TORONTO – It was a big opening day at the 2025 U SPORTS Swimming Championships for the Calgary Dinos, claiming three national championships and six total medals in a busy opening day from the Varsity Pool on the University of Toronto campus.

Alexanne Lepage grabbed the headlines with a pair of national titles, while rookie Nicholas Duncan announced his arrival on the national scene in a big way with a gold medal of his own. 

In all, the Dinos sit in second place in the team standings on the women's side, with the men sitting in third in a tight battle through the first 12 total events, with two days of competition still to come.

"I think we had a decent night," Calgary head coach Mike Blondal said. "We missed a few races this morning, but finished the day much stronger with a number of great swims, lifetime bests and gold medal performances from Alexanne Lepage and Nicholas Duncan. We are in a tight competition with the University of Toronto and McGill. We had a great Day 1 and I am looking forward to two more fun days of racing ahead."

The long-awaited competition finally kicked off with the 200 freestyle.

In the C final, Hannah Johnsen paced with the field, holding back on the power from legs in the first half of the race, and then used her extensive freestyle training to pull ahead and out touch everyone in her heat on that last 50, swimming a whole second faster than her morning swim. Distance freestyle specialist Emily De Jager represented the Scarlet and Gold cap in the B final, creeping up a few spots overall in this event. On the men's side, Stephen Calkins carried the team with an outstanding performance in an outside lane. He battled very closely against former teammate Paul Mckenzie, placing seventh overall with a time of 1:48.07. 

The 100 breaststroke was an extremely strong event for the Dinos and featured a Duncan duo. In the B final, rookie Abby Gebhardt improved her time from this morning, placing 11th overall after moving up six places from her original seeding. In A final, Alexanne Lepage was ahead right from the start from her strong pullouts and a fierce drive to win. Lepage placed first overall, racking in her first gold medal of the night with a time of 1:05.79. Also in this heat, Isabella Duncan swam to another lifetime best (after swimming a best in the morning prelims), moving up an incredible six spots to earn a handful of points for the team, placing sixth overall with a time of 1:09.57. Teammate Danika Ethier kept a close distance behind Duncan, placing eighth. 

On the men's side in the B final, 50 breaststroke specialist Stephen Moore (ninth) was right off his best time. In the A final, rookie Nicholas Duncan, who swam to a best time in both the morning and evening sessions, lived up to his hype as a recently converted breaststroke star after swimming to gold medal with a time of 59.38. Jett Verjee and Aiden Luykenaar respectively earned points in this event, as well. 

The 100 fly was represented by Hayley French (15th), Myriam Hickey (19th) who swam to two lifetime bests in one day, Angel Loseth (24th) and Madisen Jacques (fifth). Jacques had a two-and-a-half second best time this morning, and swam to the exact same time of 1:01.21 in the final, which is extremely rare to do. 

The men featured Thomas McDonald and Duncan, as per usual. McDonald faced an extremely competitive heat in the A final, holding his own and using his strength off the walls to bring home the bronze. In the B final, Nicholas Duncan placed 15th overall after just completing his 100 breaststroke. 

Next up was the women's 50 backstroke, where Eliza Housman smoked her heat, showing the competition what is to come throughout the rest of the meet. Brooklyn Avey earned points for the team in her first ever U SPORTS final, and Hannah Johnsen moved up to fifth place in her second swim of the night after hitting the wall at 28.38.

Henry Sclater earned himself two lifetime bests in one day in the 50 backstroke, moving from 31st place overall in this event to 19th. In the B final, Ethan Fast scored a best time and placed 10th overall with a time of 25.11. Fast was a powerhouse in his underwater kicks off the turn to keep it an extremely close race with the rest of the field.

The Dinos capped off the busy opening day with one of the most grueling events in the sport - the 400 individual medley - with an outstanding nine Calgary swimmers scoring in the event.

Bella Mastroianni started off with a strong butterfly length, closing the gap in her backstroke and used breaststroke to slightly pull ahead and brought it home in the freestyle; placing second in the B final (10th overall). Hannah Bennett had a very strong first half of the race and stuck closely with teammate Lepage. In the end, it was ultimately Lepage who pulled ahead after the breastrstoke leg as she was able to use her breaststroke endurance to close the gaps and gain a lead, winning her second national title of the night with a time of 4:42.17.

Xavier Pimentel (20th) had a strong race after swimming to a best time earlier today. In the B final, Patrick McCloy (12th) and Luykenaar (14th) paced and challenged each other almost entirely throughout the 400 meters. The A final featured Charlie Skalenda (fourth), rookie Carter Scheffel (fifth) & Matthew Syrgiannis (sixth) who each had outstanding swims in this demanding race as the Dinos loaded up on points in one of the most demanding events in the sport.

