The University of British Columbia Men and University of Calgary Women swim teams won the Odlum Brown Colleges Cup in Vancouver, which was held November 6th-7th. The meet included 4 of the top 10 teams from the 2020 U Sports Swimming Championship, along with Canada’s lone NCAA team, Simon Fraser University.
The UBC men were bolstered by strong relay performances and a breaststroke event sweep by Justice Migneault. The UofC women had a strong showing from Olympic silver medalist Rebecca Smith, who won the 100m free, 200m free, 100m fly, and 100m IM.
Men’s Team Results:
- University of British Columbia – 1319.5
- University of Calgary – 992
- University of Victoria – 633
- Simon Fraser University – 526
- University of Alberta – 452
- University of Lethbridge – 362.5
- University of Regina – 327
- Team West – 319
- University of Manitoba – 188
- Thompson Rivers University – 52
Women’s Team Results:
- University of Calgary – 1007.5
- University of British Columbia – 995
- Team West – 967.5
- University of Victoria – 611.5
- Simon Fraser University – 540
- University of Manitoba Bisons – 346
- University of Alberta – 288
- University of Regina – 164
- University of Lethbridge – 160.5
- Island Swimming Club – 11
- Thompson Rivers University – 8
The UBC men ran away with the team title, sweeping the four contested relays and winning the meet by over 300 points. The UBC men also won 14 out of the 18 individual events at the meet.
Apollo Hess from the University of Lethbridge produced the fastest SCM breast split in Canadian history in the 200m medley relay, clocking in at 26.65. This was only .01 ahead of the former fastest split belonging to Jason Block, who split a 26.66 in 2016. Hess also produced a fast 27.61 in the individual 50m breast, but was not able to beat UBC’s Justice Migneault who won the event in 27.50. The top 3 performers in the event all broke Nick Kostiuk’s 2016 meet record of 28.34 (UBC’s Jaren LeFranc finished third in 28.25).
One of the top performances of the meet on the men’s side came from Simon Fraser’s Collyn Gagne in the 400m IM. His time of 4:12.90 was a meet record (former meet record holder Brodie Young finished second). Gagne came into the meet with a seed time of 4:22.65 and swam a 4:28.35 at prelims, which ranked him 4th going into the finals. As an NCAA swimmer, Gagne swims yards more often than meters, and placed 4th at the 2019 NCAA Division II Championships in 2019 (3:51.08). He was also ranked 2nd going into the finals of the 2020 NCAA Division II Championships before the event was cancelled. At this meet he managed to negative split both the backstroke (33.07/32.23) and the free (29.90/28.98) legs of the race. His time also puts him at 19th all-time in Canada.
The women’s meet was much closer, with only 40 points separating the top 3 teams. The UofC women took 3 relay titles giving them the edge in the team score, winning the 200 medley, 400 free, and 400 medley. Their 400 free relay team of Avery Movold, Hannah Johnsen, Hannah Bennett, and Rebecca Smith swam a meet record of 3:42.49 and their 400 medley relay team consisting of Johnsen (back), Haley Rowden (breast), Smith (fly), and Movold (free) swam a 4:05.68, another meet record. UBC’s Rose Garcia, Quincy Bender, Brooklyn Wiens, and Emma O’Croinin avoided a relay sweep with their meet record time of 1:43.16 in the 200 free relay.
UofC’s Olympian Rebecca Smith won 4 individual events. She dominated the 200m free, clocking in at 1:53.02, just shy of her personal best of 1:52.92 (number 3 all time in Canada). Smith’s meet record 100m free time of 53.48 was good enough for the second best Canadian time this year, but was well shy of her seed time of 52.38. Her 100m IM time of 1:00.36 was also a meet record.
Danielle Hanus from Island Swimming Club swam exhibition in the 50m and 100m backstrokes. Her 26.70 in the 50m and 57.57 in the 100m are both the 5th fastest Canadian times this year.