February 26, 2006

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Day 2 CIS championships: Lacroix and Rudolf set records, UBC domination continues

Audrey Lacroix, Carabins de Montreal

QUEBEC CITY (CIS) - University of Montreal's Audrey Lacroix set a second meet record in as many nights while the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds continued their overall domination on day two of the 2006 Canadian Interuniversity Sport swimming championships at Laval University.

After 26 events, UBC, eight-time defending team champion both on the women's and men's sides, has tallied 30 medals including 19 golds. After winning all six men races on Friday night, the Thunderbirds went six-for-seven on Saturday, surrendering only the 50-metre freestyle.

The UBC men have scored an astounding 542 points thus far more than doubling the second-place Calgary Dinos (268), while the 'Birds women have 506 points to show for and hold a 239-point advantage over Calgary.

Lacroix set a new championship mark of 2:08.76 in the 200 butterfly to better her own record of 2:10.47 established a year ago. The sophomore from Pont-Rouge, Que. broke the 100 fly mark on Friday, making it back-to-back seasons in which she wins both events in record-setting fashion.

"It is definitely good for my confidence in preparation for the Commonwealth Games," said Lacroix, who will represent Canada in Melbourne, Australia in three weeks. "It was a really solid swim, I'm pretty pleased."

UBC's Darryl Rudolf of Tsawwassen, B.C., who will also compete in Melbourne in March, also shattered a championship mark when he touched the wall in 24.20 in the 50 fly. Chad Hankewich of Regina owned the previous record of 24.35 since 2003. Hankewich, who now suits up for Calgary, was second on Saturday in 24.67.

Rudolf won the 200 fly later on the night to complete the 50-100-200 butterfly hat trick at the university nationals for the second consecutive season.

"I was a little disappointed with my time in the 100 fly on Friday despite winning the event," said Rudolf. "This record is much more satisfying."

Other individual gold-medal winners on the women's side on Saturday included UBC teammates Kelly Stefanyshyn in the 100 back and Haylee Johnson in the 200 breaststroke, UQTR's Jennifer Carroll in the 50 fly, Laval's Chanelle Charron-Watson in the 400 free, and Calgary's Laura Grant in the 50 free. Johnson, Carroll and Charron-Watson were all claiming individual victories for the second straight day.

Stefanyshyn of Winnipeg added silver in the 50 fly and helped the 'Birds win the 4 x 200 free relay to boost her weekend total to four medals. The 2000 Olympian is now tied with Jessica Deglau for most medals (29) by a UBC swimmer at CIS championships.

"I felt great in the 100 back, I'm so happy to have gone under the one-minute mark. It's my best time in seven years," commented the Commonwealth Games team member, who has struggled with injuries for the best part of the past two and a half years.

Charron-Watson of Gatineau, who has also reached the podium four times so far this weekend and posted a personal best of 4:08.86 in the 400 free, continued to lead the way for the host Rouge et Or, which find themselves in third place in the women's team standings.

"I'm swimming with a lot more confidence this year. I love this event (400 free) and my goal is definitely to set a record on the distance one day."

UBC teammates Callum Ng (100 back), Brian Johns (400 free) and Scott Dickens (200 breast) were also individual winners on the night, while UNB's Dan Monid was crowned in the 50 free. Monid was defending his title in the event, and had previously captured silver in 2004 and 2003.

Callum and Dickens were both claiming their second individual victories of the weekend while Johns, who also anchored the 'Birds gold-medal winning 4 x 200 free relay, has now added five golds to his impressive career total.

In his fourth appearance at the CIS meet the Richmond, B.C. native has 24 gold medals and one silver in 25 races. The two-time Olympian (2004, '00) could become the first swimmer in history, male or female, to earn CIS-swimmer-of-the-year honours for the third time.

"My time in the 400 free (3:48.27) was very satisfying for now," said the 23-year-old Johns, who was swimming the event for the first time at the CIS championships. "When I saw early on I had a big lead I decided to give it a shot, and the result wasn't bad at all."

