Saturday, February 11 2012
Swimming
At OUA Championships at Laurentian on February 9-11, 2012
The Gee-Gees went out with a bang at the 2012 OUA Championships, finishing off a highly successful weekend for the team that saw 10 medals, five uOttawa records and four new CIS qualifiers.
The Gee-Gees men’s team ended on a high note, capturing a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle relay and establishing a new uOttawa record with their 3:24.05 finish, also a CIS relay qualifier which adds second-year Chris Cormier (Fredericton, N.B.) to the CIS team.
“Personally, I feel our biggest accomplishment was the men’s 4x100 meter freestyle relay,” said fifth year men’s team captain Bernard Joosten (Ottawa, Ont.) who swam the second leg of the relay, “I cannot describe how proud I am of my fellow teammates this weekend; both the men’s and women’s team performed admirably in all events. We were put up against some fierce competition but, like always, we stepped up and our results pay tribute to our hard work.”
Second-year Matt Harding’s (Ottawa, Ont.) lead-off 51.56 split in the 400m freestyle relay was also enough to secure his CIS individual qualifying time. “Being the lead-off swimmer for the final relay race of the meet was truly an honour,” said Harding, “I knew I had a job to do, I knew I had to make a statement, but most importantly, I knew that my relay-mates were 110% behind me.”
Third-year Adam Best (Ottawa, Ont.) anchored the record-setting relay, having also captured his third medal of the weekend early in the evening. Best added a silver in the 50m backstroke (25.99) to his silver in the 200m backstroke and bronze in the 100m backstroke over the last two days.
Second-year Eryn Weldon (Moncton, N.B.) also finished off her weekend in style, capturing a silver medal in the 400m individual medley, shattering her old uOttawa record by more than four seconds with her 4:52.62 time. After this weekend, Weldon also has to her name a silver and uOttawa record in the 200m individual medley, a silver in the 200m breaststroke, and a fourth place uOttawa record in the 400m freestyle.
“Not only did this weekend set us up wonderfully for CIS but we have boosted the team morale tremendously,” said second-year women’s team captain Nicole Lachance (Edmonton, Alta.), “It was a great learning experience for the team because we have proven once again that we will never shy away from an opportunity to fight.”
“We could not be more proud of our swimmers,” said head coach Claude-Yves Bertrand, “All of our athletes lowered their personal best times and proved to themselves that all of the hard work that they had done over the course of the season has and will continue to pay off heading into CIS. We challenged the best in the conference for podium finishes and more often then not, came out ahead.”
In final team results, the Gee-Gees women’s team finished in fourth while the men’s team wrapped up the weekend in fifth. Combined the teams finished in fourth, behind McMaster. Western took home their fourth consecutive championship for the women, and Toronto captured their ninth consecutive title as men’s champions.
“The school should be extremely proud of their athlete representatives,” concluded Bertrand, “We believe that we have accomplished the goals that we have set out for ourselves, all the while staying true to our values of team unity, commitment, hard work, and pride.”
The Gee-Gees will now have a week and a half to prepare for the biggest meet of the year, as they travel to Montreal for the CIS Championships on February 23-25, 2012.
Full results can be found at: http://www.personainternet.com/slsc/2012oua/
Select uOttawa Results:
200m medley relay
Women: 8th – 2:04.07 – Julia Tunney, Jacqueline Mihalek, Valérie Morin, Tori Temple
Men: 6th – 1:50.56 – Jose Baylon, Connor Michie, Harley Patterson, Philippe April-Lesquéré
200m freestyle
Women: 7th – 2:06.00 – Nicole Lachance
Men: 8th – 2:00.45 – Matt Harding
50m breaststroke
Women: 8th – 34.22 – Sherry Patel
Men: 8th – 30.16 – Andrew Davis
50m backstroke
Men: 2nd – 25.99 – Adam Best
100m butterfly
Women: 4th – 1:03.69 – Sherry Patel, 7th – 1:05.37 – Ashley Wright
400m individual medley
Women: 2nd – 4:52.62 – Eryn Weldon *uOttawa Record
Men: 8th – 4:40.05 – Connor Michie
400m freestyle relay
Women: 5th – 3:56.41 – Kara Demers, Nicole Lachance, Corinne Barrette, Sherry Patel
Men: 3rd – 3:24.35 – Matt Harding, Bernard Joosten, Chris Cormier, Adam Best *CIS Qualifier, uOttawa Record
