By Troy Langstaff

Dalhousie’s streak of 21 straight AUS championships may have come to an end in 2020, but this year’s group made sure to bring the conference banner back home to Dalplex.

The Tigers were led by AUS swimmer of the year Noah Mascoll-Gomes. He won more events this year than any other male swimmer in the AUS.

2021-22 Men's Swimming Photo Gallery

“His experience at the international level has brought a credibility to his voice within our program and he pulls the rest of the men’s team along with him,” said AUS coach of the year Lance Cansdale. “He is always willing to listen and discuss how to get better and the results show.”

At the Kemp-Fry Invitational in November, Adam Bouma set a new Dalhousie and AUS record in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:01.87. Dalhousie swimmers would earn victories in 10 out of the 17 men’s events to claim first in the team standings by almost 400 points.

Day one of the AUS championships saw Mascoll-Gomes swim to first in the 200m freestyle posting a U SPORTS-qualifying time of 1:50.24. Christian Payne and Liam Ferguson claimed first and second in the 50m backstroke with each of them also putting up U SPORTS-qualifying times.

Days two and three saw three more U SPORTS-qualifying times by the Tigers - Payne in the 100m backstroke, Mascoll-Gomes in the 100m freestyle and the men’s 4x100m relay. With nine more event wins the Tigers took home the AUS championship with 1073 team points.

Bouma earned both the championship rookie and swimmer of the meet awards. He’s the second Tiger to ever earn both awards in the same year.

“To go from a middle of the pack breaststroker, to winning all the AUS championship meet awards and setting new Dalhousie and AUS records, adds so much momentum that all his teammates can feed off,’ said Cansdale.

The Tigers then visited Laval for the U SPORTS championships. The weekend was highlighted by Mascoll-Gomes’ record-breaking performance in the 100m freestyle finals. His time of 49.50 set a new Dalhousie and AUS record. The men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team featuring Mascoll-Gomes, Bouma, Payne and Freddy Chandler-Baas also set new Dalhousie and AUS records with a time of 3:42:00.

Other top 10 results for Dalhousie included a sixth-place finish for Payne in the 50m backstroke and ninth for the 4x200m freestyle relay team.

The young group finished 12th in the team standings but more than quadrupled their points from their last national appearance.

“Most impressive to me was how the entire team handled being in a high-pressure situation for the first time in two years, succeeding in what quite possibly the fastest U SPORTS swimming championships ever,” said Cansdale.

The Tigers will only be losing a couple swimmers to graduation so next year’s team will be a very deep and experienced group.

“The goal is to continue to improve, maintain our AUS standing and work towards an even better finish at the national championships.”

2021-22 Men's Swimming Award Winners

Team MVP Noah Mascoll-Gomes	Tiger of the Year Jonathan Taylor
Tigers Rookie of the Year Adam Bouma	Co-Trainer of the Year Emma Thompson
Manager of the Year Lauren Mouser	Tigers Assist Award Keishia Mills