McGill third at Laval meet, two more swimmers qualify for CIS championships

QUEBEC CITY -- Rayven Snodgrass of Calgary and Pierre-Alexandre Renaud of Laval, Que., both freshmen on the McGill swim team, have met the rigid qualifying standard for the CIS national championships as McGill finished third in both the men's and women's divisions at the third Quebec Cup swim meet, Saturday.

They are among 21 McGill swimmers who have now qualified to compete at the Nationals in Calgary, Feb. 24-26.

Snodgrass, a kinesiology major, qualified in the 50-metre backstroke, finishing first with a clocking of 30.57 seconds, beating the standard of 30.94, She also qualified with a bronze medal finish in the 100m backstroke, touching the wall in 1:05.50, which was .06 of a second under the standard.

Renaud, who is majoring in international development studies, qualified in the 200m butterfly. He posted a time of 2:04.57 in the prelims, to make the standard by a full two seconds, the won silver in the finals in 2:04.82.

"We continued to inch closer to Laval and Montreal (in the points race) but still finished third," said Peter Carpenter, head coach at McGill.  "We did take a big step forward by scoring 45 points more than we did at the identical Quebec Cup 1 meet earlier in the season."

Other McGill medal winners on the women's side of the meet included Myriam Donato (bronze: 200 fly, 2:27.85), the 4x50 freestyle relay (bronze: 1:53.84), the 4x50 medley relay (silver: 2:05.69; bronze: 2:08.30) and the 4x200 free relay (silver: 9:02.42),

On the men's side, other podium performances included Joseph Toops (bronze: 50 fly, 26.40), Steven Bielby (silver: 100 back, 59.39; bronze: 200 IM, 2:07.75), the 4x50 freestyle relay quartet (silver: 1:35.55) and the 4x200 freestyle relay (bronze: 7:55.19).

McGill will host the fourth Quebec Cup competition at War Memorial Pool inside the Currie gymnasium, Jan. 29.

QUEBEC CUP III MEET STANDINGS:

(at Laval)

WOMEN:

Montreal 136 pts

Laval 104 pts

McGill 76 pts

MARTLET MEDALLISTS:

GOLD: Rayven Snodgrass, 50m backstroke, 30:57

BRONZE: Rayven Snodgrass, 100m backstroke, 1:06:50

SILVER: 4x50 medley relay (E. Evans, S. Overney-Ragan, M. Donato, V. Grand-Maison; 2:05.69)

SILVER: 4x200 free relay (M. Vujovic, V. Grand-Maison, M. Donato, S. D. de Tonnacour; 9:02.42),

BRONZE: Myriam Donato (200 fly, 2:27.85)

BRONZE: 4x50 freestyle relay (L. Mendonca, E. Evans, G. de Tonnacour, C. Chapman; 1:53.84)

BRONZE: 4x50 medley relay (J. Darling, J. Oh, L. Roach, L. Mendonca; 2:08.30)

MEN:

Laval 172 pts

Montreal 148 pts

McGill 72 pts

REDMEN MEDALLISTS:

BRONZE: Joseph Toops (50 fly, 26.40)

SILVER: Steven Bielby (100 back, 59.39)

BRONZE: Steven Bielby (200 IM, 2:07.75),

SILVER: Pierre-Alexandre Renaud (200 fly, 2:04.82)

SILVER: 4x50 freestyle relay (T. Manning-Dahan, J. Toops, S. Bielby, D. Pessoa; 1:35.55)

BRONZE: 4x200 freestyle relay (H. Hernandez, P.A. Renaud, P. Moron, S. Bielby; 7:55.19).

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman

McGill Athletics & Recreation

514-398-7012