The University of Manitoba swim teams made a splash between March 16 and 19 at the Western championships, which took place at the Pan Am Pool.

Women’s Team

The women’s team finished one of the last meets of the year, and it went swimmingly.

The women’s relay team, consisting of Kelsey Fillion, Hannah Schanel, Kara Dziadek and Indi Halldorson-Haines, swam into fifth place in the 4×100-metre freestyle with a collective time of 3:59.88.

The herd continued to improve throughout the meet, as Schanel obtained fourth place in the 50-metre freestyle with a time of 26.98.

With resident swimmers Ella Howe, Georgia Pengilly and Shea Guest absent from the women’s roster at the meet, the herd was missing key assets to the team.

However, others stepped up.

Another powerhouse swim for the herd was from Fillion, who placed fifth in the 100-metre freestyle with a time of 57.94.

The herd improved from its previous year’s standing at the Westerns with a total of seven medals. Last year, the herd won four.

Overall, the U of M women’s swim team had a lot of momentum at this meet and throughout the swim season. The Bison women really came together this year, improving both individually and as a team.

Men’s Team

The men’s team started ripping up the pool on March 16 with phenomenal performances both as a team and individually.

Carson Beggs swam very well at the Westerns, earning two silver medals. The first medal was in the 50-metre breaststroke. He finished with a time of 29.23. The second silver medal was in the 100-metre breaststroke, in which Beggs swam a time of 1:05.09.

Another notable swim was Rhade Kostelnyk’s third-place finish in the 100-metre breaststroke. He finished just below Beggs with a final time of 1:05.27.

The real MVP of this meet was Andriy Usan, who won three individual medals. Usan earned gold in the 200-metre butterfly with a time of 2:09.62, silver in the 100-metre butterfly with a time of 56.24 and finished in third place in the 50-metre butterfly with a time of 25.41.

The men’s team came together near the end of the meet to earn a bronze medal in the 4×100-metre medley, as teammates Eric Dupre, Beggs, Ty Unrau and Usan combined for a time of 3:53.04.

The University of Manitoba men’s team did a great job staying on its A-game, yielding a handful of medals.

The team has really grown as the university’s swim program continues to expand.

The University of Manitoba will finish off its last swim meet of the athletic year at the Olympic trials in
Montreal, Que. from May 13 to 19.