MONTREAL – Isabel Sarty of Halifax, N.S., won three gold medals and was named female swimmer of the meet as McGill finished first of six schools to capture the women's division in the second RSEQ Quebec Cup meet of the season, Saturday, at Memorial Pool, located inside the Sir Arthur Currie Gym.

McGill also took the men's meet title for a clean sweep. (link to men's story)

The Martlets won eight out of 10 races in the women's division and came away with with 597 points, easily out-distancing second-place Ottawa (319.5). Laval was third with 307.5, followed by Montreal (144), Sherbrooke (96) and UQTR (8).

"It was a pretty great day for us," said McGill head coach Peter Carpenter. "I was very proud of the way the team defended our pool.  There was a real sense of enthusiasm and fun and that translated to some great results."
 
Sarty, a 23-year-old master's student in neuroscience, is a second-year transfer from Dalhousie University, where she was a national Top 8 Academic All-Canadian laureate. She won the 200-metre freestyle in two minutes, 2.94 seconds, to qualify for the U SPORTS national championship. She also qualified in the 50 free with her winning time of 25.89 seconds and guided the 4x100 free relay to victory in 3:50.80, which also met the qualifying standard for Nationals.

That winning relay squad also included Nikki van Noord, a senior from Hudson, Que., and a pair of sophomores, Cailin McMurray of Montreal, along with Greta Zapparoli, a native of Milan, Italy.

Matching Sarty's three-gold medal performance was senior Daphne Danyluk , an experimental medicine major from Rivière-des-Prairies, Que., who posted national qualifying winning times in the 200 back (2:14.89), the 400 individual medley (4:55.76) and the winning 4x100 medley relay (4:14.29), where she swam the leadoff leg.

Her gold-tinted partners in crime for that race were Hana Mollin, a junior from Schaumburg, Ill., in addition to sophomore Marion Synishin of Halifax, and Elizabeth Ling  of Calgary.

Ling, a civil engineering junior, also won gold in the 50 breast (32.30), silver in the 50 free (25.98) and bronze in the 100 breast (1:11.94), reaching the qualifying standard in each.

The other McGill gold was won by sophomore Naomie Lo of Toronto, in the 800 free (9:00.61), with another qualifying performance for Nationals.

"The women had great success again in the way they are capable of," Carpenter said.  "They won by a bigger margin than their victory at the Cup 1 meet, which was terrific to see.  I think specifically our depth was more evident this time around."
 
Most schools at the meet were missing some of their high-end swimmers who were competing at a World Cup competition in Toronto. From the McGill women's roster, Natasha Frost was swimming at the meet in Toronto.

The third of five Quebec Cup meets is slated for Nov. 18 in Ottawa and will be the final one of the semester.

COMPLETE MEET RESULTS (PDF)


SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca