive 26.76, and Courtis and Tsang finished in 5th and 7th place respectively.
Next up was the 200 Free with a strong showing from our men's team. Peter Brothers placed second behind the rival Thunderbirds with a time of 1:54.62. Ng followed closely in 3rd, Cotè placed 4th, Teddy Kalp finished in 6th, and Sterling King took 8th place.
Danielle D'Aoust was back at it in the women's 100 fly where she finished 5th in 1:05.00.
Stefanie Schmidt won her first event of the competition in the women's 200 backstroke with a time of 2:19.65. Wareham took third place, and after a quick turnaround from her 100 fly Danielle D'Aoust placed 4th. Hill added another first place under his belt with a final time of 2:05.35, and teammates Jarod Tsang and Chris Courtis placed 3rd and 7th, respectively.
In the splash and dash 50 free, Danica Ludlow placed 4th with a speedy 27.26, and Leah Smal finished in 7th.
In the 200 IM, Tianna Rissling added another 3rd place finish to her tally finishing in 2:26.66. On the men's side, it was Rob Hill with another 1st place finish in 2:09.88. Christian Ng placed 5th, Tristan Cotè finished 7th, and Ben Blackmon took 8th place.
In the women's 800 free, it was a 1-2-3 finish for the Dinos with another win for Ludlow in 9:10.25. She was followed by Schmidt in 2nd, and Teghtsoonian in 3rd.
In the 1500 free, our only Dino in the event Chris Paproski placed 4th in 17:07.17.
Up next for the Dinos: the U SPORTS national championships in Sherbrooke, Que.
Source: http://godinos.com/