2024 U SPORTS MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 7-9, 2024
- Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre, Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada
- Short Course Meters (25 meters) Prelims/Long Course Meters (50 meters) Finals
- Championship Central
- Meet Schedule
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
U SPORTS staff contributed to this report.
The University of Toronto women rallied from a 108.5-point deficit behind UBC on the final day of the U SPORTS Championships to claim their third national crown in a row on Saturday.
On the men’s side, the Varsity Blues held off Calgary to capture their first title since 2016, ending UBC’s six-year run atop the team standings.
Women’s Day 3 Recap
Final Team Standings
1. Toronto, 1,444 points;
2. UBC, 1,300.5 points;
3. Calgary, 872.5;
4. McGill, 788.5;
5. Western, 363.5;
6. Victoria, 222.5;
7. McMaster, 211.5;
8. Alberta, 200;
9. Manitoba, 193.5;
10. Waterloo, 166;
11. Dalhousie, 156;
12. Acadia, 135;
13. Lethbridge, 134;
14. Montréal, 125;
15. Guelph, 94;
16. Ottawa, 91;
17. Laval, 90;
18. Sherbrooke, 41;
19. Brock, 36;
20. Regina, 25.5;
21. Mount Allison, 5;
22. Queen’s, 2.
Toronto got individual wins from sophomore Nina Mollin in the 200 butterfly (2:16.53) and fifth-year Ainsley McMurray in the 100 free (55.67) to fuel its comeback victory over UBC. At the end of the session, they teamed up on the back half of the Blues’ triumphant 400 medley relay (4:11.04) to put the finishing touches on their team title.
It was Mollin’s third individual win of the week after placing 1st in the 200 IM (2:18.35) on Friday and 100 fly (1:01.51) on Thursday. McMurray also won the 50 free (25.68) earlier in the meet. Katelyn Schroeder and Shannon Russell joined Mollin and McMurray on Toronto’s 400 medley relay. The Blues also boasted a trio of runner-up finishes courtesy of Lily Chubaty in the 100 free (57.26), Haley Klenk in the 200 back (2:15.73), and Anna Hein in the 800 free (8:59.50).
UBC’s Bridget Burton and Anna Dumont-Belanger brought home their third gold medals of the week, but it wasn’t quite enough for the Thunderbirds to hang on to the lead they were clinging to on Saturday morning. Burton won the 200 back (2:13.33) after claiming the 100 back crown (1:02.16) on Friday while Dumont-Belanger touched first in the 800 free (8:59.50).
The first records of the women’s meet fell on Saturday, both broken by Western senior Shona Branton in the 50 breaststroke. In the morning prelims contested in short-course meters (SCM), the Swimmer of the Meet erased the meet record (30.45) by Manitoba’s Kelsey Wog in 2022 with her winning time of 30.34. In the process, Branton shaved more than a second off her previous-best 31.63 from last February. Then in the evening, she kept rolling with another U SPORTS standard in the LCM 50 breast (30.84), taking down the nine-year-old mark (31.11) set by Calgary’s Fiona Doyle back in 2015. Branton was within a tenth of her personal-best 30.75 from January.
“I wasn’t really sure how the meet was going to go as I hadn’t had a chance to taper this year (due to illness) and didn’t really have high expectations. I had a kind of tough start in my 100m breast, so I was really happy to make up for that in the 50,” Branton said. “I was going into the meet under the record so I new that I would have to give it my all if I was going to get that in the morning prelims and again in the finals. It was super exciting. But my relay was the most special thing that has ever happened to me at Western and I have never been so proud. We have two rookies on that relay (Leah Butler & Gabriella Casasanta) and both of them were amazing and the girl on the freestyle leg (Danielle Treasure) really killed it.”
Calgary freshman Alexanne LePage, who won the 200 breast (2:27.92) and 400 IM (4:50.26) while also placing 2nd behind Branton in the 100 breast (1:08.07), earned Rookie of the Year honors while UBC’s Derrick Schoof took home the Coach of the Year award.
Men’s Day 3 Recap
Final Team Standings
1. Toronto, 1,145 points;
2. Calgary, 922.5;
3. McGill, 893;
4. UBC, 867.5;
5. Ottawa, 516.5;
6. Western, 357;
7. Alberta, 345;
8. Waterloo, 227;
9. Laval, 216.5;
10. Victoria, 191.5;
11. McMaster, 156;
12. Dalhousie, 129;
13. Lethbridge, 125;
14. Laurier, 93;
15. York, 90;
16. Memorial, 74;
16. Carleton, 72;
18. Manitoba, 41.5;
19. Sherbrooke, 58;
20. Acadia, 51;
21. (tie) UQTR and Montréal, 37;
23. Regina, 28;
24. Mount Allison, 12;
25. UNB, 11.
Toronto freshman Bill Dongfang blasted a new meet record in the 200 fly (2:00.17) to highlight the Blues’ 18th national title in program history this weekend.
