February 27, 2006

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Day 3 CIS championships : UBC cruises to ninth straight titles

Callum Ng, UBC

QUEBEC CITY (CIS) - University of British Columbia's Kelly Stefanyshyn and Callum Ng earned female and male swimmer-of-the-year honours while the Thunderbirds swept the women's and men's team banners for the ninth straight season as the 2006 Canadian Interuniversity Sport swimming championships came to an end on Sunday at Laval University.

Championship web site (complete results): www.cisport.ca/e/championships/swimming/2006

UBC added to its record number of consecutive team titles by scoring 764.5 points on the women's side, a meet-high over their nine-year championship run, and 711 points in men's competition.

The Calgary Dinos finished second in both team standings, with the Laval Rouge et Or women and the Toronto Varsity Blues men rounding out the team podiums.

A 2000 Olympian who will represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia in March, Stefanyshyn of Winnipeg capped off a spectacular weekend on Sunday with victories in the 200-metre backstroke and the 4 x 100 medley relay. In the relay event, the Thunderbird foursome completed by Haylee Johnson of Vancouver, Erin Miller of Vernon, B.C. and Elizabeth Collins of Regina set a new Canadian club mark with a time of 4:05.25.

Stefanyshyn, who was Canada's opening-ceremonies flag-bearer at the 2003 Summer Universiade in South Korea, finishes the three-day CIS meet with six medals, including two golds and one silver in individual events, and three wins in relays. She ends her CIS career with 31 medals in five appearances at the university nationals, more than any other swimmer in UBC history.

"I'm just happy to be swimming again the way I know I can, it's very satisfying," said Stefanyshyn, who has been hampered by injuries for the best part of the last two and a half years.

"In both the 200 back tonight and the 100 back on Saturday I had my best times in many years," added the CIS championship record-holder over 200 metres, who reached the final of both events at the Sydney Olympics.

Ng of Calgary, named CIS rookie of the year in 2004-05, claimed silver in the 200 back and led the 'Birds 4 x 100 medley relay to victory on the final day of competition to finish with six medals, including two golds and two silvers in individual races, and a pair of relay wins.

Other swimmers who rounded out impressive weekends on Sunday were University of Montreal's Audrey Lacroix, UBC teammates Brian Johns and Scott Dickens, Laval's Chanelle Charron-Watson, and Calgary's Chad Hankewich. Lacroix, Johns and Dickens are all members of the 2006 Canadian Commonwealth Games team.

Lacroix, a sophomore from Pont-Rouge, Que. set her third championship record in as many nights to end the meet with three individual golds and one bronze, as well as a silver in the 4 x 100 medley relay. After establishing new marks in the 100 and 200 fly on Friday and Saturday Lacroix clocked 55.15 in the 100 free to better the time of 55.63 posted by 1996 Olympian Sophie Simard of Laval in 2004.

"I actually slipped at the start, which obviously didn't help, but I think that gave me extra adrenaline for the rest of the race," said Lacroix following her record-setting effort.

Johns, a two-time Olympian (2004, 2000) from of Richmond, B.C. closed the championships winning gold in the 200-metre individual medley and the 4 x 100 medley relay to finish with seven victories in seven races (including two meet records), a feat he had previously accomplished in 2003 and 2002, the last two times he took part in the CIS meet. He earned swimmer-of-the-year honours both these years.

In four career appearances at the university nationals, the 23-year-old has 26 gold medals and one silver in 27 swims.

"It's one of my busiest weekends in a while so it is pretty satisfying," said Johns, who struggled with shoulder injuries over the last two years. "Our team philosophy is no excuse, just do anything it takes to win. All my teammates did a fantastic job this weekend."

Dickens of Ancaster, Ont., the CIS male swimmer of the year in 2004-05, completed the 50-100-200 breaststroke hat trick at nationals for the second straight season with a win over 50 metres, and also helped the 'Birds men set a championship mark of 3:35.52 in the 4 x 100 medley relay.

