CALGARY - It came down to the last race, but the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s swimming team upset the Western powerhouses, UBC Thunderbirds and Calgary Dinos, to claim their first national banner since 1994 as the 2013 CIS swimming championships wrapped up on Saturday night at Calgary Aquatic Centre.

The Varsity Blues are the first non-Canada West team to win the title in the past 18 years and claim their CIS-leading 17^th national banner in program history. UBC and Calgary had combined for the past 18 titles, with the Thunderbirds earning a record 10 consecutive banners from 1998-2007.

The 10-time OUA champion Blues finished with 539 points, narrowly ahead of UBC (524) and Calgary (514).

“I’ve been doing this over 30 years, and this is the first time I remember a three-team race like this,” said longtime Varsity Blues head coach Byron McDonald, who was named the CIS men’s team coach of the year. “It brought out the best in our swimmers, and it was something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. It’s nice to win by 15 points, but you don’t really remember that – when our swimmers go home, they’ll remember this forever.”

The Thunderbirds overcame an eight-point Day 2 deficit and gained the lead after the men’s 100 freestyle, which saw five UBC swimmers in the A and B finals. However, the Blues battled back and returned to the top of the standings, thanks to a top B final swim by Zach Summerhayes (Waterloo, Ont.) and a fifth and eighth-place finish from Toronto natives David Riley and Jeremie Holdom in the 200 IM.

Oakville, Ont., native Zack Chetrat, the 2013 OUA male swimmer of the year, placed fourth in the 1500m freestyle (15:30.78), moving Toronto 27 points ahead of the Thunderbirds heading into the final relay of the night.

Despite UBC winning the final 4x100 medley relay event, the Blues team of Chetrat, Riley, Matthew Myers and Brian Lee place fifth, earning enough points to bring the Nelson C. Hart Trophy back to Toronto.

Lee, a rookie sensation from Sault Ste Marie, Ont., kicked off Day 3 with a big silver-medal performance in the men’s 50 breaststroke (27.95), finishing just 0.73 seconds behind Calgary’s Jason Block (27.22). Myers followed that up with a silver-medal finish in the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:55.89, narrowly out-touched by Calgary’s Gleb Suvorov (1:55.29).

Toronto native David Dorian was also named the recipient of the CIS community service award.

Toronto’s women claimed the CIS bronze for the second consecutive season, finishing with 300 points. The Thunderbirds successfully defended their national title with a dominant 691.5 points, ahead of the silver-medalist Dinos with 548 points.

Bridget Coley (Hamilton, Ont.) was U of T’s lone female swimmer to reach the podium on Day 3, winning her first CIS individual medal - a bronze in the 800 freestyle with a time of 8:44.47.  

COMPLETE RESULTS

Day 1 Recap

Day 2 Recap

INDIVIDUAL HONOURS

Women
Swimmer of the year: Savannah King, UBC
Rookie of the year: Tianna Rissling, Calgary
Sprinter’s Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Caroline Lapierre-Lemire, UQTR
Coach of the year: Steve Price, UBC
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Erica Dugas, Brock

Men
Swimmer of the year: Kelly Aspinall, UBC
Rookie of the year: Eric Hedlin, Victoria
Sprinter’s Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Not awarded
Coach of the year: Byron MacDonald, Toronto
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: David Dorian, Toronto

NOTE (swimmers of the year): Female and male swimmers with the highest aggregate point total for his/her two best swims as based on Swim Canada’s performance charts.

NOTE (All-Canadians): All gold medallists at the CIS championships - including relays - are first-team all-Canadians for the 2012-13 season. All silver medallists - who did not win a gold medal - are second-team all-Canadians.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Women

1. UBC, 691.5 points
2. Calgary, 548
3. Toronto, 300
4. Montreal, 270.5
5. Dalhousie, 251
6. Western, 216
7. Laval, 164
8. McGill, 160
9. Alberta, 150.5
10. UQTR, 148
11. McMaster, 133
12. Victoria, 97
13. Ottawa, 84
14. Guelph, 78
15. Wilfrid Laurier, 26
16. Manitoba, 25
17. Sherbrooke, 15.5
18. Laurentian, 14
19. UQAM, 10
20. Regina, 7
21. Brock, 3
22. UNB, 1

Men (Nelson C. Hart trophy)