Day 1 closed out with the 400 freestyle relay with the women's squad of Housman, Johnsen, Lepage and H. Bennett bringing home the silver medal in 3:44.54, while the men's relay of Gibson Black, Calkins, Fast and McDonald claimed bronze in 3:15.40.

"We've got some new rookies looking to make a name for themselves, and the upper year swimmers are aiming to prove they're still in the game with the younger ones," third-year standout Ian Cameron said. "This evening shaped up to be great as the first session jitters were out, and the team was bouncing off each other's excitement to swim."

Day 2 of competition gets underway Friday at 7:30 a.m. MT with prelims, while finals are scheduled to start at 3:20 p.m. MT.

TEAM STANDINGS *after Day 1

WOMEN
1. UBC, 565.0
2. Calgary, 318.0
3. McGill, 255.0
4. Toronto, 180.0
5. Alberta, 86.5
6. Western, 73.0
7. Lethbridge, 72.0
8. Laval, 71.0
9. McMaster, 70.0
10. Victoria, 63.0
11. Dalhousie, 61.0
12. Guelph, 69.0
13. Waterloo, 52.0
14. Ottawa, 49.5
15. Montreal, 47.0
16. Brock, 46.0
17. Manitoba, 39.0
18. Acadia, 37.0

MEN
1. UBC, 411.5
2. Toronto, 348.5
3. Calgary, 290.0
4. McGill, 246.0
5. Alberta, 136.0
6. Ottawa, 103.0
7. Victoria, 78.5
8. Western, 78.0
9. Waterloo, 61.0
10. Lethbridge, 53.0
11. York, 32.0
12. McMaster, 30.5
13. Laurier, 30.0
14. Laval, 29.0
14. Sherbrooke, 29.0
16. Regina, 26.0
17. Dalhousie, 24.0
18. Carleton, 20.0
18. Montreal, 20.0
20. Manitoba, 19.0
21. UNB, 14.0
22. Acadia, 13.0
22. Brock, 13.0
24. Memorial, 6.0
25. UQTR, 2.0

DINOS RESULTS

Women's 200 Freestyle
14. Emily De Jager – 2:03.25
17. Hannah Johnsen – 2:02.87
21. Claire Bennett – 2:04.41

Men's 200 Freestyle
7. Stephen Calkins – 1:48.07
26. Liam Dennett – 1:50.82
27. Addison Butler – 1:51.06
34. Gibson Black – 1:51.60
36. Xavier Pimentel – 1:51.72

Women's 100 Breaststroke
1. Alexanne Lepage – 1:05.79
6. Isabella Duncan – 1:09.57
8. Danika Ethier – 1:10.73
11. Abby Gebhardt – 1:11.51
18. Brooklyn Pickford – 1:11.66

Men's 100 Breaststroke
1. Nicholas Duncan – 59.38
9. Stephen Moore – 1:00.84
15. Jett Verjee – 1:02.20
19. Aiden Luykenaar – 1:02.14
36. Alex McDonald – 1:03.94

Women's 100 Butterfly
5. Madisen Jacques – 1:01.21
15. Hayley French – 1:02.35
19. Myriam Hickey – 1:02.48
24. Angel Loseth – 1:03.67
43. Monica Oleszczuk – 1:05.44

Men's 100 Butterfly
3. Thomas McDonald – 52.76
15. Nicholas Duncan – 54.53

Women's 50 Backstroke
5. Hannah Johnsen – 28.38
16. Brooklyn Avey – 29.59
17. Eliza Housman – 28.67
29. Julianne Moore – 29.83

Men's 50 Backstroke
10. Ethan Fast – 25.11
19. Henry Sclater – 25.61

Women's 400 IM
1. Alexanne Lepage – 4:42.17
5. Hannah Bennett – 4:48.58
10. Bella Mastroianni – 4:55.81

Men's 400 IM
4. Charlie Skalenda – 4:17.63
5. Carter Scheffel – 4:19.83
6. Matthew Syrgiannis – 4:20.85
12. Patrick McCloy – 4:23.50
14. Aiden Luykenaar – 4:25.98
20. Xavier Pimentel – 4:28.06
27. Hunter Payne – 4:32.27

Women's 400 Freestyle Relay
2. Housman, Johnsen, Lepage, H. Bennett – 3:44.54

Men's 400 Freestyle Relay
3. Black, Calkins, Fast, McDonald – 3:15.40

-UC-