VICTORIA – In her fourth and final individual event, University of Victoria Vikes women's swimmer Danielle Hanus finally found gold following three silver medal at the 2018 U SPORTS Swimming Championships at Varsity Pool in Toronto, Ont. Hanus took gold in the 200-m butterfly event and claimed silver earlier in the night in the 100-m backstroke.
 
FULL RESULTS
 

VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes got on the podium three times on the opening day of the U SPORTS Swimming Championship, hosted Feb. 22-25 in Toronto, Ont., thanks to silver medals from second years Danielle Hanus and Josh Zakala. Ranked in the U SPORTS Top 5 in six events, Hanus earned silver in both the 50-m backstroke and 100-m butterfly events, finishing behind 2016 Olympic medalist and World Champion Kylie Masse from Toronto. Zakala wrapped up the individual events of the day by finishing second in the men's individual medley.
 
FULL RESULTS
 

UVic and UVPCS swimmers Eric Hedlin and Chris Deegan were in South Australia's Brighton Beach this past weekend, competing in the 10km Open Water race, as well as the 5km Open Water Time Trial event. 

Highlights from the last session of the VIR championships included Pacific Coast Swimming winning the meet for a 5th straight time scoring an overall combined 4834.5 points, well ahead of the next team, Island Swimming, with 2692 points.

PCS increased the points lead today thanks to a boost from the B National group. On the girls side, Naeva Scott Bouris is leading the charge with 116 points, followed closely by Sydney Meldrum, 92, and Kali Lancaster, 81. Griffin Arnatt still held onto his lead from yesterday with 138 points, followed by Daniel Damian, 85, and Taiki Hiraoka, 73 points.

In the 11-12 Boys 200 IM Griffin Arnatt broke 2:40 for the first time to take second place.

Pacific Coast Swimming leads the meet after two days.

Our top scoring boy so far for the VIR championships is lead by Griffin Arnatt after 2 days of fast swimming, he is currently holding 69 points for the team. Arnatt had a speedy race in the 200 freestyle last night breaking a long time club record set back in 2003 by Craig Dagnall, in a time of 2:16.85. Way to go Griffin!

A pair of world-record setting backstrokers headline the awards, with Kylie Masse taking Female Swimmer of the Year (Olympic Program), while Shelby Newkirk is the Female Para-swimmer of the Year.

Masse became Canada’s first female world champion at the FINA World Championships when she won the 100-m backstroke in Budapest in an unprecedented 58.10. It was the country’s first world record on the Olympic program side since Annamay Pierse (200-m breaststroke) in 2009.

The second Senior Circuit was not the most exciting affair but PCS showed up to race. Held at UBC the meet was well run but had little 'atmosphere'. Still the crew of 14 from PCS swam well coming off of a tough training camp at home. Congratulations to Sophie Tarrant who took top spot in 50 and 200 BR and came second in 100 BR posting top in-season LC times. Michael Schmidt in spite of a recent knee issue, set a new 15-17 Club mark in 50 BR at 30.30, good enough for first place. He also came 7th in 100 BR.

Click on the file below to listen to a recent interview with Stephanie Dixon on CFAX radio.

VICTORIA - On Dec. 29 Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, announced 125 new appointments to the Order of Canada and this included Vikes alumna and Paralympic swimmer Stephanie Dixon. The new member list includes 4 Companions (C.C.), 35 Officers (O.C.) and 86 Members (C.M.)