1. Toronto, 539 points
2. UBC, 524
3. Calgary, 514
4. Victoria, 273.5
5. Laval, 246
6. Alberta, 239
7. McMaster, 180
8. McGill, 171.5
9. Montreal, 143
10. Western, 142
11. Dalhousie, 127
12. Lethbridge, 82
13. Ottawa, 66
14. Guelph, 62
15. Manitoba, 37
16. Acadia, 14
17. Waterloo, 12
18. Regina, 3

DAY 3 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Saturday)

Women 800m Free
1. Savannah King, UBC, 8:33.74
2. Gabrielle Soucisse, Montreal, 8:38.83
3. Bridget Coley, Toronto, 8:44.47

Men 50m Breast
1. Jason Block, Calgary, 27.22 (CIS Championship Record)
2. Brian Lee, Toronto, 27.95
3. Kevin Deret, Laval, 28.10

W 50m Breast
1. Tianna Rissling, Calgary, 30.97
2. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 31.00
3. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 31.11

M 200m Back
1. Gleb Suvorov, Calgary, 1:55.29
2. Matthew Byers, Toronto, 1:55.89
3. Russell Wood, Calgary, 1:55.95

W 200m Back
1. Gabrielle Soucisse, Montreal, 2:07.74
2. Geneviève Cantin, Laval, 2:08.67
3. Taylor Moore, Ottawa, 2:11.93

M 100m Free
1. Dominique Massey-Martel, Laval, 48.55
2. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 49.16
3. Evan Van Moerkerke, Guelph, 49.28

W 100m Free
1. Caroline Lapierre-Lemire, UQTR, 54.51
2. Heather MacLean, UBC, 54.65
3. Brittney Harley, UBC, 55.36

M 200m IM
1. Steven Bielby, McGill, 2:00.00
2. Cameron Bailey, McMaster, 2:00.32
3. Bogdan Knezevic, Calgary, 2:00.48

W 200m IM
1. Erica Morningstar, Calgary, 2:10.49
2. Katie Caldwell, McGill, 2:13.25
3. Sarah-Lee Hevey, Montreal, 2:13.65

M 1500m Free
1. Eric Hedlin, Victoria, 15:13.23
2. Will Brothers, Victoria, 15:16.68
3. Richard Weinberger, Victoria, 15:26.80

W 4 x 100m Medley Relay
1. Calgary 4:02.86
(Erica Morningstar, Fiona Doyle, Lindsay Delmar, Amanda Reason)
2. UBC 4:03.88
(Erin Stamp, Tera Van Beilen, Grainne Pierse, Heather MacLean)
3. Montreal 4:10.61
(Gabrielle Soucisse, Marie-Soleil Jean-Lachapelle, Marie-Pierre Berube, Sarah-Lee Hevey)

M 4 x 100m Medley Relay
1. UBC 3:35.10
(Kelly Aspinall, Sergey Holson, Coleman Allen, Luke Peddie)
2. Calgary 3:35.57
(Russell Wood, Jason Block, Gleb Suvorov, David Woodman)
3. Laval 3:37.90
(Pascal-Hugo Caron-Cantin, Kevin Deret, Quentin Martin, Dominique Massey-Martel)

DAY 2 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Friday)

Women 100m Back
1. Gabrielle Soucisse, Montreal, 59.08
2. Geneviève Cantin, Laval, 1:00.59
3. Erica Morningstar, Calgary, 1:00.81

Men 100m Back
1. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 51.95 (CIS Championship Record)
2. David Sharpe, Dalhousie, 52.34
3. Russell Wood, Calgary, 53.23

W 50m Fly
1. Caroline Lapierre-Lemire, UQTR, 27.22
2. Kendra Chernoff, Alberta, 27.29
3. Alisha Harricharan, Guelph, 27.42

M 50m Fly
1. Mike Smerek, Toronto, 23.69
2. Coleman Allen, UBC, 24.02
3. Joshua Au, Alberta, 24.37

W 400m Free
1. Savannah King, UBC, 4:09.24
2. Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, 4:13.44
3. Julianne Brown, Calgary, 4:14.09

M 400m Free
1. Frank Despond, Toronto, 3:49.77
2. Eric Hedlin, Victoria, 3:52.95
3. Robert Wise, Western, 3:53.63

W 200m Breast
1. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 2:23.87
2. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 2:24.94
3. Tianna Rissling, Calgary, 2:25.25

M 200m Breast
1. Jason Block, Calgary, 2:09.86
2. Frédéric Le Blanc, Montreal, 2:12.41
3. Evan Broderick, UBC, 2:13.31

