UVic Vikes at the 2004 CIS's

UVic Releases

Day one of the 2004 CIS Swimming Championships at the University of Toronto saw first year swimmer Stephanie Dixon add another World Record to her resume, breaking her own mark in the 400 IM. Swimming in front of her family and friends in her home town of Toronto, Dixon swam to a personal best time of 5:32.38 breaking her own world record time by four seconds.

Rookie Erika Hunzinger had a great performance in the 50 backstroke swimming to a fourth place finish in the consolation final in a time of 30.76. Hunzinger had posted a new personal best time in the morning preliminaries in a time of 30.32 dropping more than one second off her previous best.

There were several second swims for the Vikes on Day number 1 and they will be looking to move up in the team standings throughout the weekend. Karley Stutzel placed second in the consolation final of the 200 freestyle in a final time of 2:03.09. Third year swimmer Danielle Bell was fourth in the consolation in 2:03.60. The women's 200 freestyle was won in a new CIS Record of 1:57.11 by Sophie Simard, LAVAL, breaking her own record of 1:57.99 from the 2001 CIS Swimming Championships in Guelph.<

The Vikes only 'A' Final on the first day of Competition came from David Creel in the 400 IM. Creel placed fifth overall behind a clean sweep of the medal by the University of Calgary. Creel touched the wall in 4:27.85. The event was won by Chad Murray, Calgary, in 4:16.93. UVic had two swimmers in the Consolation final of the men's 400 IM as rookie Erich Schmitt finished third (11th overall) in a time of 4:31.49 and fifth year Dave MacDonald fifth (13th overall) in 4:33.09.

On Day 2 Fourth Year UVic Vike Karley Stutzel won the bronze medal in the women’s 400 freestyle. Stutzel finished in a time of 4:16.19 behind University of New Brunswick's Carla Geurts-Cole in 4:09.49 and Calgary's Carrie Burgoyne in 4:12.23. This is the first medal for the Vikes after two days of competition at the University of Toronto. Danielle Bell placed 7th in the finals in a time of 4:20.74.

On the men's side fourth year swimmer David Creel placed 5th in the final of the 400 freestyle in a time of 3:58.30. The event was won by Calgary's Richard Cormack in a time of 3:53.13 with Nicolas Guilotte, Montreal, second in 3:55.92 and UBC Thunderbirds Aaron Blair third in 3:55.93.

UVic had two women contesting the 100 backstroke tonight as Laina Steeple placed third in the consolation finals in a time of 1:05.31. Rookie Erika Hunzinger placed 8th in the finals in a time of 1:05.48 after posting a personal best time in the morning preliminaries of 1:04.82. The event was won by University of Calgary's Erin Gammel in a new CIS Record time of 59.74. This was Gammel's second CIS record this weekend after breaking the 50 backstroke yesterday.

Stephanie Dixon continued her record breaking performances swimming to another world records on the second day of competition. Dixon broke the 400 IM world mark on Friday and followed up with a new record in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:08.95. Dixon qualified for the 2004 CIS Swimming Championships by swimming to the universal time standard earlier this year.

The 4x200 freestyle relays saw UVic place fourth in both the men's and women's events. Stutzel, Bell, Hunzinger and Steeple swam on the women’s team to a final time of 8:28.76 while Creel was joined by Erich Schmitt, Dave MacDonald and Adam Slater on the men's for a time of 7:42.08.

University of Victoria swimmer Karley Stutzel won her second bronze medal in as many days after swimming to a final time of 8:44.13 in the women's 800 freestyle. The event was won by New Brunswick's Carla Guerts-Cole in 8:35.33 with Carrie Burgoyne, Calgary, third in 8:41.89. Stutzel also won the bronze in the women's 400 freestyle on Saturday. Danielle Bell was fifth in the final in a time of 8:51.84.

UVic's Rookie Erich Schmitt swam to a fifth place finish in the men’s 200 backstroke posting a time of 2:03.76. Fifth year graduating athlete Dave MacDonald swam in the B-Final and finished 14th overall in a time of 2:06.17. The race was won by UBC rookie Desmond Strelzow in a time of 1:58.78. On the women's side Danielle Bell placed 8th in the final in a time of 2:18.35. Laina Steeple finished 15th in the consolation final in a time of 2:23.26.

UVic also had David Creel swimming the men's 1500 freestyle. Creel finished in a final time of 15:55.27 to place 6th overall in the event. Calgary's Richard Cormack won the event in 15:40.08 and an emotional Dave Ling from Toronto picked up silver in 15:45.12.

Stephanie Dixon was awarded an honorary All Canadian for her performances during the weekend. Dixon broke two world records this weekend and narrowly missed a third in the 400 freestyle.

At the end of the meet the UVic Vikes swimmers placed 8th overall on the women’s team rankings with a total of 175 points. The UVic men finished in 11th position with 110 points. UBC won the meet on both the men's and women's sides for the seventh straight years.