After the first day at the 2015 CIS Swimming Championships in Victoria, BC, Dal's women found themselves in 7th place and the men in 10th overall. "A good first day for us, which is perhaps our weakest on paper," said head coach Lance Cansdale. "We did a great job in the finals with most of our athletes moving up. I am really pleased with such a young group."
Day 2 at the CIS Swimming Championships had the Tigers making 11 individual second swims and scoring in two relays. "The youth and inexperience showed itself a little today as the stressors of a championship took some of the focus and energies out of our swimmers," explains head coach Lance Cansdale. "That being said, we had some really great efforts and with the honest effort the experience and success will start to come. We have a shot at some high scoring swims and are seated well in the distance, so if we swim well in the morning, we should position ourself for a run."
The Tigers saved the best day for last. Following the plan of turning it up a聽little each day鈥� the Tigers swam their hearts out and finished the 2015 CIS Swimming Championships with the best day of the competition.
At the end of the night, Tigers finished as the best 'non-centre' University on the women's side of the ledger with a 5th place finish. A finish that included a gold medal performance in the 800m freestyle by 5th year and graduate student ! That just started the ball rolling as both men and women fed of the energy and produced higher finishes than last season in both categories. The women finished 5th overall for the second time in three years and the men finished 10th moving up one spot from last season. This is a great result from a team that turned over 13 new swimmers of a 32 swimmer roster!
"The results from both teams displayed that universities that are not supported by the 'Centre Model' can not only compete but challenge what is considered the only 'High Performance Path' put forth by Swimming Canada," exclaims head coach, Lance Cansdale. 聽"I am so proud of my coaching staff, the student-athletes for the results and our athletic administration for believing in our potential! In the end, AV俱乐部 displayed the capability of what a true student-athlete is capable of and that they can push towards the lead of Canadian Swimming."
Tigers Results:
Women's
Meagan Bernier: 1st 800m Freestyle, 7th 400m Freestyle Relay, 9th 4x200m Freestyle Relay, 10th 400m Freestyle, 15th 200m Freestyle
Phoebe Lenderyou: 4th 50m Backstroke (NS Record), 5th 100m Backstroke, 6th 200m backstroke, 6th 4x100 Medley Relay (NS Rec), 7th 100m Butterfly, 7th 400m Freestyle Relay, 9th 4x200m Freestyle Relay
Rachel Shin: 6th 4x100 Medley Relay (NS Rec), 9th 400m IM, 9th 200m Butterfly, 10th 200m IM
Lucy MacLeod: 7th 400m Freestyle Relay, 9th 4x200m Freestyle Relay, 16th 50m Freestyle, 16th 100m Freestyle
Ainsley Fraser: 6th 4x100 Medley Relay (NS Rec), 7th 400m Freestyle Relay
Katie Webster: 6th 400m Freestyle, 5th 800m freestyle, 12th 200m Butterfly
Alison Grant: 14th 400m Freestyle, 8th 800m freestyle, and 9th 4x200m Freestyle Relay
Paige Crowell: 6th 4x100 Medley Relay (NS Rec), 11th 50m breaststroke, 12th 200m Breaststroke
Men's
Tony Liew: 6th 50m Backstroke, 11th 400m Freestyle Relay, 11th 50m breaststroke, 12th 4x100 Medley Relay
Kyle Watson: 6th 1500m freestyle (NS Rec)
Sean Berrigan: 7th 50m breaststroke, 11th 400m Freestyle Relay, 12th 50m Backstroke, 12th 4x100 Medley Relay
Gavin Dyke: 11th 400m Freestyle Relay, 12th 4x100 Medley Relay, 13th 100m freestyle, 14th 200m Freestyle
Nigel Champion: 11th 400m Freestyle Relay, 12th 4x100 Medley Relay
Chris Reith: 14th 1500m Freestyle