Dongfang lowered the previous U SPORTS Championships standard (2:00.41 by Ottawa’s Davide Casarin in 2019) by a couple tenths. He reached the wall within a couple seconds of his personal-best 1:58.44 from World Juniors last September, where he placed 5th. Dongfang also won the 100 fly (54.48) and placed 2nd in the 200 free (1:52.12) on Thursday.
UBC junior Hugh McNeill dominated the 200 back (2:00.21) en route to Swimmer of the Meet honors, adding another gold to his collection after capturing the 100 back (55.44) on Friday. The 20-year-old has been as fast as 1:57.73 in the 200 back at last year’s World Championships, where he made the semifinals.
McNeill capped his huge meet with by leading off UBC’s victorious 400 medley relay (3:43.23), which edged Toronto (3:43.40) by just .17 seconds. Ethan Hemeon, Siu Lun Ho, and Jake Gaunt joined McNeill on the Thunderbirds’ 400 medley relay.
The 100 free came down to the wire as Calgary’s Stephen Calkins (50.51) eked past Memorial’s Chris Weeks (50.57) for the win by just .06 seconds. Weeks took home Rookie of the Year honors after breaking the 50 fly meet record on Friday night.
Ottawa junior Hugo Lemesle completed a breaststroke sweep with a tight 50 breast victory in 28.24, just .08 seconds ahead of Lethbridge’s Tristan Bennett. Lemesle owns a lifetime best of 28.00 from last February. The Frenchman also won the 200 breast (2:14.80) on Friday and 100 breast (1:02.82) on Thursday.
Toronto head coach Byron MacDonald was awarded Coach of the Year in his 48th season at the helm of the Blues’ combined program.
“Obviously I’m ecstatic about sweeping the two (banners),” MacDonald said. “We started at the beginning of the year with goals and both our men and women felt very strongly that they could win a national championship. I did the math and thought, well maybe, it would be close but there was a chance… There were a few hiccups during the year but we came here and executed… On the men’s side, it kind of went according to the script, The guys turned it on from Day 1 and never looked back.
“To be honest, after Day 1, when we were down by over 100 points with the women, I wasn’t so sure that we’d be able to dig out of that. (I don’t think) that any team ever has done that in the past. So it was quite gratifying to see us (accomplish that)… There was a little extra pressure on the women’s team because we had won two in a row… But they were really keen on winning this one because 10 of the 18 women were graduating and I’ve never had a graduating class that was this huge… so it was nice to be able to go out on top with this group. It’s a pretty big legacy that they’re leaving behind.”
Did the medley relay DQ result in the UBC Ladybirds losing the national title? If so, does anyone know what caused the DQ?
There is over a 100 pt difference between UofT and UBC. One relay dq did not result in the ladybird loss.
The disqualification was caused by a ‘discontinuous turn’ by Bridget Burton on the backstroke leadoff. She did turn onto her front pretty far from the wall, but in my opinion nobody moving that fast (1:01 LC 100 Back) should be called discontinuous. Many prominent international backstrokers turn on their front just 1 or 2 strokes after the flags.
Disappointed with Canadian University swimming. There is a reason most if not all of the studs go down south of the border. Cant even call this competitive
Like (almost) every other swimming league across North America, it’s getting a little faster on average each year, particularly in the times it’s taking to make the A/B/C finals in the prelims. Remember Canada has just over 10% of the population of the United States, so to expect performances on par with Div 1 NCAA is unrealistic.
The university coaches need to step up and be better with the talent they get. Age group swimming keeps getting better and better everywhere. They are getting better talent each year and the programs need to be better too.
Wait till trials to see how they do. Usports is weird because a lot of athletes just use it as training meet in prep for trials.
Great teaching Byron n Linda. Just continue to getterdone and have fun.
Hello need guidance.My daughter completed her all splash levels. I want to join her in competitive swimming club in Toronto or GTA area. Please guide me for best coaching.Thanks in advance.
depends on your kid’s needs:
if your kid needs development relatively to their peers, a more personal type of coaching could be beneficial, there are good small-team coaches around the GTA. If your kid is fast, they would do well with a big club like TSC, eswim, NYAC, etc. depends where exactly you live, commute here can make/break a kid’s season/school year.
Should UBC find a replacement for Derrick Schoof?
Why?
U Sport men 200 fly record isn’t even under 2 minutes?!
Dongfang’s PB is 1:58 and he said he was disappointed with the time
It’s only been contested in LCM 4X throughout its history.
Byron Macdonald..the number 1 coach in Canada and always has been…congrats.
UBC men’s team finish 4th, I used to pray for days like this