Jessica Kelly won a pair of bronze medals and Jeff Nicol brought home a silver medal as the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's and women's swim teams competed at the Canada West Championship meet in Vancouver this past weekend.
Kelly led the 18-swimmer contingent with bronze medal swims in the 50- and 100-metre butterfly events, setting new U of L school records in each swim. She also picked up a fifth-place finish in the 100-metre backstroke event.
Nicol, who won two medals last year in his home pool, captured a silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke and was just short of breaking his own school record that was set earlier this season. Nicol also finished fifth in the 100-metre breast event.
On the team front, the men's squad moved up one spot from last year's performance, up to fifth place with 279 points. The women's team finished with 181 points, and was also fifth in Canada West, the same place they finished last year in Lethbridge. Host UBC Thunderbirds won both the men's and women's team titles.
In total, U of L swimmers set 57 personal best times.
"I'm ecstatic with the team performance this weekend, this is our best Canada West Championship in my six seasons," says Horns head coach Brad Mori. "Both teams finished fifth and that was our team goal from the start of the year. Our swimmers swam great. They raced the moments, taking care of individual performances, leading to a fantastic team result."
Mat Loyola (50- & 200-metre breaststroke) and David Errington (200m breaststroke) both earned qualifying times for the CIS Championships. Loyola finished sixth in both distances, while Errington also finished sixth in the 200-metre breaststroke.
Matthew Mastromatteo, Jessie Olson-Heisler, Roger Hanna, and Adam Krysiak inched closer toward CIS qualifying times, and will have two more opportunities to reach those times in the coming weeks.
The CIS Championships will be hosted by the University of Calgary Dinos, Feb. 25-27.