VICTORIA – Both the University of Calgary Dinos men and women are sitting in third place overall after hauling in nine medals on night one of the 2023 U SPORTS Swimming Championships at Saanich Commonwealth Place.  

The Toronto women lead the points race with 479 points, ahead of UBC with 436.5 and Calgary in third with 321 points. On the men's side, the Thunderbirds top the standings with 416 points, followed by the Ottawa Gee-Gees with 321 and Calgary with 307.  

Calgary rookie Julianne Moore got the Dinos off to a hot start, winning the first heat of the competition, the C final of the women's 50 freestyle in a new personal best time of 26.86. Just two heats later, Olympian Rebecca Smith picked up the Dinos' first medal of the weekend when she touched for bronze in 26.13, one one-hundredth of a second behind Toronto's Aleksa Gold. Eliza Housman rounded out the A final in eighth, while Laura Albers and Isabella Duncan swam to 14th and 20th, respectively. 

In his triumphant return to the U SPORTS championships, Stephen Calkins delivered for Calgary when he touched for gold in the men's 50 freestyle with a time of 22.87, ahead of Toronto's Liam Weaver and UBC's Dima Lim. Rookie Addison Butler made his championship debut, touching for 7th in the C final. 

Canada West gold medallist Hannah Johnsen set a new personal best in the women's 100 backstroke and finished just shy of the podium when she clocked 1:03.37, one one-hundredth behind Toronto's Aleksa Gold, who grabbed bronze, her second medal in as many events. Calgary's Avery Movold touched for 12th, with teammates Nadine Daoud and Sarah Corson finishing 19th and 22nd, respectively. 

Richie Stokes collected his first hardware of the championships, touching for bronze in the men's 100 backstroke with his time of 56.29 behind Thunderbird pair Hugh McNeill and Blake Tierney. Mark McKenzie set a new personal best in the B final, touching for 11th in 58.54, followed by teammate Sebastian Castillo in 14th. Daniel Gerlach represented the Dinos in the C final and touched for 22nd. 

Breaststroker Isabella Duncan shot ahead of the field to win the C final of the women's 50 breaststroke taking over a second and a half off her previous best to touch in 33.19, followed closely by teammate Mackenzie Wallich touching second and Madison Macor taking half a second off her previous best time of 34.75 to finish 22nd overall.

Toronto's Gabe Mastromatteo registered the first new U SPORTS meet record of the weekend, touching to win the men's 50 breaststroke in 27.53. For Calgary, Stephen Moore touched to win B final with a time of 28.69 and Ian Cameron finished 18th overall. 

Distance specialist Marit Anderson climbed the podium after making a strong push in the final 25 metres of the women's 400 freestyle to propel past Toronto's Claire Howard, touching in 4:20.01 - just three-hundredths of a second clear of the Toronto swimmer. Rookie Emily De Jager swam in her first national A final, touching for fifth and teammate Emma Mitchell finished 22nd overall. 
 
Calgary's golden girl Smith doubled down to win the women's 100 butterfly with a winning time of 59.21. Smith was the only woman to go under one minute, with UBC's Josie Field and Sela Wist touching in 1:00.72 and 1:02.04, respectively, to round out the podium. Laura Albers touched fourth in the B final, and Eliza Housman finished 22nd for the Dinos. 

After finishing just shy of the podium at his first U SPORTS championships last year, Thomas McDonald blasted a new personal best of 54.27 to take silver behind UBC's Keir Ogilvie in the men's 100 butterfly with Owen Allwood rounding out the B final, touching 16th overall for the Calgary men. 

Hannah Bennett picked up a sixth-place finish in the women's 200 IM, while Calgary senior Mackenzie Wallich managed to set a new personal best of 2:23.18 and swim to 13th overall.  

2022 Canada West Rookie of the Year Charlie Skalenda snagged silver in his national championship debut. The first-year waited all night for the men's 200 IM where he took two seconds off his personal best to touch the wall behind UBC's Brodie Young in 2:04.62. Nathan Versluys raced to 15th for the Dinos and Ian Cameron dealt some outside smoke to win the C final of the men's 200 IM, taking three seconds off his best to win in 2:07.95. 

The Calgary women were unbeatable in the women's 400 medley relay. The team of Johnsen, Wallich, Smith and Movold combined to swim a time of 4:11.82 and collect the gold over the UBC Thunderbirds and Toronto Varsity Blues. 

