OTTAWA – Erik Linseisen of Burlington, Vt., won three silver medals to pace the McGill Redbirds en route to a second-place finish of six teams at the third RSEQ University Cup swim meet of the season, held Friday at uOttawa's Montpetit Hall pool.
 
LINK TO WOMEN'S STORY
 
The Redbirds won one gold medal in 11 events, to go along with five silvers and one bronze. Ottawa tallied 570 points to win the meet, followed by McGill (449), Laval (228), Montreal (207), Sherbrooke (98) and UQTR (11).
 
McGill's lone first-place finish was in the 4x50 freestyle relay, where the Redbirds were clocked in 1:32.09 to edge out Ottawa (1:32.43). The McGill quartet was composed of sophomore Malachy Belkhelladi of Montreal, senior Bruno Dehem-Lemelin of Kirkland, Que., Brian Yu, a senior from Beijing, and Pablo Collin, a junior from Marseille, France.
 
Linseisen, a 19-year-old civil engineering sophomore, finished second on the podium in the 200-metre individual medley (2:03.92), the 200 breaststroke (2:17.57) and with the 4x200 free relay (7:36.47). The 5-foot-10, 153-pound sprinter swam the second leg of that relay, a foursome that included leadoff swimmer Alex Younes of Montreal, 18-year-old Adham Eham Salem of Dubai, and Romain Vanmoen, a junior from Menton, France.

"(Despite winning the women's side of the meet), it was not a great day for our swimmers," admitted McGill head coach Peter Carpenter.  "We had flashes of brilliance, but the athletes had a hard time lifting their compete level, to the level of the meet.  This is in large part because of how tired they were going in. 
 
"I believe we were up against an Ottawa team that was firing on all cylinders and we were stuck in a much lower gear.  As coaches we have asked a tremendous amount from the swimmers recently in practice and a lot of that residual fatigue was still hanging around." 
 
"(Our) coaching staff was proud of how the swimmers stayed positive and competitive to the end, even when they were not feeling their best," added Carpenter. "The hope is that with a little rest and a small taper, our swimmers will be able to raise their level and swim very fast in the next (few) weeks.
 
The fourth of five RSEQ meets is slated for Jan. 20 in Quebec City.
 
COMPLETE MEET RESULTS (M & W) (PDF)
 
 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca