SHERBROOKE, QUE – Elizabeth Ling of Calgary, Alta., was named swimmer of the meet as the McGill women's swim team finished first of six schools to capture the second Quebec University Cup competition of the season, held at the Université de Sherbrooke's 25-metre short-course pool, Saturday.
 
It was a 12th consecutive meet victory in RSEQ competition for the defending conference champion Martlets, dating back to Jan. 18, 2020, when they posted a second-place finish in the fourth league meet of the 2019-20 season.
 
In 10 races, the McGill women produced an impressive eight gold medal finishes, to go along with six silvers and five bronzes. They collected 617 points in the team scoring, almost double the next best team. Ottawa was second with 328, followed by Laval (185), Montreal (180), Sherbrooke (125) and UQTR (41.5).
 
Ling, a 21-year-old civil engineering senior, was the highest scoring athlete of the meet –  for the second consecutive competition – with 627.5 points, based primarily on the FINA scale, to edge out teammate Natasha Frost (615.5) for the top athlete honours. Both won three gold medals and one silver.
 
A 5-foot-4 sprinter, Ling won the 50-metre freestyle (25.96) and 100 breaststroke (1:10.06) and the 100 free (56.98). She also anchored the winning 4x100 freestyle relay (3:49.34). Her second-place finish was in the 50 breast, where she was clocked in 32.29 seconds. All of her performances met the qualification standards for the U SPORTS national championships, to be hosted by McGill in Pte. Claire, Que., March 7-9, 2024.
 
Frost, a physics sophomore from Montreal, won the 200m backstroke (2:18.24) and the 400m individual medley (5:00.36). She also led off the winning 4x100 medley relay (4:18.03). Her second-place finish was in the the grueling 800 freestyle (9:02.43).

"We had an equally dominant day today as we had in our first meet, which was great to see," said McGill head coach Peter Carpenter. "The Martlets nearly doubled second place Ottawa in points. And the men were terrific despite being quite hobbled due to injuries and sickness with three usual starters not being able to go today. I'm happy to report that our relay streak is alive and well and we have now won 10 of 10 relays so far this year.

"Most impressive to the coaching staff was the amount of lifetime best times we saw.  We have not traditionally had that many best times in season at the University Cup 2 meet due to the workload in the pool and of course the midterm season being upon the athletes.  We were incredibly impressed by the compete level we saw all day."
 
A double gold medal performance was produced by McGill's Greta Zapparoli (4x100 MR, 4x100 free), a management junior from Milan, in Italy.

Rounding out the golden glitter club was Emilia Mastromatteo (50 breast, 32.29) of Kenora, Ont., and Iris Tinmouth (800 free, 8:57.71) of comox, B.C., along with relay golds by Maya McGhan (4x100 free) of Ottawa, plus Montrealer Cailin McMurray (4x100 free), Marion Synishin (4x100 MR) of Halifax and Hana Mollin (4x100 MR) of Schaumburg, Illinois.
 
The third of five RSEQ University Cup meets is scheduled for No. 11 at the university of Ottawa.

COMPLETE MEET RESULTS

LINK TO ARTICLE ON MEN'S RESULTS

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca