TROIS-RIVIERES – The McGill Redbirds swim team won seven of 13 races and qualified another swimmer for the Nationals, en route to capturing the men's division at the fourth University Cup meet of the season, held Saturday, at the Centre CAPS, a short-course pool on the campus of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières .
 
It was the 11th consecutive league meet title for the McGill men, dating back to a second-place finish at the Coupe Universitaire in Ottawa on Nov. 18, 2022.
 
The Redbirds collected seven gold medals, three silvers and five bronzes en route to registering 526.5 points to finish first of six schools. They were well ahead of second-place Ottawa (269.5), followed by the Montreal Carabins (256), Laval (223), Sherbrooke (125) and UQTR (91). Ottawa garnered four gold medals, with the two remaining golds going to Sherbrooke and Laval.
 
Despite the dominance, Hocine Feddag, McGill's top scorer at the competition, finished fourth in the swimmer-of-the-meet scoring based on FINA points, which was won by Ottawa's Alym Kurji.
 
Feddag, a 19-year-old mechanical engineering freshman from St. Hubert, Que., produced a pair of relay gold medal performances in addition to a silver in the 50-metre freestyle. He swam the second leg of the winning 4x100 free (3:21.67) with teammates Jules Guerin, River He and Bruno Dehem-Lemelin. Joining Feddag on the winning 4x100 medley relay (3:43.16) was Jules Guerin, Loic Courville-Fortin and Erik Linseisen.
 
Feddag and Guerin were among three McGillians to win double gold at the meet, along with Courville-Fortin, who also finished atop the podium in the 200 backstroke (1:57.55).

Rounding out the Team's golden performances was Romain Vanmoen, a fifth-year mechanical engineering senior from France, who took the 400 individual medley in  4:23.82.

"This was our biggest (points margin) win of the year despite us not winning as many races as we have at other meets," said McGill head coach Peter Carpenter.  "Our depth really came through with many races seeing us place five or even six swimmers among the top eight finishers. Our biggest highlight was having Keenan Gander go under the U SPORTS standard in the 1500 freestyle."
 
Gander, an 18-year-old management freshman from Maple Ridge, B.C., posted a silver-medal time of 15:58.52 in the grueling race to become the 18th McGill male to qualify for the 2025 U SPORTS national championship in Toronto, March 6-8.
 
Next on tap is the RSEQ championship meet hosted by the Montreal Carabins, Feb. 14-16.
 
LINK TO WOMEN'S RECAP
 
COMPLETE MEET RESULTS
 
List of McGill Redbirds Qualifiers for 2025 Nationals (18):
 
NAME / EVENT(S)
Erik Linseisen — 50-100-200 breast, 200 IM
Bruno Dehem-Lemelin — 100-200 free
Robin Domingo — 100-200 fly
Alejandro Giggey — 200 breast 
Riccardo Camuso — 200 back, 100-200 fly, 200 IM
Cameron Carlyle — 200 back, 100-200 breast, 200 IM
Mats Baradat — 200-400-1500 free, 200 fly
Mathieu Ionescoux-Tremblay — 50-100 free, 100 back, 200 IM
Tristan Govier — 50-100-200 back, 50-100-200 fly
Torren Vandersteen — 1500 free, 200 fly
Artiom Volodin — 200-400 free
Romain Vanmoen — 100-200 back, 400 IM
Hocine Feddag — 50-100-200 free
Loic Courville-Fortin — 50-100-200 back, 100 fly, 200 IM
Charles-Antoine Boucher — 100 back
Yegor Semenyuk — 200 fly, 200-400 IM 
Jules Guerin — 50-100-200 free, 50-100 back
Keenan Gander — 1500 free



SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics and Recreation
(514) 983- 7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
www.mcgillathletics.ca