CIS SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2014 Speedo CIS swimming championships at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Pool and after day one, UBC are in first place, with no indication of looking back.

UBC Thunderbirds are the defending champs and the Women hold a huge lead with 254 points and are a clear 126 points ahead of the RSEQ champion Montreal Carabins who currently have 128.

The Calgary Dinos have 121 points, while Toronto have 88 and Laval managed to get 80 and both clubs sit fourth and fifth, respectively.

UBC Head Coach Steve Price stated “We came in with the goal to move the women’s team forward but more importantly we are trying to get as many swimmers on the podium as possible,” . “It’s a much better feeling on the top end so we’re happy with the overall team result tonight.”

The Men’s race is much closer as the Thunderbirds have 235 and hold only a 29-point advantage over the defending CIS Champ and host club the Toronto Varsity Blues who have 206.

Calgary is sitting in third with 119 points, while Montreal have 77 and the Western Mustangs from London Ontario have 65 and sit fourth and fifth respectively.

Canada West swimmer of the year Coleman Allen led UBC’s Men with two individual Gold Medals in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.13 and 100 butterfly, bettering his own CIS record in the latter with a time of 51.88 seconds.

Allen also joined teammates Luke Peddie, Sergey Holson and Stefan Milosevic to win their fourth-straight gold medal in the 400 freestyle relay.

The last race of the night summed up the men’s standings as UBC, Toronto and Calgary exchanged the lead several times, but the Thunderbirds managed to come out on top by a short three-tenths of a second over the Dinos.

Holson won individual gold in the men’s 100 breaststroke in 1:00.18, while Luke Reilly boasted UBC’s fourth individual gold medal of the day in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:10.95.

Thunderbirds rookie Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson was the only other individual record breaker on Day 1, improving Calgary’s Tianna Rissling 2013 mark (4:37.81) by over three seconds in the 400 IM with a time of 4:34.76.

UBC’s Fionnuala Pierse, Brittney Harley, Rebecca Terejko and Heather MacLean put an end to Calgary’s seven-year reign in the women’s 400 freestyle relay.

The quartet touched the wall in 3:40.25, a full two seconds ahead of the Carabins (3:42.70).

RSEQ female swimmer of the year Barbara Jardin of the Montreal Carabins continued to shine and add to her success this season on Day 1.

The 2012 Olympian kicked off the championships with a first-place finish in the women’s 200 freestyle and anchored Montreal’s relay team to a silver medal.

Calgary’s Russell Wood and Laval’s Marie-Pierre Couillard earned gold medals in the men’s and women’s back stroke events, while Dinos standout Finoa Doyle and Kendra Chernoff placed first in the women’s 100 breast and butterfly events, respectively.

The 2014 Speedo CIS Swimming Championships continue with preliminaries set for 10 a.m. EST with finals slated for 6 p.m. EST.