CALGARY – For the second straight year, the University of Calgary Dinos are CIS champions in both men's and women's swimming – this time in their own pool.

Official website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/swim
Full results: http://www.godinos.com/cisswimming (for best results, use Internet Explorer)

While Calgary's women led wire-to-wire to win their third straight national title by 130 points, the Dinos men went back and forth with their old rivals, the UBC Thunderbirds. After trailing UBC by 9.5 points heading into Saturday, the Dinos had a solid preliminary session and qualified enough swimmers for 'A' finals to outpace the T-Birds. After punctuating their win with a victory in the 4x100-metre medley relay, the day's final event, the Dinos had a 50.5-point edge atop the leaderboard.

It is Calgary's third CIS women's swimming championship – all three of them coming in consecutive seasons – while the Dinos men win their 15th national banner overall, repeating for the first time since 1996 and 1997.

“Our guys swam really well, and it was really special to finish off with that relay,” said Calgary coach #Mike Blondal#, who was named the CIS Coach of the Year in both men's and women's swimming by his peers. “It was an exciting one for the girls as well. We'll take this one and enjoy it tonight…but another year starts tomorrow and we're back in the pool training Monday.”

UBC finished second in both team races. The Toronto Varsity Blues grabbed third spot in the women's standings but were edged out for the bronze medal position in the men's team standings by the Laval Rouge et Or.

Calgary's #Erica Morningstar# and Ryan Cochrane of the Victoria Vikes were named the CIS Swimmers of the Year. Cochrane, a 2008 Beijing Olympic medallist, also took home rookie-of-the-year honours for his outstanding performance at the event, while UBC's Savannah King was named CIS female rookie of the year.

Morningstar posted a FINA score of 886 in her 200-metre individual medley Saturday, stopping the clock in 2:09.70. Combined with her 100-metre breaststroke victory Thursday, her combined FINA score was a whopping 1743. Morningstar did taste defeat for the first time in her CIS championship career, however, settling for silver in the 50-metre breaststroke behind teammate Allison Long. Between individual and relay events, Morningstar has 20 gold medals in 21 events at the CIS meet.

“It's awesome,” Morningstar said after winning a third straight CIS title. “We knew we had a really strong team coming in here. It was just a matter of putting everything together, and I think we did an awesome job of that. The guys, as well. They don't have a full team and they managed to pull it off. It was great for them too.”

Cochrane set the standard on the night with his marquee event, the 1500-metre freestyle, finishing in a time of 15:03.27, more than 27 seconds ahead of second-place David Dimitrov of Calgary. Combined with his 400 free victory Friday night, Cochrane finished with an aggregate FINA score of 1644.

Competing in his first CIS championship, Cochrane was impressed with the experience.

“It's a completely different environment, you've got an awesome level of support here between all teammates,” said the 22-year-old Victoria native. “The camaraderie here between all of us was good. And it's great for the sport to have the place packed with a loud crowd. It was a really good environment to swim in, especially when you're standing on the box for relays.”

“I'm pleased with my performances here. And I'm pretty tired, too,” Cochrane said with a laugh, noting the higher altitude presents challenges with fatigue. “It's a tough three days. When I'm tired when I go back to training next week, it will be a good reminder to me of why it (the training) is so important.”

The other key individual performance Saturday came from Calgary's #Jason Block#, who took nearly two tenths off the two-year-old CIS record in the 50-metre breaststroke with a 27.36 clocking. For the second straight year, Block swept the three breaststroke distances, captaining his Dinos to a team title.

“It was a great team atmosphere all throughout the meet, and with 13 guys against 18 for other teams the odds were stacked against us the whole way through, but we came up big,” said the third-year Calgary native. “It was special to do it at home, and all the support from the crowd sure makes you swim faster.”

“That's fast,” said Blondal of Block's time. “He's a special swimmer, and that 50 breast finally showed me the kind of swimmer he could be. And he followed it up with that 200 IM, just a great night for him.”

UBC freshman Savannah King scored double gold in the distance freestyle events to take the CIS top rookie honours with a combined score of 1643.

Dominique Massey-Martel of the Laval Rouge et Or captured the Sprinter's Cup Saturday night thanks to his gold medal performance of 48.91 in the 100 free to follow up a 50-metre freestyle title from Friday night.

Other women's champions Saturday included Victoria's Hilary Caldwell in the 200 backstroke and Seanna Mitchell of Calgary in the 100 freestyle. Ottawa's Matt Hawes won the 200 back and Steven Bielby of McGill took gold in the 200 IM to round out the men's individual champions.

INDIVIDUAL HONOURS

Women

Swimmer of the year: #Erica Morningstar#, Calgary
Rookie of the year: Savannah King, UBC
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Not awarded
Coach of the year: #Mike Blondal#, Calgary

Men

Swimmer of the year: Ryan Cochrane, Victoria
Rookie of the year: Ryan Cochrane, Victoria
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Dominique Massey-Martel, Laval
Coach of the year: #Mike Blondal#, Calgary

(NOTE: All gold medallists at the CIS championships (including relays) are first-team all-Canadians for the 2010-11 season, while all silver medallists (who were not gold medallists) are second-team all-Canadians).

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Women

1. Calgary, 778.5
2. UBC, 648.5
3. Toronto, 341
4. Victoria, 227.5
5. Montreal, 224
6. Alberta, 179
7. Western Ontario, 172
8. Laval, 157
9. Guelph, 145
10. Dalhousie, 112
11. McMaster, 87
12. Ottawa, 69
13. Wilfrid Laurier, 61
14. McGill, 39
15. UQTR, 36
16. Lethbridge, 35
17. UNB, 25
18. Laurentian, 19
18. Manitoba, 19
20. Brock, 14.5
21. Regina, 7

Men (Nelson C. Hart trophy)

1. Calgary, 543:5
2. UBC, 493
3. Laval, 397
4. Toronto, 363
5. Victoria, 244.5
6. Dalhousie, 205
7. Alberta, 202
8. Western Ontario, 165
9. Montreal, 160
10. Ottawa, 154
11. McGill, 139
12. Guelph, 130
13. McMaster, 63
14. Sherbrooke, 52
15. Manitoba, 44
16. Waterloo, 28
17. Lethbridge, 15
18. Acadia, 6
19. York, 4
    
DAY 3 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Saturday)

Women 800m Free
1. Savannah King, UBC, 8:35.86
2. Stephanie Horner, Victoria, 8:44.72
3. Pamela Ruksys, Toronto, 8:54.84
--
8. #Julianne Brown#, Calgary, 9:03.57
14. #Talia Benson#, Calgary, 9:11.45
16. #Breanna Hendriks#, Calgary, 9:14.34

Men 50m Breast
1. #Jason Block#, Calgary, 27.36 (CIS Championship Record)
2. Jake Armstrong, Western, 27.83
3. Bryn Jones, Western, 28.11

W 50m Breast
1. #Allison Long# Calgary, 30.91
2. #Erica Morningstar#, Calgary, 30.97
3. Kayla Voytechek, Alberta, 31.53
--
5. #Fiona Doyle#, Calgary, 31.88
10. #Megan Kurcwal#, Calgary, 33.22
13. #Lesley Stonebridge#, Calgary, 33.38

M 200m Back
1. Matt Hawes, Ottawa, 1:56.48
2. Adam Best, Ottawa, 1:57.75
3. Nicholas Sinclair, Victoria, 1:59. 47
--
9. #Gleb Suvorov#, Calgary, 1:58.89
10. #Ryan Cockell#, Calgary, 2:01.07
14. #Dillon Babb#, Calgary, 2:03.94

W 200m Back
1. Hilary Caldwell, Victoria, 2:08.22
2. #Jessika Craig#, Calgary, 2:10.53
3. Vanessa Taillefer, Laval, 2:12.41
--
9. #Jy Lawrence#, Calgary, 2:15.91
12. #Bethany Flemington#, Calgary, 2:17.51

M 100m Free
1. Dominique Massie-Martel, Laval, 48.91
2. Tommy Gossland, Laval, 49.91
3. #Connor Maxey#, Calgary, 50.11
--
6. #James Goodway#, Calgary, 50.52
14. #Brad Hankewich#, Calgary, 51.03

W 100m Free
1. #Seanna Mitchell#, Calgary, 54.72
2. Marie-Pier Ratelle, Laval , 55.28
3. Chantique Payne, Guelph, 55.47
--
7. #Breanna Hendriks#, Calgary, 57.37
9. #Kevyn Peterson#, Calgary, 55.97
14. #Talia Benson#, Calgary, 57.92

M 200m IM
1. Steven Bielby, McGill, 2:00.24
2. #Bogdan Knezevic#, Calgary, 2:01.87
3. Zach Summerhays, Toronto, 2:02.49
--
4. #Jason Block#, Calgary, 2:03.06
6. #Colin Miazga#, Calgary, 2:04.68
8. #Dillon Babb#, Calgary, 2:10.22

W 200m IM
1. #Erica Morningstar#, Calgary, 2:09.70
2. Hanna Pierse, UBC, 2:15.07
3. Stephanie Horner, Victoria, 2:16.13
--
4. #Jessica Johnson#, Calgary, 2:16.42
13. #Jacqueline Kubik#, Calgary, 2:21.65
14. #Lesley Stonebridge#, Calgary, 2:21.75

M 1500m Free
1. Ryan Cochrane, Victoria, 15:03.27
2. #David Dimitrov#, Calgary, 15:30.33
3. Zack Chetrat, Toronto, 15:39.09

W 4 x 100m Medley Relay
1. Calgary, 4:04.82
(#Erica Morningstar#, #Allison Long#, #Jessica Johnson#, #Seanna Mitchell#)
2. UBC, 4:09.80
(Rachelle Salli, Martha McCabe, Shaneese Nowlan, Heather MacLean)
3. Montréal, 4:12.78
(Karah Stanworth-Belleville, Sarah-Lee Hevey, Emilie Belleau, Marie-Pierre Berube)

M 4 x 100m Medley Relay
1. Calgary, 3:37.66
(#Gleb Suvorov#, #Jason Block#, #David Dimitrov#, #Colin Miazga#)
2. Laval, 3:39.68
(Jonathan Blouin, Kevin Deret, Maxime Jacomelli, Dominique Massie-Martel)
3. UBC, 3:40.48
(Kelly Aspinall, Sam Acton, Rory Biskupski, Tommy Gossland)

-UC-