UBC Maintains Lead After Second Day of Canadian Interuniversity Championships

HALIFAX, Canada, February 23. THREE meet records fell on the women's side while UBC's Brian Johns became the most decorated swimmer in Canadian Interuniversity Sport history on Friday at the 2007 CIS Championships hosted Dalhousie University.

University of Calgary's Erin Gammel (Barriere, B.C.), University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres's Jennifer Carroll (Montreal) and University of Montreal's Audrey Lacroix (Pont-Rouge, Que.) all entered the CIS championship record books on the second of three days of competition in Halifax.

Johns (Richmond, B.C.), a two-time Olympian and two-time CIS male swimmer of the year, won the 400-meter freestyle and helped the nine-time CIS reigning champion Thunderbirds win the 4 x 200m free relay to boost his weekend totals to five gold medals in as many races, and his career totals to 32 CIS medals in 32 events, including 31 victories. His 32 CIS podiums are one more than the former mark set a year ago by former UBC teammate and Olympian Kelly Stefanyshyn.

"I don't give the individual awards all that much thought," commented Johns, who will represent Canada at the FINA world championships next month in Australia. "My main focus is to take it one race at a time and help UBC win another title. Any individual accolades that come with that are icing on the cake."

"It is certainly an honor to have won the most medals. I'll cherish my time at UBC forever."

Gammel, a former CIS female swimmer of the year (2003-04) making a return to varsity swimming after an absence of two years, touched the wall in 59.61 seconds in the 100m backstroke to shatter the mark of 59.74 she had first set in 2004 and which was tied by Carroll in 2005.

Gammel, who claimed gold in the 500m back on Thursday, sweeps the two events for the fourth time in her career (2007, '04, '03, '02), after finishing third in both events in her first appearance at university nationals in 2001.

Carroll, also a former CIS female swimmer of the year (2004-05), set a new championship mark in the 50m butterfly with a time of 27.17, breaking the record set in 2004 by Stefanyshyn. It was Carroll's third win in as many years in the event.

"I really wanted this one," commented Carroll. "The 50m fly is a really fun event. It's mostly underwater and I really love that. I'm very happy to be on top."

Carroll later added gold in the 50m freestyle (25.95).

"I'm really happy with that swim. Swimming two sprints in one night is tough to do and it feels great to win again."

"I'm so excited to be going to Bangkok this summer," added the UQTR star who, like all gold medalists this weekend, earned a ticket for the 2007 Summer Universiade. "It will be an honor to represent my country and my school. I'm really looking forward to the challenge of bringing home a medal."

Lacroix, who will also compete at next month's FINA worlds, won her third event of the championships, the 200m butterfly, in a record time of 2:08.69. She broke her own CIS championship mark of 2:08.76 set last year.

"I felt like it was a good race for me, it really helped me having (UVic silver medalist) Mackenzie Downing beside me in the pool," commented Lacroix, who was one of the stars of last year's CIS meet in Quebec City, setting three records and climbing on the podium five times. "We were very tight the entire race and it made it easier to know how fast I had to go."

"This weekend has been great for my preparation for Australia."

Other medal winners on the women's side were Calgary's Liz Hendrick (Calgary) in the 200m breaststroke, Laval's Chanelle Charron-Watson (Gatineau, Que.) in the 400m freestyle and the Calgary 4 x 200m relay comprised of Kevyn Peterson, Katy Murdoch, Laura Grant and Alexandra Lys.

In the women's team standings, nine-time reigning champion UBC (513 points) holds a 66.5-point lead on arch-rivals, the Calgary Dinos (446.5), who have placed second behind the ‘Birds at the CIS meet six years running.

On the men's side, UBC continued its total domination. After sweeping all six events and tallying 11 podiums on Thursday, the ‘Birds added six wins in seven races on Friday, capturing 10 medals. UBC (518 points) leads Calgary (432) by 86 points in the standings. The Dinos have placed second the past nine years.

Darryl Rudolf (Tsawwassen, B.C.) was victorious in the 50 (24.30) and 200m butterfly (2:00.20) and in the 4 x 200 relay, and, like Johns, finds himself with five gold medals in as many events after two days.

Rudolf, who had already won on 100m Thursday, sweeps the three fly distances for the second straight year.

"I'm very happy with my races tonight," commented Rudolf. "I had some tough competition and was focused on winning gold."

Reigning CIS male swimmer of the year Callum Ng (Calgary) and 2000 Olympian Matthew Huang (Vancouver) were the other individual gold medal winners for UBC, while Robert Miller (North Vancouver) and Aaron Blair (Calgary) were part of the winning relay team.

Ng finished first in the 100m back after claiming the 50m back on Thursday, while Huang was crowned in the 200m breaststroke, after winning the 100m breast on day one.

"It's really exciting to win gold again tonight. I was very well prepared for the race," said Ng. "I'm really looking forward to the FISU games this summer. Representing my country is something I take very seriously and it will be an honor to travel to Bangkok."

Ryan Tomicic (Aylmer, Que.) of McGill was the only male swimmer to resist Hurricane UBC, touching the wall first in the 50m free (22.97) for the second time in his career.

Women
1. UBC, 513 points
2. Calgary, 446.5
3. Laval, 230.5
4. Montréal, 179
5. Toronto, 177
6. Victoria, 146
7. McMaster, 104
8. Manitoba, 90
9. McGill, 83
10. Alberta, 63
11. UQTR, 57
12. Dalhousie 47.7
13. Guelph, 47
14. Lethbridge, 37
15. Western Ontario, 27
16. Wilfrid Laurier, 25.5
17. Ottawa, 14
18. UNB, 11
19. Regina, 9
20. Laurentian, 6

Men
1. UBC, 518 points
2. Calgary, 432
3. Dalhousie, 194
4. Laval, 169
5. Montréal, 160
6. Toronto, 145
7. McGill, 91
8. Alberta, 76
9. Guelph, 74
10. McMaster, 68
11. UNB, 65
12. Western Ontario, 53
13. Victoria, 51
14. Waterloo, 50
15. Laurentian, 40
16. UQTR, 33
17. Ottawa, 23
18. Manitoba, 18
19. Trent, 15
20. Lethbridge, 14
T21. Sherbrooke, 9
T21. Regina, 9

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