RECAP: Gee-Gees swimmers cap off big home week with strong RSEQ Cup performance
In their first home meets of the season the Gee-Gees logged a dominant performance over Queen's and Carleton in a Tri-Meet on Thursday before earning a strong second overall performance at RSEQ Cup #4 on Sunday.
Construction in the Montpetit Hall Aquatic Centre though the fall had the team taking to the road for meets and practices, with the pool reopened, the team has enjoyed the friendly confines of their home.
Thursday's Tri-Meet against Queen's and Carleton served as a chance to get back to competition at home and Ottawa dominated the meet scoring 569 combined points (288 for the men's team and 281 for the women's team), 292 more than second place Queen's.
On Sunday, the Gee-Gees finished second on both the men's and women's sides.
Ottawa came out strong with a second-place finish in the 4x100m medley relay with a time of 4:21.02 for Isabelle Melanson, Vanessa Thebarge, Magali Mouton, and Amy Wang.
On the men's side, the Gee-Gees top team of Alym Kurji, Brendan Van Herk, Hugo Lemesle, and Evan Aguiar-Winter won the 4x100m medley relay with a time of 3:41.65. The Gee-Gees second team with Sam Greenshields, Timur Devyatykh, Noah Wagner, and Christophe Lanouette posted a time of 3:50.02.
Lemesle added a win in the 50m breast with a time of 27.98, while Noah Wagner finishing second with a 28.31. The pair also placed top three together in the 100m breast with Lemesle picking up another win and Wagner finishing third.
Brendan Van Herk turned in an outstanding meet winning the 400m IM in 4:29.50 and adding a win in the 100m fly with a time of 55.39.
Ottawa's men grabbed some more points with second and third place finishes for Alym Kurji (23.23) and Ethan Fast (23.30) in the 50m freestyle.
Kate Hulford finished second in the 200m backstroke, with Isabelle Melanson and Abby McKinley finished fourth and fifth. On the men's side, Evan Aguiar-Winter swam a 2:03.45 to win the 200 back.
The Gee-Gees capped off the meet with a strong performance in the 4x100m free relay with Rachel McInnes, Isabelle Melanson, Vanessa Thebarge, and Taylor Elliott finishing third.
What They're Saying:
"I think everyone's really happy to be back, having our pool to train in again, and racing in front of a home crowd is always exciting. It's crazy how much that little change probably led to one of our best Cup meets. I think it's going to be important to keep things in perspective these next few weeks, we're working really hard in the water and in the gym, so it's just keeping everyone ready to take off when we hit those big meets." – fifth-year Brendan Van Herk.
"This was I think one of our top three performances at a Cup meet, it sets us up nicely for the RSEQ Championships. We've had a great training camp in Florida and getting back in our pool and to a sense of normalcy has carried through the first two weeks, the team's ready to go." – Gee-Gees head coach Dave Heinbuch.
Up Next:
The Gee-Gees will travel to Toronto for a Tri-Meet with the Varsity Blues and Calgary Dinos at the Varsity Centre pool. Action will get underway Friday evening.