RECAP: Swim team rewrites program history books on Day 3

The Gee-Gees totalled 8 medals at the championship, placing fifth in the men's standings and sixth in the women's.

February 26, 2020

The Gee-Gees swim team had a goal coming into the 2019-2020 season: be better than it ever had been. At the end of Day Three at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships, that goal is accomplished. With a final medal tally of 8 at this year's nationals, and team standings of fifth in the men's and sixth in the women's, the contingent of 20 student-athletes in Victoria, B.C. made history three times over.

Davide Casarin set a U SPORTS record in the 1500m freestyle, claiming the lead at the 1100 metre mark and never relinquishing it. His time of 15:30.55 was a personal best in the long course.

"My race went very well; coming off my hundred free I didn't know how tired I would be. In the end it worked out well – it was really rewarding and I am happy about the record but I had fun trying to race all the other swimmers," said Casarin following the competition.

"It was unexpected in a way because it was not the [event] I was planning to focus on. I was focusing more on the 200 and 400 freestyle but the training that comes with those made me choose the 1500 knowing that I was prepared to swim it."

As he alludes to, Casarin also claimed a silver medal in the 100m freestyle a few events prior to his record-setting performance in the 1500. The third-year Gee-Gee from Mirano, Italy finishes his Gee-Gees career with 11 career medals at the national championships, including four gold medals in individual events. He claimed five total medals this year, also a team record.

William Barrett became the tenth Gee-Gee in team history to be a multiple-medallist at the National Championships, claiming his second bronze medal of the meet in the 50m breaststroke. It was a busy day for Barrett who also swam to a thirteenth place in the men's 200m individual medley and helped the men's 4x100 medley relay team to a big fifth place finish which helped cement the men's team's overall fifth place finish.

Lauren Shearer was fourth in the women's 50m breastroke, narrowly missing her second medal of the championship in a field which saw Manitoba's Kelsey Wog set a new U SPORTS record.

Across all participating programs, there were three short course and 11 long course U SPORTS records broken, along with three pool records during the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships. Davide Casarin's 200m butterfly record, set in 2019, still stands; he finishes his career holding two U SPORTS records.

Gee-Gee Gordon Forrest was named the winner of the U SPORTS Student-Athlete Community Service Award, presented to a student-athletes demonstrates outstanding achievements athletically, academically and through community involvement. He is the first uOttawa winner of the award, which was started in 2011-12.

The team standings for uOttawa are the best results in program history for both men and women, improving on last year's previous best of seventh for both teams.

Full Results

TEAM STANDINGS

Men (Nelson C. Hart Trophy)