Danielle Hanus has positioned herself well to have another eventful evening following the preliminary heats on Day 2 of the U SPORTS National Swim Championship at Saanich Commonwealth Place.
After earning the University of Victoria Vikes first two golds last night, Hanus enters the ‘A’ Finals tonight with the fastest qualifying times in the 100-metre backstroke (58.09) and the 200m butterfly (2:08.87).
In the 100m back, she will be joined by teammate and hometown girl, Lauren Crisp. The first-year swimmer improved four spots with her time of 1:01.64.
On the men’s side, Josh Zakala is back for more after his U SPORTS record setting performance in the 400m individual medley last night. Tonight, he will be in the ‘A’ Final for the 400m freestyle, after his morning swim of 3:51.38.
Bailey Espersen will appear the 200m breaststroke ‘A’ Final after he posted the fifth best time of 2:14.43.
Other ‘B’ and ‘C’ qualifying times came from: Padric McKervill (25.01) in the men’s 50m butterfly. One of the tightest qualifying finishes came from former U SPORTS medalist in the 400m free, Eric Hedlin. After a slow start, Hedlin hit the gas in the final 200m, but missed a birth in the ‘A’ Final by 2/100th of a second. Another near miss occurred when Zachary Dumas touched in a half second too late and finished ninth in the 200m breast with a time of 2:15.98. Daniel Greer will look to grab as much points as possible when he jumps into the water for the ‘C’ Final of the 200m breast.
Kyla Ross finished 13th this morning in the 400m freestyle in 4:19.84. Her teammate, Lauren Taylor will be in the ‘C’ Final of the same event after her swim of 4:22.38. Ross will be in another ‘B’ Final this evening, this time for the 200m butterfly. Local product Victoria Mock will swim in the 200m butterfly, but in the ‘C’ Final.
The Vikes will send five swimmers to ‘A’ Finals this evening. That total is down from nine yesterday and is the sixth-highest number of competitors this evening. The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds lead the way with 22.
Mark Thormeyer of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds was the only swimmer this morning that set a new U SPORTS short track record. He broke a seven-year-old record in the men’s 100m backstroke with his time of 51.57. UBC alum Kelly Aspinall had the old record at 51.95.
