POINTE-CLAIRE, Que. – After just one day of competition at the 2024 U SPORTS National Championships, the University of Calgary Dinos swimming teams brought home seven medals in Thursday's action from the Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre in the greater Montreal area.
With 12 total events in the books, the Dinos sit in third place in both the men's and women's team standings, with two days of competition still to come.
The highlight of the night came in the final event – the 4x100 freestyle relay. In an incredibly tight race from start to finsh, the Dinos squad of
Stephen Calkins,
Gibson Black,
Addison Butler and anchor
Thomas McDonald touched the wall first in 3:23.65 – just seven one-hundredths ahead of host McGill's relay team for a thrilling win and the gold medal.
The women's 4x100 freestyle relay of
Hannah Bennett,
Eliza Housman,
Hannah Johnsen and
Alexanne Lepage also shined brightly on the national stage, bringing home silver with a time of 3:51.31.
The proved to be the third medal of the day for Lepage. The standout rookie also crushed the field in the 400 IM with a winning time of 4:50.26 – a whopping four seconds ahead of the next finisher. Bennett also did well in the event, winning the B-final in 5:00.10. Lepage opened up her first U SPORTS Championship with a silver medal in the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.07.
"This feels awesome. The environment here is so much fun," Lepage said when reflecting on her first day at nationals. "It's been nice to break the ice and get the first couple races out of the way and I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
Hannah Johnsen (50 backstroke),
Thomas McDonald (100 butterfly), and
Paul McKenzie (200 freestyle) all also brought home bronze medals in a successful first day of action for the Scarlet & Gold on the national stage.
Day 2 of competition gets underway Friday at 7:30 a.m. MT with prelims, while finals are scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. MT.
TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 1
MEN
1. Toronto – 396
2. UBC – 320
3. Calgary – 291
4. McGill – 221
5. Ottawa – 165
6. Alberta – 125
7. Western – 95
8. Waterloo – 67
9. Lethbridge – 57
10. Laval – 56
11. Victoria – 47.5
12. Dalhousie – 43
13. McMaster – 41
14. Laurier – 35
15. Sherbrooke – 33
16. Carleton – 26
17. York – 23
18. Manitoba – 22
19. UQTR – 17
20. Acadia & Regina – 16
22. UNB – 11
WOMEN
1. UBC – 550
2. Toronto – 441.5
3. Calgary – 272.5
4. McGill – 223.5
5. Western – 111.5
6. McMaster – 70
7. Manitoba – 60
8. Victoria – 56.5
9. Lethbridge – 53
10. Alberta – 43
11. Waterloo – 42
12. Dalhousie – 34
13. Acadia – 32
14. Laval – 31
15. Montreal – 28
16. Guelph – 23
17. Ottawa – 21
18. Brock – 16
19. Sherbrooke – 13
20. Regina – 12
-UC-
