2025 U Sports Swimming Championships: Knox, Sanchez Lead Strong Performances for UBC on Day 1

2025 U SPORTS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 6-8, 2025
• Toronto, Ontario
• Defending Champions:
  • Women – Toronto (3x)
  • Men – Toronto (1x)
• Start Times: 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals (ET)
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results on Meet Mobile
• Live Stream

In its quest to regain the U Sports Championship Titles, the UBC Thunderbirds threw down an impressive showing on night 1 of the 2025 U Sports Swimming Championships. UBC racked up 411.5 points on the men’s side and 565 points on the women’s side to lead both sides of the competition by decent margins.

UBC opened the meet with a strong start in the women’s 200 freestyle, with Paris Olympians Kayla Sanchez and Emma O’Croinin leading a podium sweep for the Thunderbirds. Sanchez touched first in a 1:54.74, breaking the pool record en route to a gold medal finish. Behind her, O’Croinin dropped almost 3 seconds off of her prelims performance to grab the silver in a 1:56.44, with their teammate Anna Dumont-Belanger grabbing the bronze in 1:59.13. UBC actually ended up with the top 4 spots in the final, with Camryn Stannard holding off Laval’s Raphaelle Tremblay for 4th, 2:00.26 to 2:00.59.

Another Canadian Olympian, Finlay Knox, led the UBC men with a win in the 50 backstroke. Knox, the defending U Sports Champion in the event, broke the meet record in both prelims and finals. In prelims, he posted a 23.62, just coming in under the meet record of 24.03 and the University of Toronto’s pool record of 23.95. He bettered that mark in finals, swimming to a 23.39 for the gold. Knox’s teammate Blake Tierney finished 2nd, grabbing the silver medal in a time of 23.74, which was also under the previous meet record. Toronto’s Andrew Herman rounded-out the podium in 23.77.

In the men’s 400 IM, UBC added a tally to the win column with Tanner Cole dominating the race to win by over 3 seconds in a time of 4:13.67. Cole’s difference-making split came on the breaststroke, where he pulled ahead with a 1:09.96 as the only swimmer to dip under the 1:10-barrier on that split. His teammate Hugh McNeill touched 3rd in a 4:17.12 to give the Thunderbirds a 1-3 finish in the event, with Toronto’s Jacob Gallant separating the pair (4:16.08).

The women’s 50 backstroke featured a 1-2 punch from UBC’s Eliose Allen and Bridget Burton touching .05 seconds apart from each other. Allen led the field with a 27.45, just off of her season best of 27.14, followed closely by Burton’s 27.50. Brock’s Tatum O’Connor dropped a half-second off of her prelims time to take the bronze with a time of 27.65.

UBC also led both the men’s and women’s 400 freestyle relays to close out the session. In the women’s 400 freestyle relay, the team of Emma O’Croinin, Anna Dumont-Belanger, Bridget Burton, and Kayla Sanchez combined for a blistering 3:37.78, scaring the pool record of 3:37.76 and the meet record of 3:36.34 to best the field by almost 7 seconds. Notably, Sanchez closed for the Thunderbirds in a 52.21 split, the fastest in the field by over 2 seconds. The men’s 400 freestyle relay ofFinlay Knox, Blake Tierney, Jake Gaunt, and Joel Blanco threw down a time of 3:11.80, shattering the meet record of 3:12.92 by over a second. UBC saw all 4 of its swimmers on that relay throw down extremely consistent splits, with Knox leading off in a 47.52, Tierney (47.97) and Gaunt (47.91) following up, and Blanco bringing the team home in a 48.40.

Several other teams added medals to their tables on day 1 as well. Toronto’s Nina Mollin claimed gold in the women’s 100 butterfly as the only swimmer to dip under the 1:00-barrier with a 59.71. For Mollin, the 2025 OUA female swimmer of the year, the gold marked her second consecutive win in the event. UBC snagged both the silver and bronze in that race, with the combo of Una Borchgrevink (1:00.03) and
Brooklyn Weins (1:00.67).

York’s Eric Ginzburg posted the top time in the men’s 100 butterfly, dropping a 51.89 to claim the win by over a half-second ahead of the field. With his performance, Ginzburg cut almost a second off of his season-best (52.57), making the jump from 3rd on the psych sheets to 1st. UBC’s Wells Ginzer picked up a silver medal in the event with a 52.53, also dropping a second from his season best (53.67). Thomas Mcdonald from Calgary rounded-out the podium in a 52.76.

Calgary’s Alexanne Lepage was dominant in the women’s 100 breaststroke, winning by nearly 2 seconds. Lepage touched in a time of 1:05.79 to give Calgary its first gold medal of the meet. UBC’s Eloise Allen finished 2nd with a 1:07.41 for the silver, while Romane Hereng from Montreal bested the field for the bronze in 1:08.72. Later in the session, Lepage claimed gold in the 400 IM as well, swimming to a time of 4:42.17 to top her second podium of the night, largely thanks to a 1:16.06 split on the breaststroke leg, the fastest in the field by 3 seconds. Alberta’s Olivia Brendzan took the race out fast, but faded over the breaststroke leg to finish 2nd to Lepage with a 4:43.53. UBC’s Emma Spence picked-up the bronze medal in a 4:45.53 to round-out the podium.

The men’s 100 breaststroke featured the closest finish of the entire session, which included a tie on the podium. Calgary’s Nicholas Duncan led the field with a 59.38, completing the 100 breaststroke sweep for his team. Only .1 behind him, Ottawa’s Hugo Lemesle touched for the silver with a 59.48. Lemesle was followed by the Toronto’s Nathan Thomas and UBC’s Justice Migneault, who touched simultaneously for the bronze in matching times of 59.60.

Alberta picked-up a medal via Paul McKenzie as he led a tight field in the men’s 200 freestyle. McKenzie touched first in a 1:47.02, just holding off Toronto’s Bill Dongfang for the gold by .05 seconds (1:47.07). With Dongfang settling for second, his teammate Ben Winterborn threw down a 1:47.55 to finish 3rd in the event.

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
15. Sherbrooke – 29.0
16. Regina – 26.0
17. Dalhousie – 24.0
18. Carleton – 20.0
19. Montreal – 20.0
20. Manitoba – 19.0
21. UNB – 14.0
22. Acadia – 13.0
23. Brock – 13.0
24. Memorial – 6.0
25. UQTR – 2.0