LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – The University of Calgary Dinos captured their fourth consecutive Canada West men's swimming title Sunday, while the Dinos women were denied in their quest for a third straight conference title as the 2010 Canada West Swimming Championships wrapped up Sunday afternoon in Lethbridge.

FULL RESULTS

After taking the lead in the team standings late Saturday, the Calgary men exploded to turn a 73-point advantage into a 244-point win on the final day of racing. Meanwhile, the Dinos women stayed neck-and-neck with UBC but just didn't have the numbers the T-Birds had down the stretch, falling by just 15 points in one of the closest team races in recent memory – one that saw the lead go back and forth through the final races of the afternoon before a UBC podium sweep of the 200-metre breaststroke.

The men's team title was the University of Calgary's 19th in history and the fifth in the past seven seasons.

“We swam really well and, though we missed a few swims in there, we were pretty dominant,” said Calgary head coach Mike Blondal. “We have some work to do still, but we'll be in good shape when we get to CIS. It's a different ball game there and with some new coaches at new programs things will be different.”

“Everybody, I think, stepped up and did what we needed to do,” said team captain Jason Block, who won a gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke Sunday. “The team atmosphere on the deck was great, everyone really came together, and that was great to see. At the same time, we won this meet last year and still had a very tough battle at the national meet, so we need to keep a level head and go into CIS ready to race and put up our best fight.”

Rookie Bogdan Knezevic was Calgary's other individual gold medalist on Day 3 after leading a pack of Dinos to the podium in the 200-metre individual medley. Colin Miazga and Block grabbed silver and bronze, respectively, while David Dimitrov finished fourth, Dillon Babb sixth, and Kyle Sorrenti eighth.

Block won his third medal of the day swimming the breaststroke leg of the 4 x 100-metre medley relay, joining Dan Langlois, Andre Kudaba, and Ryan Gow atop the podium.

A focus heading into the CIS Championships for the Calgary men will be the relays, after the Dinos were disqualified in Friday night's 4 x 200-metre relay. A botched exchange was also a key factor in Calgary's close loss to UBC at the CIS championships last year.

“We lost it on a relay takeover last year and we got a good scare on it here this weekend, so we can't make that mistake,” said Blondal. “That's 40 points. They all know how to do it properly, we just need to take care of it.”

The Dinos head to the CIS event looking to regain the national title they last won in 2008.

Calgary's women, meanwhile, had just 14 swimmers at the meet against UBC's 18, and two key members of the team – Canadian record holder Katy Murdoch and Jy Lawrence – remained in Calgary due to illness. Both are expected to be back with the team in time for the 2010 CIS Swimming Championships Feb. 18-20 in Toronto.

“Even with Katy and Jy home sick, I still think we should have won the meet,” said Blondal. “UBC out-swam us, and I think that our girls need to step up when it counts and I don't think most of them did that. They're going to have to find a way to do that the next time around.

“I think we're a stronger team at a stronger meet like CIS than we are here with less depth, so we'll be ready to go in Toronto. Here we came in four girls shy of the maximum, and that's 16 swims that should all score points. That's our fault as coaches, and we need to find ways to make sure we cover for that.”

Erica Morningstar, the 2009 CIS rookie of the year, accounted for two of the four Canada West records broken on the weekend with both coming on Sunday. In the 100-metre freestyle, she lowered her own record set in 2009 by 17 hundredths, stopping the clock in 54.51 seconds. Seanna Mitchell, Breanna Hendriks, and Erin Wamsteeker finished in spots two, three, and four behind Morningstar.

Just four races later, she was back in the pool for the 100-metre backstroke and promptly became the first woman in Canada West championship history to break the minute mark, winning with a time of 59.87 to break Erin Gammel's mark of 1:00.07 set in 2007.

The Dinos nearly had another podium sweep in the 400-metre freestyle when Kevyn Peterson and Hendriks finished one-two while Julianne Brown was just out-touched at the wall to finish fourth.

Brown, acting as team captain in Murdoch's absence, applauded the team's effort over the weekend.

“I think our team cohesion was really good, and we saw some girls put in some really good swims,” she said. “It was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be and it was really close at the end.”

The Dinos women will look to defend their first-ever CIS swimming championship Feb. 18-20 in Toronto.

-UC-

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS – MEN
1.    CALGARY – 764.5 pts
2.    UBC – 520.5
3.    Alberta – 452
4.    Victoria – 427.5
5.    Manitoba – 157.5
6.    Lethbridge – 149
7.    Regina – 28

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS – WOMEN
1.    UBC – 773 pts.
2.    CALGARY – 758
3.    Alberta – 418
4.    Victoria – 274
5.    Lethbridge – 181
6.    Manitoba – 121
7.    Regina – 43

MAJOR AWARD WINNERS
Male Swimmer of the Meet – Nicholas Sinclair, Victoria
Female Swimmer of the Meet – Martha McCabe, UBC

Male Rookie of the Year – Nicholas Sinclair, Victoria
Female Rookie of the Year – Shelby Snodgrass, UBC

Coach of the Year (Men) – Mike Blondal, Calgary
Coach of the Year (Women) – Chad Webb, UBC

CANADA WEST ALL-STARS – WOMEN
Breanna Hendriks, Calgary
Erica Morningstar, Calgary
Jessika Craig, Calgary
Kevyn Peterson, Calgary
Julianne Brown, Calgary
Seanna Mitchell, Calgary
Allison Long, Calgary
Martha McCabe, UBC
Erin Miller, UBC
Hanna Pierse, UBC

CANADA WEST ALL-STARS – MEN
Nicolas Sinclair, Victoria
Craig Dagnall, Victoria
Ryan Gow, Calgary
Jason Block, Calgary
David Woodman, Calgary
James Goodway, Calgary
Colin Miazga, Calgary
Bogdan Knezevic, Calgary
Andre Kudaba, Calgary
Dan Langlois, Calgary
Joshua Au, Alberta
Robert Mackinnon, Alberta
Scott Stewart, Alberta
Brian Yakiwchuk, Alberta
Tommy Gossland, UBC
Riley Pickerl, Manitoba