Swimming

@ Brock for Stratten Divisional Championships on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 4:30 p.m.

The Gee-Gees had a largely successful set of races in their first day of swimming at the Statten Divisional Championships, adding two more CIS qualifiers in addition to coming together as a team through the competition.

Rookie Julia Tunney (Ottawa, Ont.) captured her CIS qualifying time with her 2:20.71 fourth place time in the 200m backstroke while teammate second-year Ashley Wright (Beaver Bank, N.B.) also qualified for CIS Championships with her third place 1:03.85 time in the 100m butterfly.

"I'm very pleased with where I am at this point in the season,” said Wright, “It was a great swim for me, but I still see lots of room for improvement, which is really exciting."

Tunney echoed similar sentiments, “I was a lot better mentally prepared for my races today then I was yesterday, and I am super pleased with my racing; I am already looking forward to tomorrow's races"

Second-year swimmer Taylor Moore (Regina, Sask.) also set a uOttawa record in her first place 2:14.63 time in the 200m backstroke, improving on her previous record from last winter.

The men’s 200m freestyle relay jumpstarted the Gee-Gees team with their explosive first place 1:35.07 finish, led by Adam Best (Ottawa, Ont.), followed by Chris Cormier (Fredericton, N.B.), then Bernard Joosten (Ottawa, Ont.) and anchored by Matt Harding (Ottawa, Ont.).

“Today was a huge step in the right direction for our team,” said assistant coach Alex Davidson, “It was an unbelievable feeling to take a step back and see the amount of pride and excitement that we had tonight for our swimming and each other. As a coaching staff, we want to see our team come together as one, as each individual contributes to the team and the team contributes to the individual, we saw that today, and it really showed in our performances.”

Second-year women’s team co-captain Nicole Lachance (Edmonton, Alta.) finished off the evening with a bang for the Gee-Gees, coming out on top in a close battle with a Western swimmer in the 800m freestyle in her 9:03.15 win, milliseconds ahead of her competitor.

“We were really impressed with how we raced tonight, we were in some close battles and we fought hard to get our hand to the wall first,” said Davidson, “That's what swimming is all about, having the heart and having your teammates behind you every step of the way.”

The Gee-Gees will finish their three consecutive days of racing tomorrow, November 13 at 10:00 a.m. at the Stratten Divisional Championships.

Select uOttawa results:

200m freestyle relay

Men

1^st – 1:35.07 – Adam Best, Chris Cormier, Bernard Joosten, Matt Harding

400m individual medley

Women:

1^st – 4:58.52 - Eryn Weldon

Men:

1^st – 4:32.45 - Jose Baylon

2^nd – 4:35.51 - Connor Michie

50m backstroke:

Men:

1^st – 26.77 – Adam Best

200m freestyle

Women:

1^st - 2:06.87 – Kara Demers

2^nd – 2:08.01 – Nicole Lachance

100m breaststroke

Women:

1^st – 1:13.51 – Sherry Patel

200m backstroke

Women:

1^st – 2:14.63 - Taylor Moore *uOttawa record

Men:

1^st – 2:01.68 - Adam Best

50m freestyle

Men:

1^st – 24.31 – Bernard Joosten

800m freestyle

Women:

1^st – 9:03.15 - Nicole Lachance

Full results at: http://brocku.ca/brockswimming/results/