TROIS-RIVIERES, QUE – Pablo Collin and Isabel Sarty were named male and female athletes of the meet, respectively, as McGill University pulled off a rare triple crown sweep to win all three RSEQ conference championship banners, Sunday, capping a three-day meet held at UQTR's Centre de l'activité physique et sportive.
 
The McGill Redbirds and Martlets each finished atop their respective men's and women's divisions, in addition to capturing the combined banner, which includes the total points scored by both genders. McGill has become the first university to sweep all three titles in three consecutive seasons since the Quebec league initiated a combined championship in 1989. The only other occasions that a Quebec university has swept all three titles in two successive seasons was Laval (2014 and 2015) and the Montreal Carabins (2008 and 2009).

Excluding multiple titles won by a team in the same season, McGill has now produced 550 championship seasons in more than a century of intercollegiate sports, dating back to 1873-74.
 
Collin, a 21-year-old computer science sophomore from Marseille, France, won four gold medals to go along with a pair of silvers. He was also named RSEQ male swimmer of the year.

Sarty, who hails from Halifax, won six gold medals. The 23-year-old master's student in neuroscience also merited RSEQ female swimmer-of-the-year honours.

The championship meet counted for 50 per cent of the points accumulated during the RSEQ season, which involves five meets.

The Redbirds, who captured their 19th title since 1971-72, entered the meet in second-place and 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, a native of Abu Dhabi, Bruno Dehem-Lemelin of Kirkland, Que., Brian Yu from Beijing and Montrealer Malachy Belkhelladi.

The Martlets won all five league meets to easily outdistance the field en route to capturing the women's title for the 21st time since the Quebec league was formed in 1972. At the championship meet, the Martlets finished the weekend with 33 appearances on the podium, including a stunning 16 of the 21 gold medals handed out. They added nine silvers and eight bronzes. The Martlets also broke three school records, namely Isabel Sarty in both the 50 free (0:25.26) and 100 free (0:55.10), along with Elizabeth Ling, an engineering junior from Calgary, in the 50 back (0:27.95).

"I am pretty blown away truthfully," said McGill's Peter Carpenter, who swept conference coach-of-the-year honours for both the men's and women's divisions.  "Our swimmers had a goal that they set out at the beginning of the year and that was to do something that had never been done, winning all three championship banners three years in a row.  The men went in to this meet on the back foot against Ottawa but they absolutely would not be denied.  Their performances in the morning prelims sealed the deal as they snatched up as many A final spots as they could.  It was a strategy that worked and we are (pretty pleased) about that."

Each gold medalist automatically qualified for national championships in Victoria, B.C., but most of McGill's group had already qualified earlier this season. Newcomers to the McGill list of 18 women and 17 men heading to Nationals are Hana Mollin, a management junior from Schaumburg, Illinois, and Tristan Schanz, a mechanical engineering freshman from White Rock, B.C. Schanz was also named as the conference rookie of the year.
 
"Winning eight out of 10 relays was also not expected," Carpenter added.  "But our swimmers managed to raise their level even further when it came to those relays.  I think it is a testament to the culture the leaders have built on this team.  The collective always comes first and I am probably more proud of that aspect on this team than I am of any of the awards we won."

The McGill men won all four of the league's major awards. Joining the aforementioned athlete (Collin), rookie (Schanz) and coach-of-the-year (Carpenter) laureates, the leadership and community service award went to Collin, to conclude a remarkable RSEQ campaign.

On the women's side, McGill took home three of the major conference awards. Aside from the previously mentioned athlete (Sarty) and coach (Carpenter) honours, Naomie Lo, a 20-year-old software engineering sophomore who won five gold medals at the championship and merited the RSEQ leadership and community service award. The only prize that eluded the Martlets was the top rookie, which went to Laval's Danika Ethier.

All of the gold medalists automatically merited RSEQ first-team all-star status, while silver medalists earn second-team honours. The Martlets had 11 all-stars, including 10 on the first team. The Redbirds also had 11 all-stars, with 10 on the first team.

LINK TO WOMEN'S STORY

LINK TO MEN'S STORY

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


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