VICTORIA – The Calgary men move into second place overall behind UBC and the women hold third behind Toronto and UBC in the national rankings heading into the final day of the 2023 U SPORTS Swimming Championships, hosted by the University of Victoria. 

Despite picking up five more medals, things were a little quieter for the Dinos on night two of the championships, after claiming nine medals on night one - including three gold. 

Rebecca Smith collected the Dinos' first hardware on night two, with a silver-medal performance in the women's 200 freestyle, touching the wall in 1:59.63 behind UBC's Emma O'Croinin (1:59.03). Calgary rookie Emily De Jager raced to second in the B final of the women's 200 freestyle, setting a new lifetime best of 2:05.49, and was joined by teammate Avery Movold who finished 14th overall. Calgary senior Marit Anderson was first in the water for the Dinos on night two, winning the C final of the women's 200 freestyle to pick up nine points for the Calgary women.

Freestyle specialist Paul McKenzie hit the wall in a new lifetime best of 1:53.89 to place fifth in the men's 200 freestyle. Ian Friesen rounded out the B final in 16th, while Liam Dennett and Xavier Pimentel represented the Dinos in the B final, finishing 22nd and 23rd, respectively. 

All four Calgary finalists in the women's 50 backstroke set new personal records, led by second-year Hannah Johnsen who swam her first ever sub 30-second race to snag the silver medal from Manitoba's Dora Modrcin, out-touching the Bison by eight one-hundredths from lane eight. Eliza Housman placed sixth in the A final, while Nadine Daoud and Sarah Corson took first and third in the C final. 

The Calgary men stacked the finals of the 50 backstroke, with sixth-place finisher Stephen Calkins and eighth-place's Owen Allwood racing in the A final. Night-one medallist Thomas McDonald took off nearly two seconds to lower his best time to 27.46, touching for sixth in the B final, while Richie Stokes, Daniel Gerlach and Sebastian Castillo swam in the C final for the Dinos. 

Schulich student Mackenzie Wallich stunned the field in the women's 100 breaststroke, going out hard in the B final to lead through the first 50 meters in 33.43 and touching to win in a new lifetime best of 1:12.70. Calgary teammate Isabella Duncan followed behind, placing 13th overall in a new personal best of 1:14.02 and Madison Macor finished 19th overall. 

In the men's 100 breaststroke, Toronto's Gabe Mastromatteo set his second U SPORTS championship record in as many nights when hit the wall in 1:01.38 to claim gold. For Calgary, Ian Cameron doubled down with his outside smoke to win the B final in 1:03.73 after winning the C final of the men's 200 IM from an outside lane on night one. In the C final, rookie Stephen Moore set a new lifetime best of 1:04.96 for 20th and Aiden Luykenaar placed 22nd.

With a thrilling final 25 meters in the women's 400 IM, Toronto's Nina Mollin dropped the hammer to beat out teammate Aleksa Gold for the win, clocking a time of 4:50.24. Calgary's Hannah Bennett rounded out the A final in eighth place and Emma Mitchell touched fourth in the C final, placing 20th. 

200 IM silver medalist Charlie Skalenda clocked a new personal best time of 4:29.87 and finished just shy of the podium, touching fourth in the men's 400 IM. Skalenda was joined by Nathan Versluys and Richie Stokes in the A final, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Xavier Pimentel dropped 11 seconds from his best time to finish 22nd overall. 

Both Laura Albers and Sarah Corson set new lifetime bests in the 50 butterfly. Albers swam to a time of 28.00 shaving three one-hundredths off her previous best to take sixth in the women's B final while Corson took off nearly half a second finishing 22nd overall with her time of 28.4. 

In the final individual event of the night, Calgary's Stephen Calkins stormed home in the men's 50 butterfly to secure gold for the Dinos. Calkins hit the wall in a new lifetime best of 24.21 ahead of Calgary teammate Thomas McDonald, who set a new personal best of his own to take the silver ahead of Waterloo's Lukas Wormold in 24.49. Ian Friesen and Owen Allwood represented the Dinos in the B final, finishing 12th and 15th, respectively, while Addison Butler raced to 22nd. 

It was a tight battle in the women's 800 freestyle relay, with the Thunderbirds coming out on top when UBC's Josie Field pulled away from Calgary's Emily De Jager in the final meters of the race. The Calgary team of Marit Anderson, Avery Movold, Rebecca Smith and De Jager combined for a time of 8:15.77 to take silver behind UBC, with Toronto rounding out the top three. 

