VANCOUVER – The Calgary Dinos swim team added another 10 medals to its total to close out another strong showing at the 2024 Canada West Championships Sunday evening inside the UBC Aquatic Centre to wrap up the three-day championship meet.

Both the Dinos men's and women's teams finished second overall in a tight race at the top with host UBC. Calgary's women's team finished with 1110.5 points, nearly doubling up the third-place team and finishing only shy of UBC's 1428 points. Meanwhile, Calgary's men finished with a final team tally of 1143 points, with the Thunderbirds ending the Dinos' run as conference champs with 1366 points.

The night started off strong with Kassua Dreyer in the 200 butterfly, placing fourth in the B flight, and 14th overall. In the A final, Hayley French showed everyone the power of pacing as she pulled ahead in the last 100 meters to bring home the silver medal with a time of 2:15.74. On the men's side, Thomas McDonald and Nicholas Duncan represented the Dinos in the A final. Duncan earned himself another silver medal, and McDonald placed fifth overall. 

Rookies Myriam Hickey and Angel Loseth lead their heat in the B final of 100-meter freestyle. Hickey placed second in the heat (11th overall) and Loseth was right behind for third in the heat (13th overall). Eliza Housman powered through the waves in the A final to out touch her Thunderbirds competitor and place fourth overall, getting a best time by exactly one second. 

In the men's 100 freestyle, Ethan Fast wanted to show off the importance of a world class finish as he out-touched his competitor by 0.04 seconds to place first in the B final. Adding on to that performance was Stephen Calkins in the A final. As soon as Calkins came up from his underwater off the dive, it was clear he wanted the gold medal and wouldn't settle for less. He did just that, hitting the wall at 48.66 in first place. 

The women's 200 IM featured French (14th), Monica Oleszczuk (15th), Dreyer (16th), Brooklyn Pickford (18th) and Abby Gebhardt (19th) in a loaded up B final, and Bella Mastroianni (eighth), Danika Ethier (sixth) and Hannah Bennett (fourth) in the A final, to rack up an impressive 74 points in the event. The men's 200 IM was extremely well represented as six of the 10 swimmers in the A flight wore the Scarlet & Gold cap. The flood of red swept the podium with Charlie Skalenda bringing home the gold medal, followed by Ian Cameron (second) and Nicholas Duncan (third). Addison Butler dropped 15 seconds from his morning swim in evening final to place second in the B final and 12th overall. 

Calgary's backstroke specialist Hannah Johnsen faced a competitive field in the 100-meter back and was able to finish fourth with a time of 1:00.53. Gibson Black battled it out in the men's 100 back against former teammate Mark McKenzie in the B final and ultimately took the win with an outstanding last 50 meters. Rookie Ethan Fast respectively swam in the A flight to place 10th overall. 

Pickford started off strong and held her pace in the 200 breastroke to finish second in the B final. Alexanne Lepage made some moves in the A flight of this event to bring in yet another gold medal and finish with a time of 2:22.31 – just shy of the conference record of 2:22.28. Newcomer Danika Ethier also wanted a piece of action on that podium and earned herself a bronze medal. The other three Dinos in this heat were Isabella Duncan (fifth overall), Hannah Bennett (sixth) and Mastroianni (seventh), who all put their best efforts forward. The men's 200 breastroke was represented by Stephen Moore (ninth) who swam to a second-best time today, Aiden Luykenaar (fifth), Carter Scheffel (seventh) and Jett Verjee (10th) who all excelled to earn notable points.  

Emily De Jager and Claire Bennett swam side by side throughout the 400 freestyle, pacing off each other to finish seventh (Bennett) and sixth (De Jager). On the men's side, Patrick McCloy, Xavier Pimentel, Hunter Payne and Liam Dennett all added significant points for the Dinos in this event.

Both Dinos' 400-meter medley relay brought home silver medals to wrap up the competition. Johnsen was the first Dino to swim for the women's relay, breaking the water for Lepage to follow and completely close the gap between the Dinos and the Thunderbirds, giving French a lead for the butterfly leg and held it for Housman to wrap up and place second overall. On the men's side, McDonald paved the way in backstroke for his teammates Cameron, Duncan and Calkins to follow, placing second after a tough battle against the Thunderbirds. 

Speaking to the energy amongst the team, Xavier Pimentel said: "Everyone remained optimistic. The team showed up for each other and kept everything fun while racing with heart."

FINAL MENS TEAM SCORES
1.    UBC - 1366
2.    Calgary - 1143
3.    Alberta - 610.5
4.    Victoria - 588
5.    Lethbridge - 338.5
6.    Manitoba - 215
7.    Regina - 203

FINAL WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
1.    UBC - 1428
2.    Calgary - 1110.5
3.    Victoria - 625.5
4.    Alberta - 513
5.    Lethbridge - 356
6.    Manitoba - 304
7.    Regina - 147

-UC-