Emily Overholt, Markus Thormeyer Lead Stacked UBC Recruiting Classes

Jul 17, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Emily Overholt of Canada on the podium after winning the women's 400m freestyle final the 2015 Pan Am Games at Pan Am Aquatics UTS Centre and Field House. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel/USA Today Sports Images

Emily Overholt and Markus Thormeyer are the two crown jewels of recruiting for the University of British Columbia this year.

Men’s Press Release:

Coming off of a silver medal finish at the national championships, the UBC Thunderbirds men’s swim team are set to reload for the 2016-17 CIS season with a talented group of incoming freshmen, headlined by Canadian Olympic Team hopeful Markus Thormeyer (Delta, B.C.).

The recruiting class, which also features Canadian talent in Will Dickson, Jacob Lee, Warren Meyer, and Araya Therrien along with African import Micah Fernandes, should mesh well with the existing talent base head coach Steve Price has built.

“Especially with the redshirt guys we have coming back from Olympic training next year, this recruiting class gives us some incredible depth in every event,” said Price. “These young men are big recruits, talented kids that should set us up to continue to be very good for a very long time.”

Thormeyer is the clear crown jewel of Price’s class – long considered one of the brightest talents in Canadian swimming, the former USC Trojans commit made his senior national team debut at the 2015 Pan-Am Games in Toronto. Standing 6-foot-6 and 187-lbs, the Winskill Dolphins alum is a sprint freestyle and backstroke specialist, and holds both the short and long course provincial records for the 100m versions of both events, as well as the long course marks in the 200m backstroke and 50m freestyle.

Thormeyer, as well as redshirting Thunderbirds Coleman Allen, Sergey Holson, Yuri Kisil, Stefan Milosevic, Luke Peddle, and Luke Reilly, will head to Toronto this week for the Canadian Olympic Trials, which run from April 5 to 10.

“Markus was the top prospect in the country. as far as I’m concerned,” said Price. “He’s one of the biggest additions to our men’s program in a few years, and he is going to be great for both us and for Canada for a very long time.”?

Dickson, from Hamilton, Ont., is a 100m and 200m backstroke ace. Standing 5-foot-11 and 155-lbs, Dickson was named the Male Swimmer of the Year two years running for the Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club, and claimed four gold medals in four events at the 2015 Ontario Provincial Championships, notably setting a personal best (2:01.4) in the 200m backstroke.

Lee (Toronto), as a middle-distance freestyler, will provide depth and a potential heir apparent to current team captain Keegan Zanatta.

In Meyer, the ‘Birds are getting a gifted breaststroker, one who will pair nicely with current freshman Ryder MacGinnis to solidify the event for the forseeable future. Meyer, who plans on majoring in forestry, was named Canada’s Youth Male Swimmer of the Year.

A couple of international recruits round out the class – French-Canadian and Japanese by heritage, Therrien comes in as an individual medley specialist. Born in Montreal, but trained at the Konami Sports Club in Nishinomiya, Japan, Therrien will bring a mix of abilities and experience to UBC.

Fernandes, a native of Nairobi, Kenya, holds national records in the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke. Among other international experience, Fernandes swam at both the 2014 Commonwealth games and 2014 FINA World Championships, as well as the most recent World Junior Championships in Singapore.

Women’s Press Release:

The UBC Thunderbirds women’s swim team, already the most storied program in the CIS, will welcome a deep, talented freshman class to the Point Grey Campus this fall as they look to improve on a silver medal-finish at the national championships.

After deferring her enrolment a year to train for the Olympics, Emily Overholt will make her highly-anticipated debut for the Thunderbirds following Rio 2016. The 5-foot-7 Vancouver native specializes in the 400m Individual Medley, in which she holds the Canadian record at 4:35:86, a mark she set at the World Championships last year. After a 2015 that saw her also take three medals at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, Overholt was named the Canadian Female Swimmer of the Year.

Overholt will be among several ‘Birds striving to make the Red and White as the Canadian Olympic Trials to the Toronto Pan Am Sports Complex. The trials are set to run from April 5 to April 10, and will determine which men and women will represent Canada in Rio this August.

“Emily is the kind of talent that you can build a program around,” said UBC head coach Steve Price. “She is a remarkable athlete, and has already proven that she is one of the best swimmer’s this country has produced. We’re definitely looking to build this next class of Thunderbirds around Emily.”

The ‘Birds will also pick up B.C.-born talent in Lauren Caswell, Megan Dalke, and Hilary Metcalfe. Caswell, a butterfly and IM specialist from Vancouver, was named the 16-year old Swimmer of the Year for the UBC Dolphins in 2015. Both Dalke (Kamloops) and Metcalfe (Langley) are armed with talent and bloodlines, as the two swimmers are daughters of respected club coaches in the province – Brad Dalke of Kamloops Classic Swimming and Brian Metcalfe of the Langley Olympians.

A pair of Calgarians, Kirsten Douglas and Paige Bergen, have also signed on with the ‘Birds. Douglas arrives by way of Bishop Carroll High School, and lists sprint freestyle and sprint butterfly as her swims of choice. Bergen, from Western High School, is another sprint freestyler – swimming for the Cascade Swim Club, she recently set a personal best at the ManSask Open Championships, hitting a time of 57.13 in the 100m short course freestyle.

Olivia Ellard and Quincy Brozo are also set to join the ‘Birds. From Perth, Ont., Ellard specializes in the 100m and 200m backstroke, while Milton, Ont.-native Brozo leans towards sprint freestyle and sprint butterfly.

Karen Tam will make her way to Point Grey from Hong Kong, where the 5-foot-8 freestyler was among the best in her age group. Tam, who also specializes in butterfly, finished second in the 50m freestyle and third in the 100m at the 2015 Asian Age Group Swimming Championships.

“We managed to pick up several quality girls this recruiting cycle, and it’s really given us a great foundation to rebuild this women’s program as some of our veterans like Tara Van Beilen (Oakville, Ont.) and Rebecca Terejko (Brantford, Ont.) will be moving on,” said Price.

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Amanda

8 years ago

Emily Overholt’s 400IM time at World Championships is actually 4:32.52