DAY 1 RECAP: Men’s team stands 5th, women’s team 8th after first day at U SPORTS Swimming Championship

QUEBEC CITY – The Gee-Gees swim team logged a successful day through the first 10 events at the 2022 U SPORTS Swimming Championships at Université Laval.

Highlighted by four new team records, the Ottawa men's team closed the day with 233.5 cumulative points, to rank fifth in the overall standings. On the women's side, a strong team effort that paid off to earn the eighth rank of 17 teams with 66 points overall.

The first of the new records that were etched on Thursday came from Ryan Jensen, who swam the 50m backstroke in 25.25 seconds. Will Barrett set a new mark to chase with a 59.81 in the 100 breaststroke. Alexandre Perreault broke another with a 52.89 in the 100m butterfly. In the 4x100m freestyle relay, the team of Allen Zheng, Louis Bertrand, Nathan Schiffmann, and Perreault logged a 3:20.69 to set the new record. 

In the 100m breaststroke, Lauren Shearer finished fifth in the B final with a strong 1:11.09. First-year Rachel McInnes impressed with a 29.46 in the 50m backstroke to finish second in the C final. In the 4x100m freestyle relay, the Gee-Gees' team of Adelle Yamashita-Ball, McInnes, McKenna Spurrell, and Amy Meharg logged a very strong 3:53.09 to finish second in their heat and eighth overall.

Up next on Friday, Ottawa will take to the pool for some more key events. Ones to watch for the Gee-Gees will be the men's and women's 200m breaststroke, the 400m freestyle, and the 4x200m relays. 

The 2022 U SPORTS Swimming Championships resume on Friday with the heats starting at 10 a.m. while the finals will begin at 6 p.m. The preliminary heats can be followed live each morning on U SPORTS' Facebook page while the finals are on CBC Sports' platforms

Results and start lists are available here.