U SPORTS RECAP: Gee-Gees close out competition, Lemesle sweeps breaststroke events
The Gee-Gees closed out the 2024 U SPORTS National Championship with another great day of competition in Pointe-Claire, QC.
The team set themselves up for an exciting final evening with 11 total individual swims, including four A-final appearances. The event concluded with the 4x100 medley.
Hugo Lemesle had Gee-Gees fans on their feet as he earned his third gold medal of the competition, raising his career total to six medals on the national stage.
Sweeping the breaststrokes events, Lemesle finished his run with a time of 28.24 in the 50m breaststroke.
"It was a pretty fantastic weekend for him," said Ottawa head coach, Dave Heinbuch. "It's a pretty grueling, emotional time, but he was amazing."
Graduating Gee-Gee, Brendan Van Herk, logged a time of 2:06.99 in the 200m butterfly A-final. Colin Shearer swam in the C-final for the event, finishing at 2:10.81.
Alym Kurji competed in the 100m freestyle B-final (52:13) while fellow Gee-Gee Ethan Fast won the C-final with a time of 51.73.
In the 200m backstroke, Isabelle Melanson (2:24.22) and Abigail McKinley (2:27.52) represented Ottawa in the C-final while Evan Aguiar-Winter earned a sixth-place finish in the men's A-final, swimming a time of 2:07.33.
The men's 4x100m medley put up a great fight, placing fourth in the final race of the evening. The team of Aguiar-Winter, Lemesle, Van Herk, and Fast raced a time of 3:47.25, being nudged off the podium by a hungry Calgary squad.
That marked Van Herk's final swim for the Garnet and Grey.
"Training with these athletes, they have a lot of heart," Van Herk said about the Gee-Gees. "We didn't have our pool for half the season and we still pulled off some amazing things, some amazing performances. I'm super grateful I made the switch to this team."
"It's been amazing to race with these people, to train with these people, be coached by these people. I have no words to describe how grateful I am for every single one of the people on this team, I'll forever be grateful for that."
The Gee-Gees men's team finished in fifth place with 516.50 points. The women's team earned 91 points for 16th place with only seven swimmers competing.
"The swimmers deserved a lot of credit for what they've accomplished this year, having gone through our pool closure until January, it wasn't easy," Heinbuch said. "I'm really proud of how they managed the year. All we can do is build on it for next year."
Results from the entire meet can be found HERE.