Wog Sets 100 Breast Meet Record To Open U SPORTS Championships

2020 U SPORTS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 20-22, 2020
• Saanich Commonwealth Place, Victoria, British Columbia
• Prelims: SCM (25m) / 10 am PT
• Finals: LCM (50m) / 6 pm PT
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Webcast
• Meet Records (LCM)
• Meet Records (SCM)

Kelsey Wog kicked off the 2020 U SPORTS Swimming Championships with a bang on Thursday morning, lowering the meet record in the women’s 100 breaststroke as she looks for a fourth-straight title.

Wog, currently in her fourth year at the University of Manitoba, punched in a time of 1:05.05 (SCM), breaking the 11-year-old mark of 1:05.16 set by UBC’s Annamay Pierse in 2009. That was the same year that Pierse would go on to set the long course world record in the 200 breast, registering a 2:20.12 in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Rome.

The preliminaries on all three days of the meet will be contested in short course meters, and finals will be long course.

The 21-year-old Wog also nearly broke the championship mark in the 50 breast with her split. Turning in 30.96, she was just 0.26 off of the 30.70 record that’s held jointly by Calgary’s Fiona Doyle (2015) and Wog (2019).

Also on fire during the first session was Victoria’s Danielle Hanus and McGill’s Clement Secchi, who both earned the top seeds in the women’s and men’s 50 back and 100 fly.

Hanus first led the women’s sprint back event in a time of 26.63, tying her best time from December of 2016, and coming less than a half-second off of Kylie Masse‘s meet record of 26.15. Hanus was the silver medalist behind Masse in each of the last two years.

Rachel Rode of Toronto, who was fourth last year and third in 2018, qualified second in 27.05, with the next-fastest swimmer over a second back.

Hanus followed up about half an hour later by earning the top qualifying time in the women’s 100 fly, touching in 58.21 to improve on her previous personal best by 0.03. Hanus was the bronze medalist last season, and the runner-up, Hannah Genich of Toronto, qualified second in 58.88.

In the men’s 50 back, Secchi, the defending champion, was 24.52 for the number one seed, followed by Montreal’s Thomas Lafontaine-Giguere (24.76) and 2018 champion Robert Hill (24.80) of Calgary. Secchi’s personal best stands at a blistering 24.19.

OTHER EVENTS

• 2018 gold medalist Danica Ludlow of Calgary qualified first in the women’s 200 freestyle, clocking 1:57.56 to narrowly out-pace last year’s winner Emily Overholt (1:57.67) of UBC.
• Overholt went on to nab the top qualifying time in the women’s 400 IM towards the end of the session, putting up a 4:37.94 to lead teammate Megan Dalke (4:43.65) by almost six seconds. Overholt is the two-time defending gold medalist, and is notably four seconds faster here than she was in the 2019 prelims.
• Two-time defending champion Markus Thormeyer cruised his way to the top seed in men’s 200 free, touching in 1:46.56 after a quick 50.07 opening 100. The top-four this morning ended up consisting of the same athletes as last year’s final, with silver medalist Davide Casarin (1:46.82) second, 2019 fourth-place Brian Palaschuk (1:47.12) third, and bronze medalist Alexander Pratt (1:47.85) in fourth.
• Palaschuk wrapped the session by claiming the top seed in the men’s 400 IM in 4:12.51, improving on his previous best from the 2019 prelims of 4:14.35 (where he was also the fastest in the field). The University of Regina fourth-year would go on to place third last season in the LCM finals.
• Claiming another top seed for the Thunderbirds was third-year breaststroker Jaren LeFranc, who was the fastest in the men’s 100 breast heats in 1:00.02, knocking over a second off his old PB (1:01.04). Last year, LeFranc missed the A-final by 0.03, and then went on to win the B-final in a time that would’ve been second in the “A”. Will Barrett of Ottawa, fifth in 2019, sits second in 1:00.49.