In the final event of the evening, Calkins threw down the fastest freestyle split in the field to anchor the Calgary men's 400 medley relay to bronze with his split of 49.34 to motor passed Lethbridge in the final 25 meters. The team of Stokes, Aiden Luykenaar, McDonald and Calkins clocked 3:44.55 to finish behind UBC and Toronto. 

Day two of racing continues Friday with the morning preliminaries at 11 a.m. MT and finals at 7 p.m. MT. 

Women's 50 Freestyle         
1    Ainsley McMurray    Toronto    26.97
2    Aleksa Gold    Toronto    26.12
3    Rebecca Smith    Calgary    26.13
            
Men's 50 Freestyle            
1    Stephen Calkins    Calgary    22.87
2    Liam Weaver    Toronto    22.93
3    Dima Lim    UBC    23.22
            
Women's 100 Backstroke            
1    Lauren Crisp    Victoria    1.03.27
2    Haley Klenk    Toronto    1.03.30
3    Aleksa Gold    Toronto    1.03.36
            
Men's 100 Backstroke            
1    Hugh McNeill    UBC    55.68
2    Blake Tierney    UBC    56.19
3    Richie Stokes    Calgary    56.29
            
Women's 50 Breaststroke             
1    Danika Ethier    Laval    31.8
2    Shona Branton    Western    31.98
3    Alicia L'Archeveque    UBC    32.05
            
Men's 50 Breaststroke            
1    Gabe Mastromatteo    Toronto    27.53* U SPORTS Record
2    Hugo Lemesle    Ottawa    28
3    Apollo Hess    Lethbridge    28.3
            
Women's 400 Freestyle            
1    Emma O'Croinin    UBC    4.13.27
2    Marit Anderson    Calgary    4.20.01
3    Claire Howard    Toronto    4.20.04
            
Men's 400 Freestyle            
1    Pablo Collin    McGill    3.57.71
2    Quinn Matteis    Toronto    3.58.69
3    Nathan Beaudin-Bolduc    Ottawa    4.00.19
            
Women's 100 Butterfly            
1    Rebecca Smith    Calgary    59.21
2    Josie Field    UBC    1.00.72
3    Sela Wist    UBC    1.02.04
            
Men's 100 Butterfly            
1    Keir Ogilvie    UBC    54.01
2    Thomas McDonald    Calgary    54.27
3    Siu Lun Ho    UBC    54.67
            
Women's 200 IM            
1    Anna Dumont-Belanger    UBC    2.17.66
2    Nina Mollin    Toronto    2.17.69
3    Haley Klenk    Toronto    2.20.19
            
Men's 200 IM            
1    Brodie Young    UBC    2.04.11
2    Charlie Skalenda    Calgary    2.04.62
3    Blake Tierney    UBC    2.04.78
            
Women's 400 Medley Relay            
1    Hannah Johnsen, Mackenzie Wallich, Rebecca Smith, Avery Movold    Calgary    4.11.82
2    Eloise Allen, Alicia L'Archeveque, Josie Field, Emma O'Croinin    UBC    4.12.90
3    Aleksa Gold, Madeline Spencer, Nina Molin, Ainsley McMurray    Toronto    4.14.04
            
Men's 400 Medley Relay            
1    Hugh McNeill, Justice Migneault, Keir Ogilvie, Dima Lim    UBC    3.41.90
2    Carter Buck, Gabe Mastromatteo, Benjamin Loewen, Bernard Godolphin    Toronto    3.43.45
3    Richie Stokes, Aiden Luykenaar, Thomas McDonald, Stephen Calkins    Calgary    03:44.5
            
Women's Point Scores            
1    Toronto    479    
2    UBC    436.5    
3    Calgary    321    
4    McGill    307    
5    Victoria    127    
6    Western    121    
7    Manitoba    116.5    
8    Laval    84    
9    Ottawa    78    
10    Guelph    70    
11    Lethbridge    66    
12    Dalhousie    64    
13    Montreal    49    
14    Waterloo    49    
15    Alberta    48    
16    Acadia    22    
17    McMaster    17    
18    Sherbrooke    4    
19    Regina    2    
            
Men's Point Scores            
1    UBC    416    
2    Ottawa    321    
3    Calgary    307    
4    McGill    288    
5    Toronto    278.5    
6    Victoria    148    
7    Lethbridge    147.5    
8    Alberta    90    
9    Waterloo    80    
10    Western    77    
11    Wilfrid Laurier    47    
12    Laval    45    
13    Regina    39    
14    Montreal    35    
15    McMaster    33.5    
16    Dalhousie    32    
17    York    30.5    
18    Acadia    20    
19    Carleton    12    

-UC-