VICTORIA - For the second straight year the Calgary Dinos men's and women's swim teams were crowned Canada West champions. The Dinos teams dominated the three-day competition by winning a total of 49 medals.

The 2009 conference championships concluded Sunday at Commonwealth Pool with an additional nine Canada West records broken. In total 27 conference records fell during the three days of competition in Victoria.
 
Complete championships schedule and live results are available at: http://www.pacificcoastswimming.com/LiveResults/2008-09/CanadaWest/

The margin of victory on both sides of competition left little doubt about the Dinos performance in the pool. Thanks to 14 women's medals on the final day of competition, including five gold, the Dinos posted a final team total of 924, or 237 points better than the second place UBC Thunderbirds. The Alberta Pandas finished third with 412 points.
 
The men's competition was slightly more closely contested but Calgary out-swam the second-place T-Birds by a 924-687 margin. UBC won four gold medals on the final day, including the 400 medley relay, but the Dinos swimmers wrapped up competition with an additional 10 medals. The Alberta Golden Bears rounded out the podium with 401 points.
 
"I'm really happy with the way our teams performed this weekend," said Calgary head coach Mike Blondal. "It was great to bring home the banners, but now the real work begin and we go after the bigger prize in two weeks time at Nationals."
 
Despite the second place finishes, UBC took home both Canada West Swimmer of the Meet awards with Scott Dickens being presented the men's award and Annamay Pierse receiving top honours on the women's side.
 
Dickens won five gold medals and broke four conference meet records. The 2004 Olympian swept the breaststroke events, setting new meet records in the 50, 100 and 200, finished first in the 400 individual medley, and helped the T-Birds to a gold medal in the 400 medley relay.
 
"This event was a great opportunity to see where the team is at and get ready for the National championships in two weeks," said Dickens. "I was pretty pleased with my times, it was a great meet."
 
Pierse was presented the Swimmer of the Meet for a second straight year after sweeping the breaststroke events and also picking up three silver medals in the relay competitions. The Beijing Olympian put forth record-breaking performances in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke races.
 
"This is a pretty hard competition because there's a lot of races in a short period of time," said Pierse. "There were a lot of records broken and it shows just how awesome the meet was for Canadian swimming."
 
Canada West Rookie of the Meet awards were presented to Calgary swimmers Erica Morningstar and David Woodman.
 
Morningstar came away with a Phelpsian six gold medals in her first Canada West competition. The Beijing Olympian swam to gold in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 individual medley, and was also a member of the Dinos three gold-medal winning relay teams, helping Calgary to new Canada West records in the 800 free relay, 400 free relay and 400 medley relay.
 
"This was my first university meet, and while I still have room for improvement, I am happy with the results," said Morningstar. "We showed we have a great team this year."
 
Woodman picked up bronze medals in the 100 and 200 free, and was also a member of Calgary's gold-medal winning 400 and 800 free relay teams.
 
"I couldn't have envisioned a better finish for the team," said Woodman. "Being a part of the team provided me such a great rush, standing on the blocks during relay, was such a thrill."
 
UBC averted a Calgary relay sweep in the final competition of the meet, taking gold in the men's 400 medley relay. The team of Matt Hawes, Callum Ng, Rory Biskupski and Dickens out-touched Calgary and shaved two seconds off the meet record.
 
For the Vikes, MacKenzie Downing broke one of the Canada West's oldest records, with a gold medal victory in the 200 fly. The Whitehorse native broke two-time Olympian Jessica Deglau's nine-year old record with a time of 2:12.02. On Saturday Downing won gold in the 100 fly, also in record time.
 
The Vikes men's team picked up their first medal of the meet after David Killy won bronze in the 200 fly. Killy, who was also celebrating his 19th birthday, finished third behind UBC swimmers Ng and Biskupski. Ng clocked in at 1:58.90, breaking Phil Weiss nine-year old record, and totaled four gold medals on the weekend.
 
Next on the university schedule is the CIS Championships, hosted February 19-21 at the University of British Columbia. The T-Birds women are the 11-time defending national champs, and the Dinos won in 2008.
 
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Men
1. Calgary - 923
2. UBC - 687
3. Alberta - 401
4. Victoria - 242
5. Manitoba - 149
6. Lethbridge - 137
7. Regina - 24
 
Women
1. Calgary - 923
2. UBC - 573
3. Alberta - 412
4. Victoria - 252
5. Manitoba - 236
6. Lethbridge - 105
7. Regina - 50
 
CANADA WEST AWARDS & ALL-STARS

Awards:
Men's Swimmer of the Meet: Scott Dickens, UBC
Women's Swimmer of the Meet: Annamay Pierse, UBC
Men's Rookie of the Meet: #David Woodman#, Calgary
Women's Rookie of the Meet: #Erica Morningstar#, Calgary
 
All-Stars:
Men
Kelly Aspinall, Calgary: 50M FS, 400M FSR, 100 FS
Rory Biskupski, UBC: 400M IMR
Jason Block, Calgary: 200M IM
Scott Dickens, UBC: 400M IM, 100M BS, 200M BS, 400M IMR
Ryan Gow, Calgary: 400M FSR,
Matt Hawes, UBC: 200M BAC, 400M IMR
Thane Kubik, Calgary: 800M FSR,
Dan Langlois, Calgary: 800M FS,
Colin Miazga, Calgary: 800M FSR, 200M FS, 400M FSR, 
Max Moore, Calgary: 1500M FS,
Callum Ng, UBC: 100M BU, 200M BU, 100M BAC, 400M IMR
David Woodman, Calgary: 800M FSR, 400M FSR
 
Women
Jessika Craig, Calgary: 200M BAC,
MacKenzie Downing, Victoria: 100M BU, 200M BU
Hanna Kubas, Calgary: 100M BAC, 400M IMR
Breanna Hendriks, Calgary: 800M FS, 800M FSR, 200M FS, 400M FSR, 
Seanna Mitchell, Calgary: 400M FSR, 400M IMR
Erica Morningstar, Calgary: 800M FSR, 50M FS, 400M FSR, 100 FS, 200 IM , 400M IMR
Katelyn Murdoch, Calgary: 800M FSR, 400M FSR, 
Kevyn Peterson, Calgary: 800M FSR,
Hanna Pierse, UBC: 400M IM,
Annamay Pierse, UBC: 100M BS, 200M BS
Kirsten Weevers, Calgary: 400M IMR
 
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