Kylie Masse the Varsity Blues swimming star managed to win two Gold medals, that saw her break two U SPORTS and one Canadian record, on the first day of the 2018 U SPORTS Swimming Championships at the University of Toronto Varsity Pool.
The current reigning champion from the UBC Thunderbirds lead the men’s and women’s standings.
UBC men sit in first place with 323 points, followed by second-place Calgary Dinos (285.5) and host Toronto Varsity Blues (279).
The McGill Redmen (181.5) and Western Mustangs (150) sit fourth and fifth place, respectively.
The T-Birds women are in front with 412 points, while the Varsity Blues (305) and Montreal Carabins (252) are in second and third place.
The Dinos (170) and Victoria Vikes (107.5) round out the top five after Day 1.
Masse is the 2017 World Champion and World record holder in the 100m backstroke, who opened the day bettering her own Canadian and U SPORTS records in the 50 backstroke (26.24), while also breaking the U SPORTS record in the 100m butterfly in preliminaries (57.67).
The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist broke both of her new Canadian and U SPORTS records in a time of 26.15 seconds to claim her third consecutive U SPORTS 50m backstroke title.
She also went onto win the 100m butterfly gold medal for the first time in her career in another U SPORTS record time of 57.52 seconds.
The other record that fell on the first day of competition was from the Montreal Carabins 4×100 freestyle relay team.
2016 Olympians Sandrine Mainville and Katerine Savard both 2016 Olympians joined forces with Camille Bergeron-Miron and Ariane Mainville managing to win the event with a new Canadian club record of 3:37.76.
The T-Birds dominated the first day that saw four 2016 Olympians that included Markus Thormeyer (1:43.78) and Yuri Kisil (1:44.50) opening with a 1-2 finish in the men’s 200 freestyle.
Emily Overholt (4:35.79) and Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (4:38.07) led a UBC sweep of the women’s 400 IM podium. Megan Dalke picked up the bronze in 4:38.20.
Josiah Binnema also reached the top of the podium for the T-Birds, winning his second career U SPORTS 100m butterfly title in 52.13 seconds. UBC wrapped up the night with a first-place finish in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay as Thormeyer, Kisil, Binnema and Luke Peddie notched a time of 3:14.58.
The Calgary Dinos claimed three U SPORTS national titles on Day 1. Fifth-year veteran Tristan Cote earned his fourth career podium finish in the gruelling men’s 400 IM, winning the event in 4:10.97.
Second-year standout Danica Ludlow kicked off the night with a gold-medal finish in the women’s 200 freestyle in a time of 1:55.43, while third-year swimmer Robert Hill won his first career U SPORTS gold medal in the men’s 50 backstroke, touching the wall in 24.57.
Fifth-year Varsity Blue Eli Wall, who is one of seven swimmers at the championships who will be representing Canada at the upcoming 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, reclaimed the men’s 100m breaststroke national title in a time of 59.60 seconds.
Manitoba Bisons star Kelsey Wog successfully defended her women’s 100 breaststroke title in 1:06.26, a full two seconds ahead of silver medalist Olivvya Chow of the McMaster Marauders.
