POINTE CLAIRE, QUE – Pablo Collin of the McGill University men's swim team won gold in the first race of the day and silver in the final race to highlight Day 1 of the U SPORTS national swim championships, Thursday. Also, an 11-year-old record fell in the morning prelininaries to open the three-day meet, hosted by McGill at the Pointe Claire Aquatic Centre in Montreal's West Island region.

(LINK TO WOMEN'S RECAP)
 
Collin won the 200-metre freestyle (1:51.76) and also helped his 4x100 freestyle relay foursome win silver (3:23.73), missing gold by a fraction at the touch. It was an emotional win for Collin, a 22-year-old computer science junior from Marseille, France, who was sidelined in the fall semester after a bike accident while training for a triathlon. More recently, he was hospitalized with an inner-ear infection midway through the RSEQ conference championships in Quebec City.
 
"I felt like trash a few weeks ago and didn't really know what to expect at this meet," said Collin, who upped his lifetime medal tally at Nationals to four golds, a pair of silvers and three bronzes. "It feels great… to win gold in our first event of the day and it kind of releases the pressure that we had on our shoulders. It sends a good (vibe) throughout the whole team."

The final race of the day was the 4x100 freestyle relay, where Calgary finished in 3:23.65, edging out second-place McGill (3:23.73) at the wall. The Dinos winning quartet featured Stephen Calkins, Gibson Black, Addison Butler and Thomas McDonald.

Joining Collin, the leadoff swimmer on McGill's silver-medal foursome, was a pair of civil engineering juniors, Erik Linseisen from Burlington, Vt., and Hazem Issa from Cairo, along with Malachy Belkhelladi, a psychology junior from Montreal.

Toronto, which leads the men's division with 396 points, captured two of the six gold medals handed out, to go along with five silvers and one bronze. UBC, which collected three bronze medals, sits second with 320 points, followed by Calgary (291), McGill (221) and Ottawa (165) to round out the top five.
 
The day started off with a bang when Andrew Herman of the Toronto Varsity Blues set a short-course championship meet record in the prelims of the 50-metre backstroke. He was clocked in 24.03 seconds to break the previous mark of 24.03 set by UBC's Kelly Aspinall in 2013.

At Nationals, the morning prelims are held in a 25-metre pool, while the evening finals feature a pool reconfigured to 50m. Separate records are kept for both configurations.
 
"It was a fantastic prelim and final session for us today," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "The men have far-exceeded the pre-meet predictions and because of that have a huge lead over the favourite Calgary. The nice thing is we know Day 3 is our best day and we can pick up 50 points, so really (Day 2) is key to put it away if we can."
 
Freshman Bill Dongfang won gold and silver medals to pace the Varsity Blues. The economics major from Victoria, B.C., finished first in 100-metre butterfly in 54.48 seconds and was second in the 200 freestyle (1:52.12).
 
"It really showed something… that we're ready to win," said Dongfang. "It was definitely shocking, my first reaction was that I thought that my teammate had won the (100 fly) race… (In the prelims) this morning, just before the 200 freestyle heat, my cap ripped and a teammate immediately ran over to get me his cap and sacrificed his race and that's the reason why I was able to win a silver medal tonight."
 
Other Day 1 gold medalists included Toronto's Jacob Gallant (200 individual medley, 4:22.88), Ottawa's Hugo Lemesle (100 breaststroke, 1:02.82) and Lethbridge's Christopher Alexander (50 backstroke, 25.89).
 
The meet continues on Friday with morning prelims at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern), followed by evening finals at 5:30 p.m. All schedules, live results, race entries, meet recaps and related information can be found at this website link.
 
