RECAP: A Career Day for Shearer Highlights U SPORTS Day One, Casarin claims silver
The Gee-Gees swim team claimed a pair of medals on Day One of the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships.
The Gee-Gees swim team claimed a pair of medals on Day One of the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships: a silver medal for Davide Casarin and a bronze for Lauren Shearer.
It was the first career national medal for Shearer who is making her third appearance at the nationals in her three years with the Gee-Gees, while for Casarin it is his seventh national medal over the same three seasons.
Casarin took silver in the 200m freestyle sixty five one-hundredths of a second behind Canadian Olympic Team member Markus Thormeyer of the UBC Thunderbirds. Casarin, a Master's of Public and International Affairs student, was well clear of the third place finisher and looks ahead to the 400m freestyle on Day Two.
Shearer established a new Gee-Gees short course record of in the women's 100m breaststroke preliminaries by lowering her seed time by 1.62 seconds. The Human Kinetics student from Kitchener, Ont., followed through in the evening and swam the long course final in another program record time of 1:10.75.
Delphine Vandal and William Barrett also made A Finals for the Gee-Gees, with Vandal finishing sixth in the 200m freestyle and Barrett fifth in a very close 100m breaststroke final which saw the top five swimmers within six tenths of a second of each-other and the difference between bronze and fifth just .15 seconds.
Both Vandal and Barrett set team records on the day, with Vandal doing it in the prelims and Barrett in the final. In all, there were eight Gee-Gees team records established at the Saanich Commonwealth Place pool on Thursday.
First-year Gee-Gee Louis Bertrand had a huge prelim swim, shaving 2.64 seconds off his seed time in the 200m freestyle prelims. That swim ignited the Gee-Gees team spirit, and he went on to win the B Final.
Another highlight came when Noah Wagner made the Canadian Olympic Trials Standard with his finals swim in the 400m IM, clocking in at 4:37.55.
In all, the Gee-Gees had sixteen appearances in the finals, and the team ranks sixth in the women's team standings and seventh in the men's standings.
Day Two at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships from Victoria, B.C. begins with preliminaries at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m. For live results and scheduling, visit this link.
A free webcast in English will be available on CBC Sports, with a free French webcast on USPORTS.Live.
Gee-Gees Day One Results:
*indicates time lower than seed time
Women's 200m Freestyle (Finals – Long Course)
6. Delphine Vandal – 2:04.26
20. Adelle Yamashita-Ball – 2:07.57
21. Mackenzie Finkbeiner – 2:07.87
22. Abby Simms – 2:08.17
24. Alina Juuti – 2:09.58
Men's 200m Freestyle (Finals – Long Course)
2. Davide Casarin – 1:48.94 – Gee-Gees Record
9. Louis Bertrand – 1:52.68
Women's 50m Backstroke (Finals – Long Course)
15. Dana Sherrard – 31.18
Women's 100m Breaststroke (Finals – Long Course)
3. Lauren Shearer – 1:10.75 – Gee-Gees Record
Men's 100m Breaststroke (Finals – Long Course)
5. William Barrett – 1:03.65 – Gee-Gees Record
10. Jamie Demers – 1:05.17
16. Noah Wagner – 1:06.77
Men's 100m Butterfly (Finals – Long Course)
20. Aleksandar Plackoski – 57.06
21. Judson Nickerson – 57.19
Men's 400m Individual Medley (Finals – Long Course)
19. Noah Wagner – 4:37.55
21. Jamie Steele – 4:39.06
Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Finals – Long Course)
7. Abby Simms, Alina Juuti, Delphine Vandal, Morgan McCartney – 3:54.95 – Gee-Gees Record
Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Finals – Long Course)
5. Nathan Shiffmann, Davide Casarin, Thomas Boyd, Louis Bertrand – 3:28.67 – Gee-Gees Record
Women's 200m Freestyle (Preliminaries – Short Course)
4. Delphine Vandal – 1:59.57* (Advances to A Final) – Gee-Gees Record
19. Adelle Yamashita-Ball – 2:02.88* (Advances to C Final)
20. Mackenzie Finkbeiner – 2:03.08* (Advances to C Final)
23. Abby Simms – 2:03.97 (Advances to C Final)
24. Alina Juuti – 2:04.01* (Advances to C Final)
34. Morgan McCartney – 2:06.86*
Men's 200m Freestyle (Preliminaries – Short Course)
2. Davide Casarin – 1:46.82 (Advances to A Final)
9. Louis Bertrand – 1:48.99* (Advances to B Final)
26. Nathan Schiffmann – 1:51.32
28. Thomas Boyd – 1:51.88
30. Judson Nickerson – 1:52.13*
Women's 50m Backstroke (Preliminaries – Short Course)
15. Dana Sherrard – 29.19 (Advances to B Final)
30. Talea Claassens – 30.53
32. Morgan McCartney – 30.86
Men's 50m Backstroke (Preliminaries – Short Course)
28. Conor Smyth – 26.61
29. James Steele – 26.79*
Women's 100m Breaststroke (Preliminaries – Short Course)
4. Lauren Shearer – 1:09.21* (Advances to A Final) – Gee-Gees Record
Men's 100m Breaststroke (Preliminaries – Short Course)
2. William Barrett – 1:.00.49* (Advances to A Final) – Gee-Gees Record
13. Noah Wagner – 1:02.99 (Advances to B Final)
14. Jamie Demers – 1:03.20* (Advances to B Final)
Men's 100m Butterfly (Preliminaries – Short Course)
22. Judson Nickerson – 56.00* (Advances to C Final)
23. Aleksandar Plackoski – 56.01 (Advances to C Final)
Men's 400m Individual Medley (Preliminaries – Short Course)
23. Jamie Steele – 4:31.55 (Advances to C Final)
24. Noah Wagner – 4:32.47 (Advances to C Final)