TROIS-RIVIERES, QUE –
Pablo Collin from Marseille, France, won four gold medals along with a pair of silvers and was named swimmer of the meet as the McGill University men's swim team captured the RSEQ conference championship, a three-day short-course competition at UQTR that concluded on Sunday.
McGill also won the women's banner and the combined title to become the first program in the history of the Quebec conference to sweep all three banners for a third consecutive year.
The Redbirds, who captured their 19th title since 1971-72, had won two of the previous four meets and entered the weekend in second place. They needed to come from behind to defeat division-leading Ottawa by at least 46 points to capture the title. The McGill men won by 126, reaching the podium 24 times en route to collecting eight gold medals, seven silvers and nine bronzes. In the process, they tied a two-year-old school and conference record in the 4x50 freestyle relay (1:31.05), with a quartet composed of
Hazem Issa,
Bruno Dehem-Lemelin,
Brian Yu and
Malachy Belkhelladi.
Collin, a 21-year-old computer science sophomore, was also named RSEQ male swimmer of the year. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound freestyle specialist scored a meet-high 84 points for the team over his six events and registered the meet's best swim with 790 points on the FINA scale in the 400 free. Over the weekend he won the 200 free (1:48.23), 400 free (3:49.53) and led two relay squads to victory, winning the 4x100 free (3:21.25) and the 4x200 free (7:27.31). His silver medals came in the 100 free (0:50.49) and the 1500 free (15:48.91).
Collin was one of 10 Redbirds to merit first-team all-star honours, which is awarded to all gold medalists. Teammates joining him include sophomore
Hazem Issa of Abu Dhabi (UAE), senior
Brian Yu from Beijing, sophomore
Erik Linseisen of Burlington, Vt., sophomore
Malachy Belkhelladi of Montreal, senior
Bruno Dehem-Lemelin of Kirkland, Que., senior
Alex Younes of Montreal, junior
John Martin of Evanston, Illinois, junior
Romain Vanmoen of Menton, France, and
Riccardo Camuso, a freshman from Milan, Italy.
Robin Domingo, a freshman from Greer, S.C., earned second-team all-star status for posting a silver-medal performance.
Each gold medalist automatically qualified for national championships in Victoria, B.C., but most of McGill's group had already qualified earlier this season. The only addition to the 17 men heading to Nationals is
Tristan Schanz, a mechanical engineering freshman from White Rock, B.C. Schanz was also named as the conference rookie of the year.
The McGill men won all four of the league's major awards. Not only did Collin receive the forementioned athlete of the year award, but he also merited the RSEQ leadership and community service award. Aside from the top rookie award to Schanz was
Peter Carpenter, who received coach-of-the-year laureates, to conclude a remarkable RSEQ campaign.
The Redbirds ended up scoring 993 points in the meet. Ottawa was second with 867, followed by Laval (472), Montreal (291), Sherbrooke (116) and UQTR (20). Fifty per cent of the points scored counted towards the final standings, which includes points from the previous four meets. When the final standings were calculated, the Redbirds clinched the pennant with 722.95 points, ahead of Ottawa (682.79), Laval (369.5), Montreal (231.32), Sherbrooke (98.77) and UQTR (14).
(SEE LIST OF McGILL'S TOP PERFORMERS BELOW)
LINK TO WOMEN"S STORY
LINK TO COMBINED STORY WITH QUOTES
COMPLETE MEET RESULTS (PDF)
RSEQ STANDINGS (PDF)
RSEQ MEET-BY-MEET RESULTS
2023 RSEQ SWIM CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STANDINGS
(NOTE: The season totals listed below are the scores based off the percentages of points awarded at each meet (10% for the first two Quebec Cup meets, 15% for the next two meets and 50% for the championship meet)
WOMEN (championship meet points / season totals):
1. McGill 1,017 / 508.50
2. Ottawa 639 / 319.50
3. Laval 511.5 / 255.75
4. Montreal 330.5 / 165.25
5. Sherbrooke 179 / 89.50
6. UQTR 41 / 20.50
MEN (championship meet points / season totals):
1. McGill 993 / 496.5
2. Ottawa 867 / 433.5
3. Laval 472 / 236.0
4. Montreal 291 / 145.5
5. Sherbrooke 116 / 58.0
6. UQTR 20 / 10.0
COMBINED (M & W) (championship meet points / season totals):
1. McGill 2,010 / 1,005
2. Ottawa 1,506 / 753
3. Laval 983.5 / 491.75
4. Montreal 621.5 / 310.75
5. Sherbrooke 295. / 147.5
6. UQTR 61.0 / 30.5
RSEQ MAJOR AWARD WINNERS:
ATHLETE OF THE RSEQ CHAMPIONSHIP MEET
F: Isabel Sarty, McGill
M: Pablo Collin, McGill
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
F: Danika Ethier, Laval
M: Tristan Schanz, McGill
SWIMMER OF THE YEAR
F: Isabel Sarty, McGill
M: Pablo Collin, McGill
COACH OF THE YEAR
F: Peter Carpenter, McGill
M: Peter Carpenter, McGill
LEADERSHIP & CITIZENSHIP AWARD
F: Naomie Lo, McGill
M: Pablo Collin, McGill
HOW McGILL's BEST FARED AT THE 2023 RSEQ CHAMPIONSHIPS
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