Charron-Watson of Gatineau, Que. claimed gold in the 800 free to add to her earlier victories in the 200 and 400. She became the first woman to complete this hat trick since 1996 Olympian Jessica Deglau of UBC in 1999.

"I'm excited to beat club record," said Charron-Watson, referring to the previous Rouge et Or mark owned by Simard. "This just adds to magical weekend."

Hankewich of Saskatoon won the 100 free in 49.19 seconds, coming .02 short of the meet record set by Olympian Rick Say of Calgary in 2002. This was Hankewich's sole gold medal of the weekend to go with six second-place finishes.

"It's about time," said Hankewich half-jokingly right after the race. "In the 50 free anything can happen, you just try to go as fast as you can."

CIS-rookie-of-the-year honours went to Calgary's Katelyn Murdoch, who claimed silver in the 100 back on Saturday and led two Dino relays to bronze medals, and Lethbridge's John Lapins, who finished fourth in the 100 back and added Top-10 finishes in the 200 and 500 back.

Laval's Nicholas Perron was named coach of the year in CIS women's swimming, while UBC's Derrick Schoof was honoured on the men's side.

The CIS swimming championships move to Dalhousie University in Halifax in 2007.

INDIVIDUAL HONOURS

Women
Swimmer of the year: Kelly Stefanyshyn, UBC
Rookie of the year: Katelyn Murdoch, Calgary
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): not awarded
Coach of the year: Nicholas Perron, Laval

Men
Swimmer of the year: Callum Ng, UBC
Rookie of the year: John Lapins, Lethbridge
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): not awarded
Coach of the year: Derrick Schoof, UBC

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Women
1. UBC 764.5 points
2. Calgary 398.5
3. Laval 375.5
4. Toronto 341
5. Montreal 283
6. Dalhousie 195.5
7. Manitoba 178
8. Victoria 153
9. Guelph 110
10. McGill 108
11. Western Ontario 89
12. McMaster 87
13. Queen's 80
14. UQTR 72
15. Alberta 43
16. Lethbridge 33
17. Wilfrid Laurier 29
18. Regina 26
19. Laurentian 7
T20. Brock 5
T20. UNB 5
21. Sherbrooke 3

Men
1. UBC 711 points
2. Calgary 434
3. Toronto 349.5
4. Western Ontario 295
5. Laval 266.5
6. Dalhousie 191
7. Montreal 149
8. UNB 116
9. Guelph 100
10. McGill 95
11. Sherbrooke 87
12. Alberta 86
13. Waterloo 63
14. UQTR 62
15. Laurentian 37
16. Lethbridge 31
17. McMaster 29
T18. Manitoba 23
T18. Ottawa 23
T20. Regina 10
T20. Victoria 10
22. Wilfrid Laurier 6
23. Queen's 5

MEDALLISTS DAY 3 (Sunday)

Women 800m Free
Chanelle Charron-Watson, Laval, 8:37.59
Haylee Doody, UBC, 8:43.33
Mackenzie Downing, Victoria, 8:44.31

Men 50m Breast
Scott Dickens, UBC, 27.88
Chad Thiessen, UBC, 28.90
Nick Smith, UNB, 29.34

W 50m Breast
Michelle Laprade, Montreal, 32.10
Elizabeth Hendrick, Calgary, 32.62
Haylee Johnson, UBC, 32.73

M 200m Back
Robert Miller, UBC, 1:57.08
Callum Ng, UBC, 2:00.90
Scott Van Doormaal, Guelph, 2:02.37

W 200m Back
Kelly Stefanyshyn, UBC, 2:08.90
Melanie Bouchard, Laval, 2:10.89
Caitlin Meredith, UBC, 2:10.94

M 100m Free
Chad Hankewich, Calgary, 49.19
Daniel Monid, UNB, 50.07
Robert Taylor, Western Ontario, 50.15

W 100m Free
Audrey Lacroix, Montreal, 55.15 (CIS championship record)
T2: Elizabeth Collins, UBC, 56.00
T2: Laura Grant, Calgary, 56.00

M 200m IM
Brian Johns, UBC, 1:59.57
Francois Castonguay, McGill, 2:04.44
Nicolas Murray, Laval, 2:04.84

W 200m IM
Michelle Landry, UBC, 2:14.21
Melanie Bouchard, Laval, 2:16.09
Caitlin Meredith, UBC, 2:17.58

M 1500m Free
Kevin Laflamme, Laval, 15:43.02
Philippe Dubreuil, Sherbrooke, 15:45.12
Michael Driedger, Calgary, 15:48.55

W 4 X 100m Medley Relay
UBC (Kelly Stefanyshyn, Haylee Johnson, Erin Miller, Elizabeth Collins), 4:05.25 (Canadian record, CIS championship record)
Montreal (Valerie Tcholkayan, Michelle Laprade, Audrey Lacroix, Chrystele Roy-L'Ecuyer), 4:10.61
Calgary (Katelyn Murdoch, Elizabeth Hendrick, Andrea Baker, Laura Grant), 4:10.83

M 4 X 100m Medley Relay
UBC (Callum Ng, Scott Dickens, Darryl Rudolf, Brian Johns), 3:35.52 (CIS championship record)
Calgary (Eric Gendron, Christopher Tobin, Chad Hankewich, Kevin Gillespie), 3:46.06
Toronto (Scott Briggs, Marco Monaco, Ian MacLeod, Martyn Forde), 3:47.70

MEDALLISTS DAY 2 (Saturday)

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, Ian MacLeod), 7:38.33

MEDALLISTS DAY 1 (Friday)

Women 200m Free
Chanelle Charron-Watson, Laval, 1:58.75
Mélanie Bouchard, Laval, 1:58.93
Audrey Lacroix, Montreal, 1:58.94

Men 200m Free
Brian Johns, UBC, 1:45.52 (CIS championship record)
Chad Hankewich, Calgary, 1:46.88
Kevin Gillespie, Calgary, 1:49.67

W 50m Back
Jennifer Carroll, UQTR, 28.67
Kiera Aitken, Dalhousie, 28.71
Landice Yestrau, Manitoba, 28.77

M 50m Back
Callum Ng, UBC, 24.67
Kurtis Miller, Western Ontario, 25.40
Robert Taylor, Western Ontario, 25.62

W 100m Breast
Haylee Johnson, UBC, 1:09.49
Michelle Laprade, Montreal, 1:10.26
Elizabeth Hendrick, Calgary, 1:10.39

M 100m Breast
Scott Dickens, UBC, 1:00.98
Chad Thiessen, UBC, 1:02.64
Marco Monaco, Toronto, 1:02.95

W 100m Fly
Audrey Lacroix, Montreal, 59.34 (CIS championship record)
Erin Miller, UBC, 1:00.22
Mackenzie Downing, Victoria, 1:00.64

M 100m Fly
Darryl Rudolf, UBC, 53.62
Chad Hankewich, Calgary, 53.92
Ian MacLeod, Toronto, 54.84

W 400m IM
Michelle Landry, UBC, 4:44.18
Chanelle Charron-Watson, Laval, 4:46.17
Carmen Block, UBC, 4:46.61

M 400m IM
Brian Johns, UBC, 4:17.88
Francois Castonguay, McGill, 4:24.16
Andy White, Dalhousie, 4:25.84

W 4 X 100m Free Relay
UBC (Hayley Doody, Kelly Stefanyshyn, Elizabeth Collins, Caitlin Meredith), 3:42.63 (CIS championship record)
Toronto, (Sasha Theron, Marci Bryon, Jen Porenta, Kate Plyley), 3 :47.60
Calgary (Laura Grant, Katelyn Murdoch, Elizabeth Hendrick, Andrea Baker), 3 :47.66

M 4 X 100m Free Relay
UBC (Darryl Rudolf, Callum Ng, Aaron Blair, Brian Johns), 3:20.16
Calgary (Kevin Gillespie, Willie Derban, Avi Silverberg, Chad Hankewich), 3:22.59
Western Ontario (Kurtis Miller, Brad Vanderkam, Ryan Atkison, Robert Taylor), 3:23.46