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Throwback Thursday (Feb. 20)

Throwback Thursday (Feb. 20)

Men’s swimming at Dalhousie had a record-breaking season on several fronts. The team won their 11th consecutive AUS title, a longer streak than any previous AUS school. The team went one better in qualifying a record 18 men for the CIS Championships, the maximum roster size, tying with the championship winner, University of Calgary, as the only other team fielding a full roster. These accomplishments were a testament to a depth of performance by the team, which was exhibited in competitions throughout the season.

After the task of choosing a roster was accomplished in the fall, the team began full training mode to ready themselves for the upcoming season. They swept the Dal relay meets and all offered events at the UNB invitational in October. After winning two dual meets at Dal and Mount Alison in early November, the team prepared for the AUS meet in late November at Dalplex and the Canada Cup meet in Toronto with a goal of qualifying their first swimmers for the CIS Championships. Bryce Tung Fumerton, Kit Moran, Greg Hanlon, and Ryan Lausten all made this standard. Dmitry Shulga showed his versatility, qualifying in butterfly, backstroke and individual medley. The sprinters also had several men under the times needed, when Nate Campbell and Simon Boilard added their names in the 50 butterfly. The distance men stepped up to when both Matt and Brad Piggot made the times in the 1500 metres.

The next weekend at Canada Cup, Brannyn Hale made the time in both the 100 and 200 freestyles as did Philippe Boilard in breaststroke. At the NS team championships meet in December, Guido lannucci made the cut just before the holiday break in sprint freestyle.

A training camp over the break at Dalplex enabled the team to pick up where they left off in January. After some good in-season performances at the Metro meet and another dual meet at UNB, the team readied for the test of winning another AUS Championships. Not only did the Tigers have another outstanding meet, where they managed to win 16 of 19 events, they added an additional five qualifiers for CIS and set an AUS record when Bryce Tung broke the mark in the 50 backstroke. Matt Keuken added his name to the backstroke group, while Evan Schmid and Kevin Tung made the times in butterfly and breaststroke respectively. Corey Knickle made his second CIS in his four years on the team with a personal best in the 200 butterfly and a spectacular, yet unexpected win, in the 100 breastroke. Rookie Jordan Fisk became the 18th Tiger qualifier when he made the cut in his last swim of the meet. Another rookie, Jimmy Burg missed the cut by a heartbreakingly small margin in the 1500 freestyle but demonstrated his range when he swam under the time in the 50 freestyle at the East Coast Championships the week after CIS.

At the big show in Vancouver the team was buoyed by their performances at AUS and the size of their team and embarked on a quest to make their mark nationally. In a CIS Championships that was easily the fastest ever, with four Canadian Olympians and several national record holders in the pool, the men were not deterred from their goal of a top five finish. Bryce Tung started things off by making the final sin the 50 backstroke, and later added a Dal record in winning the B final in the 50 freestyle. Nate Campbell added an AUS of his own in the 50 butterfly and nabbed our highest individual placing with a fifth in that event. Brannyn Hale had an outstanding meet, swimming all best times and breaking the Dal record in both the 100 and 200 freestyles. The Tigers’ depth in backstroke was again in evidence when three Tigers were in the top 16 in the 100 back with second year swimmers Bryan Fumerton and Dmitry Shulga, as well as rookie Kit Moran. Moran showed he’s ready for an outstanding university career when he won the B final of the 100 backstroke and set a new AUS record in the 200 backstroke. Philippe Boilard also made the final round in breaststroke in lifetime bests. Philippe was joined by teammates Kit Moran, Dmitry Shulga and Brannyn Hale in setting a new AUS record in the 400 medley relay. Twin brothers, Matt and Brad Piggotts showed the nation that they would be forces in distance swimming at the CI level for years to come. In their first CIS, they tied each other in lifetime bests in the 400 free but then went on to both place in the top 16 in the 1500 free, where Matt swam to an eighth place finish, in the second fastest time by an AUS swimmer in history. The team finish of sixth out of 26 teams with qualified swimmers was very satisfying as the team had one of the highest percentages of lifetime best being done at the meet where it mattered most.

Although the team has two of their top point getters graduating in Bryce Tung and Nate Campbell, with an excellent recruiting class shaping up, next season should be another big year for the team. As with the Tigers’ women’s team, the men would like to thank all the support staff as week as meet officials who made their season so successful.