With a little less than two months to go until the CIS championships in Canada, it’s time we do a little analysis of where everybody’s at thus far in the season. The CIS championships will be taking place February 20-22 at the Varsity Pool in Toronto, which is the University of Toronto’s home pool.
Last season the UBC Thunderbirds won the women’s CIS title posting 691.5 points over the second place University of Calgary women who ended up with 548 points. The men’s University of Toronto roster was able to stump the Thunderbirds on their way to winning the men’s title with 539 points to UBC’s 524.
This year’s shaping up to look like the two teams will go head to head again in the men’s category. The UofT team boasts the likes of Zach Chetrat and Chris Manning, both of whom have represented Canada internationally. UBC has their fair share of international talent as well, having top swimmers such as Coleman Allen and Luke Peddie donning the Thunderbird cap.
The UBC women still look as though they have an edge over other competitors. There are no weak links in the women’s team with swimmers such as Savannah King, Heather MacLean, Tera Van Beilen, and Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson.
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues hosted the Thunderbirds among many other teams this past November at the seventh annual 2013 University Challenge Cup. The Thunderbirds didn’t win a single event while there, neither on the men’s nor women’s sides. Out of the 20 events contested, the Varsity Blues won a total of 10 including a sweep of all four relays. The Blues took to the podium in every single event as well, except for the women’s 100m breaststroke.
UofT won the event with the University of Calgary finishing second, UBC third. According to an article on the UBC website, the Thunderbirds were not wearing racing suits as at this event as instructed by head coach Steve Price in order to create more of a challenge for the swimmers.
The Thunderbirds showed some championship swimming however in early December, defeating Calgary at the UBCD/VPSC Senior Cup. The Calgary Dinos team that had beaten them just weeks earlier at the University Challenge Cup appeared to be overwhelmed with the Thunderbird squad. UBC won the men’s title with a whopping 763 points to the Dinos 223. The women won in a landslide as well, taking down the Dinos 740-370.5.
If there’s anyone who could upset these two powerhouse teams, it could be the Dinos. The Dinos squad came third at last years CIS in the men’s rankings, and second in the women’s. Last year there was a huge deficit between the third and fourth place team in the men’s division; the teams being separated by a massive 240.5 points. With a deficit like that, it’s unlikely any team will be able to rival these three in the next few years.
The Dinos recently added standout swimmer Tristan Cote to their roster at the start of the year who could definitely help them place more of an impact this year at the meet. Cote is currently ranked first in both the 1500m freestyle and 400m IM. With his rankings plus those of Bogdan Knezevic and Russell Wood, the Dinos have just as many first place ranked swimmers as the Blues do and even more than the Thunderbirds.
The UBC women take the cake in the rankings however with Olympians Savannah King and Tera Van Beilen being ranked first in their events. Currently Calgary’s Fiona Doyle is ranked first in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, but she’ll definitely have her hands full with Van Beilen if she wants to run away with those titles at CIS.
With current standings and the way competitions have gone, I have to give the following rankings:
Mens
1. UofT Varsity Blues
2. UofC Dinos
3. UBC Thunderbirds
Womens
1. UBC Thunderbirds
2. UofC Dinos
3. UofT (Closely followed Le Universiteé de Montréal and Université Laval)
To keep up to date on current rankings click here.
For the CIS Swimming website click here.