EDMONTON – The University of Calgary Dinos women's swim team is back on top in Canada West.
 
For the first time since the 2008-09 season, the Dinos women have claimed the conference championship banner and trophy with 823 points over the UBC Thunderbirds' 740. The victory is Calgary's ninth Canada West women's swimming title and ends an 11-year reign in the pool by the UBC women.
 
Despite their strongest efforts, the Dinos men's swim team took second behind UBC 601-470.
 
At a loss for words, Head Coach Mike Blondal was still processing the win. 
 
"It is very cool," was all Blondal could say when asked about his final thoughts of the championships. "UBC is always such a tough team to beat, and our swimmers did such an amazing job being resilient all the way through and taking advantage of all their racing opportunities."
 
The Dinos brought the ruckus on the final night of racing, adding 10 more medals to their haul and another new Canada West record. 
 
Rebecca Smith managed a clean sweep of her individual events after decisively winning the women's 100 freestyle on the final night of the championships in a new CW record time of 53.10. Smith went four-for-four in gold medals and CW records over the weekend after winning the women's 50 and 100 butterfly as well as the 100 and 200 freestyle events, rewriting the Canada West record books in her conference championship debut.
 
Smith's world-class performance at the championships propelled her to be honoured as Canada West women's swimmer of the year. 
 
"It was my first Canada West, and it was super exciting," said Smith. "I am super happy with how I swam this weekend; my times were right around my best and I owe it all to the team for being super encouraging and it was a great atmosphere to be part of.
 
"We are going to keep working hard and this win motivates us to keep working hard towards U SPORTS."
 
Rookie Hannah Johnsen was another standout performer for the Dinos. The Thunderbay, Ont. native raced home for gold in the women's 100 backstroke beating out Manitoba's Dora Modrcin under the flags, touching with a new personal best time of 1:00.79. Johnsen nearly had a grand slam, winning gold in both the 100 and 200 backstroke events and narrowly missing out in the 50, claiming silver on the opening night of the championships.
 
"I am feeling amazing after this weekend and I'm so proud to be a part of this team," said Johnsen. "I really surprised myself with my swimming, I just went into every race with the mindset of racing for my team and trying to make them proud. I've never felt more supported than I do on this team."
 
Among other medal winners on the evening was Calgary's Allison McCloy who grabbed the bronze in the women's 200 butterfly, with a time of 2:17.71, followed quickly by a bronze from rookie Thomas McDonald, who picked up the Dinos' second medal of the evening in the men's 200 butterfly, taking off nearly three seconds from his personal best time, touching the wall in 2:01.10. 
 
Alongside Smith in the women's 100 freestyle final, Avery Movold picked up her second individual medal of the weekend, a bronze with a new personal best of 55.99, the first time Movold has broken the 56-second barrier. 
 
With an outstanding push through the final 75 metres, Hannah Bennett out-touched UBC's Emma Spence for the silver medal in the women's 200 individual medley. The Dino stormed home in 31.33, the fastest freestyle split in the field to clock a new personal best time of 2:15.08. 
 
Marit Anderson managed to climb the podium on the final evening of the championships. The Calgary native swam 4:16.15 in the women's 400 freestyle to bring home the silver for the Dinos. 
 
In the penultimate event of the evening, Nathan Versluys once again showed his strength in the middle-distance freestyle, decisively winning his second gold in the men's 400 over Regina's Kareem Tarek Mohammed by over three seconds. The Dino hit the wall with a new personal best of 3:50.71, nearly breaking under the three-minute 50-second barrier. 
 
Finally, the Dinos women stole the show once again winning the 400 medley relay. The team of Johnsen, Haley Rowden, Smith and Movold touched for first ahead of the rival UBC team and the Dinos men's team of Anders Klein, Aiden Luykenaar, Thomas McDonald and Paul Latkovic picked up their final medal of the competition, a silver in the medley relay behind the UBC team.
 
