The men’s swim team set out to compete well all year, win all of their meets, repeat as AUS champions and place in the top 10 at nationals this season. They reached all of their goals but one.
The Tigers won eight of the 17 events to win the first meet of the year, the Amby Leger hosted by UNB. Logan Sparkes led the way for the Tigers with victories in three individual events.
Two weeks later, they edged out the Acadia Axemen with six first-place finishes to win the Jack Scholz meet in Wolfville. Noah Mascoll-Gomes and Liam Ferguson each won two events apiece in the two-day meet.
In November, they hosted the Kemp-Fry Invitational and won nine of the 19 events to win their third meet of the season. Liam Ferguson won two events tied fellow Tiger Nate Campbell’s 2009 Dalhousie record of 24.69 in the 50m butterfly. Sparkes was the top swimmer for the Tigers at the end of the three-day meet with two individual and one relay win.
At the AUS championships hosted by Memorial, Noah Mascoll-Gomes set the tone early on taking top spot in the 50m freestyle event. The Tigers finished with seven gold-medal performances to win their second-consecutive conference team title.
Mascoll-Gomes was named the AUS swimmer of the championship meet after winning four gold medals, while Will Myrer earned rookie of the meet honours. Other award winners included Isaac Bahler who was named the men’s rookie swimmer of year and Lance Cansdale earned the title of men’s coach of the year for the fourth time in his career.
Two weeks later, they were headed to Victoria for the U SPORTS championships. With a squad of just four swimmers making the trek, Cansdale knew they had their work cut out for them.
“We swam great and competed even better,” he says. “We came home with a lot of personal best times, but the most impressive swims were our relay efforts. They swam tough and placed two of the three relays in the top 10.”
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Mascoll-Gomes earned one of those personal-best times in the men’s 50m freestyle to finish 15th and Logan Sparkes swam his best time of the year in the 400m free. Liam Ferguson also posted a personal best in 50m backstroke. The Tigers finished the national championships with a 13th place team finish to end the season. “We accomplished just about everything we set out to do this year,” says Cansdale. “We placed 13th at nationals, but we were just 73 points out of 10th which was a great finish with just four of our swimmers qualifying to compete.” |
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With only a handful of swimmers graduating, the future looks very bright for the Tigers next year.
“We don’t lose much to graduation and are gaining some strong recruits,” adds Cansdale. “I expect a very competitive environment for spots on the travel squad and even greater success in our conference with a very specific focus on a top 10 finish at the national championships next year.”
2022-23 Men's Swimming Award Winners
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| Team MVP - Noah Mascoll-Gomes | Tiger of the Year - James Quigley |