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uOttawa hosts 2009 OUA championship
OTTAWA - Gee-Gees men's swimming has the goal set for the 2009 Ontario University Athletics Swim Championship at uOttawa's Montpetit Hall pool Friday to Sunday, February 6-8.
"We definitely have the capability of being a top-three team," said Gee-Gees swim head coach Iain McDonald, after the men's team finished a program-best No. 4 at the conference meet last year .
"If everything goes well for us, I think we could finish second."
uOttawa sends 14 male student-athletes and 15 female student-athletes to the conference final meet, with a record five male swimmers and one female swimmer already qualified for the 2009 CIS Swim Championship , February 19-21 at UBC.
Leading the way for the Gee-Gees men's team is fourth-year team captain Hans Fracke, a six-foot-three, 215-pound freestylist who played rep hockey until age 16 and whose uncle is Bobby Hull while cousin Brett Hull is the co-general manager of the NHL Dallas Stars.
Fracke, from Uxbridge, Ont. , is expecting a strong finish in the 200m freestyle, though will challenged Friday night by University of Waterloo grad student Keith Beavers, who holds Canadian records in the 200m backstroke and 200m Individual Medley and placed seventh in the 200m freestyle for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"He's going to be tough competition but it should be fun," said Fracke, whose sister Meg is a Gee-Gees assistant coach after finishing five years with the women's program last year.
"I try to respect her just as much as any other coach," said Fracke, 22.
"She tries to boss me around - but then realizes she has to deal with me when we go home, because we live together."
The Gee-Gees women's team, with promising rookie CIS qualifier and freestylist Zoe Kamenz along with Kara Demers, ranked fourth in the 400 m Individual Medley, have an "outside shot" at a top-five finish, according to McDonald.
Kamenz, 18, swam a CIS standard in the 50m freestyle in heats in Zurich, Switzerland last week as part of the Ontario Future Stars tour and has qualified for her first CIS championship.
"That is really all I had as a goal," said Kamenz, the lone uOttawa female CIS qualifier.
"I hope there will be others."
The University of Toronto women's team has won eight straight Ontario conference titles while the Varsity Blues men's team has won seven of the last eight titles.
Results throughout the weekend will be nearly instant through the Gee-Gees Web site (www.geegees.ca).
"As soon as you we get the thumbs up from the referee that there are no disqualifications, the results are official and they go live to the Internet," McDonald said.
The met also features star power.
Swim Canada CEO Pierre Lafontaine will speak at Friday's opening ceremony (5:40 p.m.), along with University of Ottawa athletic director Luc Gelineau.
On Sunday afternoon former Canadian Olympian and current Executive Director of the Road To Excellence program, Alex Baumann, will both speak and present the Jeno Tihanyi Award, given to the highest ranked performance in an Individual Medley event, in honour of his former coach.
"Swimmers certainly don't get the spotlight a lot," said McDonald. "This meet is big for them."
2009 Ontario University Athletics Swim championships
Montpetit Hall pool, University of Ottawa (125 University)
Friday Feb 6:
08:00-10:00: - Warm up
10:00-13:00: - 200 free, 200 back, 100 breast, 100 fly, 50 back, 400IM, 50 free
16:00-18:00: - Warm-up
18:00-21:00*: - Finals: 200 free, 50 back, Awards, 100 breast, 100 fly, Awards, 400IM, Awards, 4 x 100 Medley relay
Saturday Feb 7:
08:00-10:00: - Warm up
10:00-13:00: - 50 breast, 400 free, 50 fly, 100 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly
16:00-18:00: - Warm-up
18:00-21:00*: - Finals: 4 x 50 free relay, 400 free, Awards, 100 back, 100 free, Awards, 200 breast, 50 fly, Awards, 4 x 200 free relay
Sunday Feb 8:
10:00-11:00: - Warm up
11:00-12:00: - Timed final 800/1500, swimmers seeded 17+
12:00-13:00: - Warm-up
13:00-17:00*: - Finals: 4 x 50 Medley Relay, 200 fly, 200 IM heats, 800/1500 seeded 9 - 16, Awards, 50 free, 800 / 1500 seeded 1 - 8, 200 back, 50 breast, Awards, 4 x 100 Free relay
Final Awards Presentation
* - finish times approximate
Source:
Dan Carle
Coordonnateur des informations sportives /
Sport Information Coordinator
Service des sports de l'Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa Sports Services
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