Oops he did it again! Swimmer Bielby double golden

By Earl Zukerman, McGill & Michel Bélanger, CIS

VANCOUVER – McGill rookie Steven Bielby of Pointe Claire, Que., won his second gold medal in as many days at the CIS swim championships in Vancouver, Friday.

Bielby, a 19-year-old electrical engineering freshman, captured the 400-metre freestyle in three minutes, 49.73 seconds, destroying both the McGill record (3:55.89) set by Sebastian Paddington in 1996 and the Quebec university record (3:52.98), held since 2001 by Laval’s Andre Couturier.

Bielby, who won the 400 IM on Thursday, became just the third male swimmer in McGill history to win a pair of individual gold medals at a CIS championship meet. Francois Castonguay managed to accomplish that feat on two occasions, winning the 200 and 400 IM in both 2005 and 2006. Alexandre Pichette also pulled it off in 2003, winning the 50 and 100 backstrokes. No McGill male has ever earned triple golden status at the Nationals.

Three more short-course Canadian records – and eight championship marks – were set during the second night of competition at the UBC Aquatic Centre with Thunderbird star and 2008 Olympian Annamay Pierse of Edmonton narrowly missing a world record in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke.

Championship website (live results & live video webcast):
www.cisport.ca/e/championships/swimming/2009

In the team standings, the Redmen are ranked 11th of 20 teams, while the Martlets are 16th on the women’s side. Calgary Dinos lead the women’s competition with 534 points and are getting closer to their first-ever CIS title, while UBC tops the men’s race with 471. The reigning national champion Dinos are second on the men’s side with 424 points while the T-Bird women, who have won a record 11 straight CIS crowns, are second with 382. Toronto ranks third in both team races.

Pierse continued her dazzling display in the pool this weekend, chopping more than three seconds off her Canadian record with a winning time of 2:18.59, just missing Leisel Jones world standard of 2:17.75. It was her second senior national mark of the meet as she notched a world-class time of 1:05.12 in the women’s 100 breaststroke Thursday night and led the T-Birds to podium sweeps in both breaststroke events.
“This is awesome. I didn’t want to talk about any record too much before the race,” said Pierse. “I just wanted to go in and swim my own race without any extra pressure. I’m very happy.”

Calgary’s Katy Murdoch (Calgary) got the evening off on the right foot with a Canadian record in the women’s 100 backstroke with a time of 58.67, bettering her own record of 59.08 she set in the morning preliminaries. Dino teammate Hanna Kubas touched the wall in second at 59.11, marking the first time in history that two Canadian women have gone under 1:00 in the same 100 backstroke.

“I can’t really explain what happened,” said Murdoch. “Coming into the meet, I really wanted to go under 59 but this definitely surpasses my goal. It’s amazing.”

The Dino quartet of Murdoch, Breanna Hendriks (Cochrane, Alta.), Kevyn Peterson (Salmon Arm, B.C.) and freshman and 2008 Olympian Erica Morningstar (Regina) set the final national record of the evening with a gold-medal performance of 7:55.91 in the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay, bettering the mark of 7:58.12 set in December of 2008 by a foursome comprised of Hendriks, Peterson, Morningstar and Kubas.

Morningstar and Hendriks each tallied individual golds earlier in the evening. Morningstar took gold in the women’s 50 freestyle with a CIS championship record of 25.17 while Hendriks just missed a meet record with a 4:08.02 first-place result in the 400 freestyle.

One of the most highly touted rivalries of the weekend continued to deliver high drama as 2008 Olympic finalist Mike Brown (Perth, Ont.) from Calgary narrowly out-touched UBC’s Scott Dickens (Ancaster, Ont.), a 2004 Olympian, 2:07.58 to 2:08.05 in the men’s 200 breaststroke after Dickens beat Brown in the 100 breast Thursday night. Both times were well under the second oldest male CIS championship record as Jon Cleveland’s time of 2:09.69 had stood for 19 years.

UBC standout Callum Ng (Vancouver) collected his fourth gold of the meet, third individual, with a CIS championship record of 52.24, missing a national mark by just sixth one-hundredths of a second. The victory was his fourth in a row in the 100 back and the fifth-year won a combined nine CIS golds and one silver in the 50 and 100 backstrokes in his UBC career. Ng also added a silver medal in the men’s 200 butterfly (1:58.42) Friday night finishing behind U of T rookie Zack Chetrat of Oakville, Ont. (1:55.99).

Olympian Colin Russell (Burlington, Ont.), Chetrat’s teammate at U of T, continued his impressive meet, improving his CIS championship record in the 50 free to 22.03 after setting the mark at 22.37 during the morning preliminaries.

UQTR’s Jennifer Carroll (Montreal) was also in top form, notching the career sweep in the women’s 50 butterfly with her fifth straight CIS title, winning this evening in a meet record time of 26.87.

Laval’s Pamela Filiatrault-Veilleux earned the butterfly double with a victory in the 200-metre event (2:11.37) to add to her gold from the 100 metre Thursday.

Other winners on the men’s side Friday evening were Laval’s Nicolas Murray (Matane, Que.) in the 50 butterfly (24.16) and the UBC Thunderbirds who triumphed in the men’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay with a time of 7:12.09 as they passed U of T for the lead on the final length of the race.

The three-day CIS championships wrap up Saturday with prelims starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and finals at 6 p.m. Pacific.

DAY 2 TEAM STANDINGS

Women

1. Calgary, 534 points
2. UBC, 382
3. Toronto, 267
4. Laval, 191.5
5. Western Ontario, 176
6. Victoria, 129
7. Dalhousie, 123.5
8. Alberta, 118
9. Guelph, 99
10. Manitoba, 59
11. McMaster, 52.5
12. UQTR, 50
13. Brock, 28
T14. Regina, 26
T14. Wilfrid Laurier, 26
16. McGill, 21
17. Ottawa, 20
18. Montreal, 6
19. UQAM, 2.5
20. UNB, 2

Men

1. UBC, 471 points
2. Calgary, 424 points
3. Toronto, 290
4. Laval, 258
5. Montreal, 144
6. Dalhousie, 118
7. Alberta, 106
8. Victoria, 105
9. Guelph, 79
10. Waterloo, 75
11. McGill, 70
12. Ottawa, 46
13. Western Ontario, 43
14. McMaster, 42
15. Manitoba, 22
T16. Memorial, 8
T16. Laurentian, 8
T18. Sherbrooke, 7
T18. Lethbridge, 7

DAY 2 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Friday)

W 100m Back
1. Katy Murdoch, Calgary, 58.67 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
2. Hanna Kubas, Calgary, 59.11
3. Andrea Jurenovskis, Toronto, 1:00.71

M 100m Back
1. Callum Ng, UBC, 52.24 (CIS championship record)
2. Dan Langlois, Calgary, 54.15
3. Cam Cummings, Toronto, 54.52

W 50m Fly
1. Jennifer Carroll, UQTR, 26.87 (CIS championship record)
2. Chantique Payne, Guelph, 27.74
3. Sasha Theron, Toronto, 27.76

M 50m Fly
1. Nicolas Murray, Laval, 24.16
2. Kelly Aspinall, Calgary, 24.25
3. Alexander Johnson, UBC, 24.37

W 400m Free
1. Breanna Hendriks, Calgary, 4:08.02
2. Julianne Brown, Calgary, 4:10.87
3. Kevyn Peterson, Calgary, 4:12.65

M 400m Free
1. Steven Bielby, McGill, 3:49.73
2. Colin Miazga, Calgary, 3:51.87
3. David Woodman, Calgary, 3:54.44

W 200m Breast
1. Annamay Pierse, UBC, 2:18.59 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
2. Martha McCabe, UBC, 2:22.44
3. Haylee Johnson, UBC, 2:25.18

M 200m Breast
1. Mike Brown, Calgary, 2:07.58 (CIS championship record)
2. Scott Dickens, UBC, 2:08.05
3. Marco Monaco, Toronto, 2:12.69

W 50m Free
1. Erica Morningstar, Calgary, 25.17 (CIS championship record)
2. Marie-Pier Ratelle, Laval, 25.28
3. Seanna Mitchell, Calgary, 25.61

M 50m Free
1. Colin Russell, Toronto, 22.03 (CIS championship record)
2. Ryan Gow, Calgary, 22.42
3. Tommy Gossland, UBC, 22.51

W 200m Fly
1. Pamela Filiatrault-Veilleux, Laval, 2:11.37
2. MacKenzie Downing, Victoria, 2:11.41
3. Jessica Johnson, Calgary, 2:15.23

