MONTREAL – Marion Synishin of Halifax, N.S., won gold and bronze medals to pace the McGill University women's swim team at the Coupe de Quebec Senior, a three-day open meet held at the Centre Claude-Robillard, Nov. 23-26.
 
The Martlets collected one gold, four silvers and five bronzes to finish with 10 podiums at the event, a recent addition to the team's schedule and another opportunity to post qualifying times for the U SPORTS national championships, which will be hosted by McGill at the Pointe Claire pool, March 7-9.
 
Synishin, a 19-year-old anatomical science and cellular biology junior, won the women's 50-metre breaststroke in a long-course time of 33.72 seconds. She finished third in the 200 breast, posting a time of 2:40.72. The school records in those events are 32.24 and 2:35.55, respectively.
 
Three members of the Martlets qualified for Nationals, bringing their season total to 15 with three meets left. The new qualifiers were all freshman and included Gabrielle Brown of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., Maya McGhan of Ottawa and Emilie de Chazal, a native of Zug, in Switzerland.
 
"This meet was all about qualifying and to get eight of them (including five men) was really incredible," said McGill head coach Peter Carpenter. "It was also a great opportunity for our athletes to swim short-course preliminaries in the 25-yard pool and long-course finals in the 50-metre pool, just like the format will be at the U SPORTS championship."
 
Emilia Mastromatteo, a science sophomore from Kenora, Ont., had the next best medal haul for the Martlets with a pair of silvers, in the 50 backstroke and 100 breast.
 
Another double medalist was Iris Tinmouth, a science sophomore from Comox, B.C., who merited a silver medal finish in the 200 butterfly and a bronze in the 800 freestyle.
 
McGill's other silver went to sophomore Natasha Frost of Pte. Claire, Que., in the 200 backstroke. The team's bronze medal finishes were achieved by the aforementioned Gabrielle Brown (400 IM), senior Elizabeth Ling (50 breast) of Calgary and Naomie Lo (100 fly), a junior from Toronto.
 
This competition replaced a league meet in Ottawa that was postponed the previous week and will be rescheduled for the second semester. Next up on McGill's schedule is the third Quebec University Cup, scheduled for Dec. 1 in Trois-Rivieres.
 
"The other really great by-product of this (senior) meet was that it was a good chance to showcase our varsity swim team competing in the civil (club) circuit," Carpenter noted. "My hope is for us to continue competing at this meet in future years as it was amazing competition for our swimmers."
 
LINK TO MEN'S RECAP
 
LINK TO COMPLETE RESULTS
 
RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

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