Okotoks swimmers formed half of a U SPORTS record-setting relay on the national stage.
Finlay Knox and Wells Ginzer, both Okotoks Mavericks alumni, and the UBC Thunderbirds men’s 4x100m medley relay team polished off a record-setting gold medal performance at the U SPORTS Swimming Championships in Toronto with a time of 3:29.52.
Knox, a two-time Olympian, and Ginzer, a freshman swimmer at UBC, teamed with Canadian Olympian Blake Tierney and Joel Blanco to touch the wall first.
Knox, in his first year swimming with the Thunderbirds, was recognized as the U SPORTS Men’s Swimmer of the Year with six gold medals and a bronze.
"I mean, it's awesome, especially coming into U SPORTS and racing the best university athletes in Canada," said Knox, in a U SPORTS release. "It's an honour to be the best Canadian male swimmer and hopefully I've inspired some younger generations to strive to break my records.
“Both the men and women's teams coming together and putting on a display of high-level swimming and record-breaking performances, it's incredible."
In addition to the relay record, Knox set U SPORTS benchmarks with his gold medal performance in the 200m freestyle, in a time of 1:54.15, with gold in the 50m backstroke (23.39), gold in 200m butterfly (1:53.67) along with a relay record in both the 4x400m freestyle relay and 4x200m freestyle relay, both gold medal turns for the high-flying Thunderbirds.
The Thunderbirds won both the overall men’s and women’s team titles at the event while two-time Olympian Kayla Sanchez earned the U SPORTS Women’s Swimmer of the Year nod.
Provincial trials
Closer to home, the Mavericks made waves at the Winter Provincial Trials at Calgary’s MNP Community and Sport Centre over the March 7-9 weekend.
Ayden Gautier, 13, earned Alberta championship qualification standard swims in a trio of events in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke with Leah Hunter making the feat in the 100m backstroke.
Gautier also won gold in the 200m backstroke at the meet with Hunter doing so in the 100m backstroke. Camryn Jones added the other gold medal in the 50m breaststroke to earn the club’s third qualification through trials to the Alberta championships.
Cora Hunter, Tanner Donnelly and Jerome Ling notched the other medal performances.
The club also posted three top eight finishes in relay events along with nine additional swimmers registering top eight placement.
The Mavericks are off to the Provincial Winter Championships in Edmonton from March 19-23.
For more information on the club, go to okotoksmavericks.com.
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