M 200m Fly
1. Zack Chetrat, Toronto, 1:55.99
2. Callum Ng, UBC, 1:58.42
3. Jordan Hartney, UBC, 1:58.50

W 4 x 200m Free Relay
1. Calgary, 7:55.91 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
(Katy Murdoch, Breanna Hendriks, Kevyn Peterson, Erica Morningstar)
2. Western Ontario, 8:10.46
(Alyssa Molenaar, Hayley Nell, Lenore Chesworth, Brittany Cooper)
3. Toronto, 8:12.15
(Andrea Jurenovskis, Heather Maitland, Kristin McLlroy, Melanie Davis)

M 4 x 200m Free Relay
1. UBC, 7:12.09
(Scott Dickens, Rory Biskupski, Matt Hawes, Duncan Furrer)
2. Toronto, 7:12.31
(Zack Chetrat, Colin Russell, Curtis Samuel, Cam Cummings)
3. Laval, 7:24.94
(Jordan Szoo, Bruno Langlois, Nicolas Murray, Adam Szoo)

DAY 1 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Thursday)

Women’s 200-meter Free
1. Erica Morningstar, Calgary, 1:56.11 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
2. Breanna Hendriks, Calgary, 1:56.95
3. Katy Murdoch, Calgary, 1:58.63

Men’s 200m Free
1. Colin Russell, Toronto, 1:43.31 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
2. Rory Biskupski, UBC, 1:46.77
3. Colin Miazga, Calgary, 1:47.07

W 50m Back
1. Hanna Kubas, Calgary, 27.48 (CIS championship record)
2. Katy Murdoch, Calgary, 28.10
3. Jennifer Carroll, UQTR, 28.14

M 50m Back
1. Callum Ng, UBC, 24.49
2. Dan Langlois, Calgary, 24.92
3. Kelly Aspinall, Calgary, 25.02

W 100m Breast
1. Annamay Pierse, UBC, 1:05.16 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
2. Haylee Johnson, UBC, 1:07.34
3. Martha McCabe, UBC, 1:08.12

M 100m Breast
1. Scott Dickens, UBC, 59.34 (Ties Canadian record / New CIS championship record)
2. Mike Brown, Calgary, 59.74
3. Kevin Deret, Laval, 1:00.86

W 100m Fly
1. Pamela Filiatrault-Veilleux, Laval, 59.83
2. MacKenzie Downing, Victoria, 1:00.42
3. Sasha Theron, Toronto, 1:00.79

M 100m Fly
1. Callum Ng, UBC, 52.74
2. Rory Biskupski, UBC, 53.51
3. Zack Chetrat, Toronto, 54.19

W 400m IM
1. Hanna Pierse, UBC, 4:41.58
2. Tara Ivanitz, UBC, 4:46.55
3. Jessica Johnson, Calgary, 4:47.29

M 400m IM
1. Steven Bielby, McGill, 4:11.42
2. Jordan Hartney, UBC, 4:15.81
3. Matt Hawes, UBC, 4:19.05

W 4 x 100m Free Relay
1. Calgary, 3:38.74 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
(Erica Morningstar, Katy Murdoch, Seanna Mitchell, Breanna Hendriks)
2. Toronto, 3:45.85
(Sasha Theron, Andrea Jurenovskis, Heather Maitland, Kristin McLlroy)
3. Western Ontario, 3:46.78
(Alyssa Molenaar, Hayley Nell, Lenore Chesworth, Brittany Cooper)

M 4 x 100m Free Relay
1. UBC, 3:15.42 (Canadian record / CIS championship record)
(Scott Dickens, Rory Biskupski, Callum Ng, Tommy Gossland)
2. Calgary, 3:16.79
(Kelly Aspinall, Colin Miazga, Ryan Gow, David Woodman)
3. Toronto, 3:18.02
(Zack Chetrat, Colin Russell, Curtis Samuel, Cam Cummings)

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For more information please contact:

Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Dept. of Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman [at] mcgill.ca


Michel Bélanger
CIS Communications Manager
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger [at] universitysport.ca
www.universitysport.ca

Ben Schach
UBC Sports Information Director
Cell: (604) 809-1485
varsity [at] interchange.ubc.ca