The 2006 CIS swimming championships resume on Sunday with the preliminaries at 10 a.m. ET, and the finals at 5 p.m. ET.

TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2 (of 3)

Women
1. UBC 506 points
2. Calgary 267
3. Laval 254
4. Toronto 223
5. Montreal 200
6. Manitoba 131
7. Dalhousie 129
8. Victoria 92
9. Western Ontario 79
10. McGill 78
11. McMaster 68
12. Guelph 63
13. UQTR 57
14. Queen's 49
15. Alberta 31
16. Regina 25
T17. Wilfrid Laurier 20
T17. Lethbridge 20
T19. UNB 5
T19. Brock 5
21. Laurentian 4

Men
1. UBC 542 points
2. Calgary 268
3. Toronto 242.5
4. Western Ontario 208
5. Laval 176.5
6. Dalhousie 141
7. Montreal 99
8. Alberta 76
9. Guelph 64
10. McGill 60
11. Sherbrooke 52
12. Waterloo 51
13. UNB 48
14. UQTR 28
15. McMaster 25
16. Lethbridge 22
17. Laurentian 20
18. Manitoba 16
19. Ottawa 9
20. Regina 6
21. Queen's 5
22. Victoria 4

MEDALLISTS DAY 2

Women 100m Back
Kelly Stefanyshyn, UBC, 59.98
Katelyn Murdoch, Calgary, 1:00.74
Caitlin Meredith, UBC, 1:01.33

Men 100m Back
Callum Ng, UBC, 53.23
Robert Taylor, Western Ontario, 54.01
Robert Miller, UBC, 54.72

W 50m Fly
Jennifer Carroll, UQTR, 27.44
Kelly Stefanyshyn, UBC, 27.97
Laura Grant, Calgary, 28.13

M 50m Fly
Darryl Rudolf, UBC, 24.20 (CIS championship record)
Chad Hankewich, Calgary, 24.67
Kurtis Miller, Western Ontario, 24.69

W 400m Free
Chanelle Charron-Watson, 4:08.86
Haylee Doody, UBC, 4:12.84
Brittany Cooper, UBC, 4:17.25

M 400m Free
Brian Johns, UBC, 3:48.27
Aaron Blair, UBC, 3:54.42
Kevin Laflamme, Laval, 3:55.77

W 200m Breast
Haylee Johnson, UBC, 2:30.11
Elizabeth Hendrick, Calgary, 2:33.22
Alex Lachance-Fortin, Laval, 2:33.26

M 200m Breast
Scott Dickens, UBC, 2:12.59
Marco Monaco, Toronto, 2:15.16
Chad Thiessen, UBC, 2:15.90

W 50m Free
Laura Grant, Calgary, 25.81
Jennifer Carroll, UQTR, 25.99
Jen Porenta, Toronto, 26.38

M 50m Free
Dan Monid, UNB, 22.81
Martyn Forde, Toronto, 22.92
Kurtis Miller, Western Ontario, 23.00

W 200m Fly
Audrey Lacroix, Montreal, 2:08.76 (CIS championship record)
Erin Miller, UBC, 2:12.90
Mackenzie Downing, Victoria, 2:13.05

M 200m Fly
Darryl Rudolf, UBC, 1:59.31
Callum Ng, UBC, 1:59.79
Ian MacLeod, Toronto, 2:00.12

W 4 X 200m Free Relay
UBC (Hayley Doody, Kelly Stefanyshyn, Caitlin Meredith, Elizabeth Collins), 8:01.73
Toronto (Kate Plyley, Jen Porenta, Sasha Theron, Marci Bryon), 8:10.26
Laval (Melanie Bouchard, Audrey Savard, Valerie Boudreault, Chanelle Charron-Watson), 8:11.80

M 4 X 200m Free Relay
UBC (Brian Johns, Aaron Blair, Robert Miller, William Walters), 7:20.39
Calgary (Chad Hankewich, Willie Derban, Kevin Gillespie, Michael Driedger), 7:22.99
Toronto (Scott Briggs, Marco Monaco, Paul Dudar, Ia