DAY 3 RECAP: Lemesle wins bronze, men’s team finishes 5th, women’s 8th at 2022 U SPORTS Championship
QUEBEC CITY – The Gee-Gees swimming teams closed out a very successful 2022 U SPORTS Swimming Championship with two bronze medal wins and overall 5th and 8th place finishes for the men's and women's teams respectively.
An outstanding morning session of prelims on Saturday saw the Gee-Gees swim to top three finishes in a number of heats, teeing themselves up for a strong evening of finals.
Wasting no time, in the second event of the night, Hugo Lemesle blazed to a 27.49 second time in the 50m breaststroke to win the Gee-Gees their second U SPORTS medal of the championship. The native of Nice, France, Lemesle wrapped up an outstanding rookie campaign for Ottawa, as he took claim of another team record with his swim.
In the same 50 breast race, Will Barrett swam a 27.53 to finish just behind his teammate in fourth place. Jamie Demers closed out the trio of Gee-Gees in the A final, finishing in sixth with a 27.83. In the women's 50 breast, Lauren Shearer narrowly missed out on the podium with a fourth place time of 31.79.
In the men's 200m medley, Brendan Van Herk's logged a spirited race in the A final, finishing in 2:02.06 after being in podium position throughout the majority of the race. In the B final, Colin
Shearer, James Steele, and Noah Wagner all raced to solid finishes.
In the 4x100 medley relay, the women's team comprised of Adelle Yamashita-Ball, Talea Claassens, Rachel McInnes, and Shearer set a new team record swimming a 4:14.33 and finishing second in their final heat.
In the final tally, the Gee-Gees men's team accrued 637 points to slot in fifth behind powerhouse programs UBC, Calgary, McGill, and Toronto. On the women's side, the team delivered 301 points for eighth, finishing in close proximity to sixth and seventh placed Victorian and Western.
With the 2021-22 U SPORTS season now complete, a number of Gee-Gees athletes will now turn their attention to 2022 Canadian Swimming Trials, which will take place in Victoria, BC from April 5-10.
Full results from the championship can be found here.