The Dinos return to action in the new year when they will begin a busy winter semester, including meets in Toronto and Ottawa, which will prepare them for U SPORTS Swimming Championships in Quebec City, Feb. 25-27.

DAY 3 MEDALS

Women's 200m Butterfly        
1    Josie Field    UBC    2:13.52
2    Chantel Jeffrey    UBC    2:17.09
3    Allison McCloy    Calgary    2:17.71

Men's 200m Butterfly        
1    Dmitriy Lim    UBC    2:00.66
2    Padric Mckervill    Victoria     2:00.84
3    Thomas McDonald    Calgary    2:01.10

Women's 100m Freestyle        
1    Rebecca Smith    Calgary    53.10 *
2    Emma O'Croinin    UBC    55:58
3    Avery Movold    Calgary    55.99

Men's 100m Freestyle        
1    Blake Tierney    UBC    48.93
2    Daniel Boguski    Manitoba    49.73
3    Kier Przyswitt    Alberta    49.86

Women's 200m IM        
1    Kelsey Wog    Manitoba    2:11.74
2    Hannah Bennett    Calgary    2:15.08
3    Emma Mitchell    UBC    2:15.74

Men's 200m IM        
1    Frederik Kamminga    Alberta    2:01.38
2    Brodie Young    UBC    2:03.91
3    Braydon Hemeon    UBC    2:04.17

Women's 100m Backstroke        
1    Hannah Johnsen    Calgary    1:00.79
2    Dora Modrcin    Manitoba    1:01.06
3    Brooklyn Wiens    UBC    1:01.85

Men's 100m Backstroke        
1    Blake Tierney    UBC    52.47
2    Tayden De Pol    UBC    53.02
3    Matthew Crawford    UBC    54.39

Women's 200m Breaststroke        
1    Kelsey Wog    Manitoba    2:24.34
2    Sophie Tarrant    Victoria    2:30.02
3    Emma Spence    UBC    2:30.25

Men's 200m Breaststroke        
1    Apollo Hess    Lethbridge    2:08.91 *
2    Jaren LeFranc    UBC    2:11.35
3    Justice Migneault    UBC    2:12.95

Women's 400m Freestyle        
1    Emma O'Croinin    UBC    4:13.08
2    Marit Anderson    Calgary    4:16.15
3    Rosalie Davidson    UBC    4:18.54

Men's 400m Freestyle        
1    Nathan Versluys    Calgary    3:50.71
2    Kareem Tarek Mohammed    Regina    3:53.83
3    Liam Clawson-Honeyman    UBC    3:54.03

Women's 4x100m Medley        
1    Calgary    4:05.08    Hannah Johnsen, Haley Rowden, Rebecca Smith, Avery Movold
2    UBC    4:06.01    Brooklyn Wiens, Emma Spence, Josie Field, Emma O'Croinin
3    Manitoba    4:11.53    Megan Mozill, Kelsey Wog, Dora Modrcin, Kelsey Fillion

Men's 4x100m Medley        
1    UBC    3:33.39 *    Tayden De Pol, Justice Migneault, Keir Ogilvie, Blake Tierney
2    Calgary    3:39.52    Anders Klein, Aiden Luykenaar, Thomas McDonald, Paul Latkovic
3    Lethbridge    3:41.41    Chris Alexander, Apollo Hess, Parker Brown, Raine Arden

* - Canada West Record

SWIMMERS OF THE MEET
Men: Apollo Hess, Lethbridge Pronghorns
Women: Rebecca Smith, Calgary Dinos

ROOKIES OF THE MEET
Men: Apollo Hess, Lethbridge Pronghorns
Women: Emma O'Croinen, UBC Thunderbirds

STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS
Men: Kier Przyswitt, Alberta Golden Bears
Women: Olivia Roschat, Victoria Vikes

COACHES OF THE YEAR
Men's Team: Derrick Schoof, UBC Thunderbirds
Women's Team: Mike Blondal, Calgary Dinos
 
-UC-