The Thunderbirds also took victory in the men's 800 freestyle relay with their time of 7:32.58 ahead of Toronto and McGill claiming the sliver and bronze, respectively. The Dinos team of Paul McKenzie, Liam Dennett, Charlie Kwinter and Ian Friesen posted a time of 7:44.68 to finish sixth overall. 

The final day of racing gets underway Saturday with the morning preliminaries at 11 a.m. MT and finals at 7 p.m. MT. 

Women's 200 Freestyle            
1    Emma O'Croinin    UBC    1.59.03
2    Rebecca Smith    Calgary    1.59.63
3    Ainsley McMurray    Toronto    2.03.17
            
Men's 200 Freestyle            
1    Pablo Collin    McGill    1.51.19
2    Bernard Godolphin    Toronto    1.52.84
3    Kieran Stone    Western    1.53.69
            
Women's 50 Backstroke            
1    Haley Klenk    Toronto    29.48
2    Hannah Johnsen    Calgary    29.6
3    Dora Modrcin    Manitoba    29.68
            
Men's 50 Backstroke            
1    Chris Alexander    Lethbridge    25.91
2    Blake Tierney    UBC    26.15
3    Dima Lim    UBC    26.21
            
Women's 100 Breaststroke            
1    Shona Branton    Western    1.08.99
2    Danika Ethier    Laval    1.09.82
3    Eloise Allen    UBC    1.11.43
            
Men's 100 Breatstroke            
1    Gabe Mastromatteo    Toronto    1.01.38* New U SPORTS Record
2    Justice Migneault    UBC    1.02.59
3    Apollo Hess    Lethbridge    1.02.63
            
Women's 400 IM            
1    Nina Mollin    Toronto    4.50.24
2    Aleksa Golda    Toronto    4.52.00
3    Olivia Brendzan    Alberta    4.54.73
            
Men's 400 IM            
1    Jacob Gallant    Toronto    4.22.53
2    Hugh Mcneill    UBC    4.24.89
3    Brodie Young    UBC    4.25.26
            
Women's 50 Butterfly            
1    Eloise Allen    UBC    26.77
2    Dora Modrcin    Manitoba    26.98
3    Anais Arlandis    Montreal    27.35
            
Men's 50 Butterfly            
1    Stephen Calkins    Calgary    24.21
2    Thomas Mcdonald    Calgary    24.49
3    Lukas Wormald    Waterloo    24.66
            
Women's 800 Freestyle Relay            
1    Anna Dumont-Belanger, Emma O'Croinin, Sara Godon, Josie Field    UBC    8.14.87
2    Marit Anderson, Avery Movold, Rebecca Smith, Emily De Jager    Calgary    8.15.77
3    Claire Howard, Lily Chubaty, Aleksa Gold, Ainsley McMurray    Toronto    8.28.13
            
Men's 800 Freestyle Relay            
1    Ryley Mcrae, Blake Tierney, Hugh Mcneill, Raben Dommann    UBC    7.32.58
2    Max Tambling, Quinn Matteis, Bernard Godolphin, Phil Robins    Toronto    7.35.43
3    Alexandre Younes, Pablo Collin, Bruno Dehem-Lemelin, Erik Linseisen    McGill    7.35.78

Women's Point Scores        
1    Toronto    878
2    UBC    860.5
3    Calgary    568
4    McGill    565
5    Manitoba    232.5
6    Western    229
7    Victoria    216.5
8    Dalhousie    156
9    Laval    151
10    Ottawa    144
11    Guelph    113
12    Lethbridge    108
13    Alberta    97.5
14    Montreal    97
15    Waterloo    67
16    Acadia    56.5
17    McMaster    38
18    Sherbrooke    4
19    Regina    3.5
        
Men's Point Scores        
1    UBC    774.5
2    Calgary    637
3    Ottawa    606
4    Toronto    503
5    McGill    500
6    Lethbridge    270.5
7    Victoria    234
8    Alberta    183
9    Western    132
10    Waterloo    129
11    Montreal    104
12    Laval    98
13    Dalhousie    80
14    Regina    63
15    Wilfrid Laurier    61
16    McMaster    52.5
17    Acadia    45
18    York    32.5
19    Sherbrooke    17
20    Carleton    13
21    Manitoba    9
22    Memorial    2

-UC-