Led by Kirby Johnson and Nick Welychko on the men’s side and Kiely Cunningham on the women’s side, the Trinity Western swimming teams wrapped up a successful effort at the Canada West championships on Sunday with five of the their six swimmers making finals.
Johnson, who became the lone Spartans swimmer to earn a spot at the CIS national championships after he clocked a qualifying time in the 200m freestyle Saturday, was once again TWU’s top swimmer as he posted a time of 2:21.49 in the 200m breaststroke to finish 11th overall. His time was just 0.17 off of the CIS qualifying time of 2:21.32.
Welychko also finished 11th in his lone event of the day as he clocked a time of 2:10.40 in the “B” final of the 200m individual medley. Earlier in the day, he had a time of 2:10.28 in the preliminaries.
Patrick Loftus posted a time of 1:01.12 in the 100m backstroke to finish 16th while Brian MacPhail clocked a time of 2:26.90 in the “B” final of the 200m breast to also finish 16th. Earlier on Sunday, MacPhail had a time of 2:25.93 in the preliminaries.
In Johnson’s only other event, he finished 18th in the 100m free with a time of 52.55.
On the women’s side, it was Cunningham leading the way with a time of 2:46.99 in the 200m breaststroke, which was good enough for 13th place.
Anna de Tar finished 23rd overall with a time of 1:02.65 in the 100m free.
The CIS national championships are Feb. 21-23 in Calgary.
MEN’S RESULTS
100m Free
18 Johnson, Kirby 52.55
200m Individual Medley
11 Welychko, Nick 2:10.40 – 6 points
100m Backstroke
16 Loftus, Patrick 1:01.12 – 1 point
200m Breaststroke
11 Johnson, Kirby 2:21.49 – 6 points
16 MacPhail, Brian 2:26.90 – 1 point