W 50m Free
1. Caroline Lapierre-Lemire, UQTR, 24.87 (CIS Championship Record)
2. Erica Morningstar, Calgary, 25.15
3. Amanda Reason, Calgary, 25.53

M 50m Free
1. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 22.16
2. Luke Peddie, UBC, 22.42
3. Evan Van Moerkerke, Guelph, 22.46

W 200m Fly
1. Stephanie Horner, Victoria, 2:12.93
2. Vanessa Treasure, Toronto, 2:13.21
3. Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, 2:16.36

M 200m Fly
1. Zach Chetrat, Toronto, 1:55.59
2. Coleman Allen, UBC, 1:58.10
3. Thomas Jobin, Calgary, 1:59.40

W 4 x 200m Free Relay
1. UBC, 8:00.55
(Savannah King, Brittney Harley, Tera Van Beilen, Heather MacLean)
2. Calgary, 8:02.15
(Fiona Doyle, Lindsay Delmar, Amanda Reason, Julianne Brown)
3. Toronto, 8:14.99
(Andrea Jurenovskis, Jennifer Tapley, Bridget Coley, Vanessa Treasure)

M 4 x 200m Free Relay
1. Calgary, 7:14.27
(Russell Wood, Reid Scarrow, David Woodman, Connor Maxey)
2. Toronto, 7:18.33
(Frank Despond, Matthew Myers, David Riley, Zack Chetrat)
3. Alberta, 7:19.58
(Hunter Balch, Joe Byram, Joshua Au, Robert MacKinnon)

DAY 1 INDIVIDUAL MEDALLISTS (Thursday)

Women 200m Free
1. Lindsay Delmar, Calgary, 1:58.46
2. Heather MacLean, UBC, 1:59.19
3. Savannah King, UBC, 1:59.54

Men 200m Free
1. Coleman Allen, UBC, 1:46.40
2. David Woodman, Calgary, 1:47.39
3. Keegan Zanatta, Victoria, 1:47.52

W 50m Back
1. Gabrielle Soucisse, Montreal, 28.03
2. Grainne Pierse, UBC, 28.05
3. Andrea Jurenovskis, Toronto, 28.30

M 50m Back
1. Kelly Aspinall, UBC, 24.05 (CIS Championship Record)
2. David Sharpe, Dalhousie, 24.56
3. Russell Wood, Calgary, 24.64

W 100m Breast
1. Fiona Doyle, Calgary, 1:06.57
2. Tianna Rissling, Calgary, 1:06.72
3. Tera Van Beilen, UBC, 1:06.80

M 100m Breast
1. Jason Block, Calgary, 59.08 (CIS Championship Record)
2. Konrad Bald, McMaster, 1:00.14
3. Kevin Deret, Laval, 1:00.88

W 100m Fly
1. Alisha Harricharan, Guelph, 59.72
2. Kendra Chernoff, Alberta, 59.77
3. Alana Skocdopole, Calgary, 1:01.17

M 100m Fly
1. Coleman Allen, UBC, 51.88 (CIS Championship Record)
2. Zach Chetrat, Toronto, 52.58
3. David Sharpe, Dalhousie, 53.07

W 400m IM
1. Tianna Rissling, Calgary, 4:37.81 (CIS Championship Record)
2. Vanessa Treasure, Toronto, 4:42.88
3. Katie Caldwell, McGill, 4:44.83

M 400m IM
1. Steven Bielby, McGill, 4:15.14
2. Jeremie Holdom, Toronto, 4:19.67
3. Patrick Cowan, UBC, 4:20.21

W 4 x 100m Free Relay
1. Calgary 3:40.34
(Erica Morningstar, Amanda Reason, Lindsay Delmar, Fiona Doyle)
2. UBC 3:42.47
(Heather McLean, Rebecca Terejko, Brittney Harley, Fionnuala Pierse)
3. McMaster 3:45.45
(Emma Mittermaier, Sarah Taylor, Emily Fung, Meg Sloan)

M 4 x 100m Free Relay
1. UBC 3:15.53
(Kelly Aspinall, Luke Peddie, Sergey Holson, Coleman Allen)
2. Calgary 3:16.94
(David Woodman, Russell Wood, Connor Maxey, Bryan Wray)
3. Toronto 3:18.40
(Mike Smerek, Brian Lee, Luke Hall, Matthew Myers)

-CIS-