All sessions are streamed live in English on CBC GEM and cbcsports.ca  and in French on Radio-Canada.ca/Sports and ICI Tou.TV
 
(LINK TO WOMEN'S RECAP)
 
Day 2 PRELIM SCHEDULE & LANE ASSIGNMENTS

INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS:
 
WOMEN
200 Freestyle: 1. Anna Dumont-Belanger, UBC, 2:02.35; 2. Ainsley McMurray, Toronto 2:02.61; 3. Haley Klenk, Toronto, 2:04.21.
100 Breaststroke: 1. Shona Brandon, Western, 1:07.64; 2. Alexanne Lepage, Calgary 1:08.07; 3. Eloise Allen, UBC, 1:10.43.
100 Butterfly: 1. Nina Mollin, Toronto,1:01.51; 2. Anais Arlandis, Montréal 1:01.73; 3. Sela Wist, UBC, 1:01.96.
50 Backstroke: 1. Bridget Burton, UBC, 28.91; 2. Eloise Allen, UBC, 29.29; 3. Hannah Johnsen, Calgary, 29.30.
400 Individual Medley: 1. Alexanne LePage, Calgary, 4:50.26; 2. Olivia Brendzan, Alberta, 4:54.59; 3. Nina Mollin, Toronto, 4:56.09.
4 x 100 Freestyle Relay: 1. Toronto (Teagan Vander Leek, Raili Kary, Lily Chubaty, Ainsley McMurray), 3:50.26; 2. Calgary (Hannah Bennett, Eliza Housman, Hannah Johnsen, Alexanne LePage), 3:51.31; 3. UBC (Anna Dumont-Belanger, Eloise Allen, Brooklyn Wiens, Bridget Burton), 3:51.60.

MEN
200 Freestyle: 1. Pablo Collin, McGill, 1:51.76; 2. Bill Dongfang, Toronto, 1:52.12; 3. Paul McKenzie Calgary, 1:53.21.
100 Breaststroke: 1. Hugo Lemesle, Ottawa, 1:02.82. 2. Gabe Mastromatteo, Toronto, 1:02.92; 3. Graeme Aylward, Toronto,1:02.93.
100 Butterfly: 1. Bill Dongfang, Toronto, 54.48; 2. Ahmed El Tatawy, Toronto, 54.64; 3. Thomas McDonald, Calgary, 54.67.
50 Backstroke: 1. Christopher Alexander, Lethbridge, 25.89; 2. Andrew Herman, Toronto, 25.91; 3. Hugh McNeill, UBC, 25.97.
400 Individual Medley: 1. Jacob Gallant, Toronto, 4:22.8; 2. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 4:23.34; 3. Hugh McNeill, UBC, 4:24.75.
4 x 100 Freestyle Relay: 1. Calgary (Stephen Calkins, Gibson Black, Addison Butler, Thomas Mcdonald) 3:23.65; 2. McGill (Pablo Collin, Erik Linseisen, Hazem Issa, Malachy Belkhelladi) 3:23.73; 3. UBC (Siu Lun Ho, Joel Blanco, Hugh McNeill, Jake Gaunt), 3:24.40.
 
TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1
 
WOMEN:
1. UBC, 550; 2. Toronto, 441.5; 3. Calgary, 272.5; 4. McGill, 223.5; 5. Western, 111.5; 6. McMaster, 70; 7. Manitoba, 60; 8. Victoria, 56.5; 9. Lethbridge, 53; 10. Alberta, 43; 11. Waterloo, 42; 12. Dalhousie, 34; 13. Acadia, 32; 14. Laval, 31; 15. Montréal, 28; 16. Guelph, 23; 17. Ottawa 21; 18. Brock 16 ; 19. Sherbrooke 13; 20. Regina,12.
MEN:
1. Toronto, 396; 2. UBC, 320; 3. Calgary, 291; 4. McGill, 221; 5. Ottawa, 165; 6. Alberta, 125; 7. Western, 95; 8. Waterloo, 67; 9. Lethbridge, 57; 10. Laval, 56; 11. Victoria, 47.5; 12. Dalhousie, 43; 13. McMaster, 41; 14. Laurier, 35; 15. Sherbrooke, 33; 16. Carleton, 26; 17. York, 23; 18. Manitoba, 22; 19. UQTR, 17; 20. (tie) Acadia and Regina 16; 22. UNB, 11.
 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca