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Liendo flies on first night of Mel Zajac

News –

VANCOUVER – Josh Liendo kicked off the 58th annual Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet with gold medal performances in two events Friday. Early in the evening, the Markham, Ont. native dropped 0.06 seconds from his morning time to win the 200-m freestyle in 1:50.53.

Jeremy Bagshaw of Victoria, B.C. clocked a silver-medal time of 1:50.90. 15-year-old Laon Kim of Vancouver touched for bronze in 1:52.18.

Liendo later won the men’s 50-m butterfly in 23.99, just 0.3 seconds over Caeleb Dressel’s meet record of 23.69 from 2018.

“For me, this meet is all about race strategy,” Liendo said. “No matter how tired I feel in-season, I just want to execute races similar to how I would execute them at Worlds. That’s kind of what this meet is for me. It’s a good prep.”

Stephen Calkins of Calgary placed second in 24.56 followed by Justice Migneault of Vancouver in 24.88.

On the women’s side, Danielle Hanus of Newmarket, Ont. captured silver in 27.41.

UBC’s Hugh McNeill won gold in the men’s 200-m backstroke in 2:02.49. Vancouver’s Raben Dommann and Blake Tierney rounded off the podium in 2:03.49 and 2:04.16.

Joined by teammate Canek Bracho, McNeill, Tierney and Migneault podiumed again in the 4×100-m freestyle. The UBC Thunderbirds placed second in 3:27.79.

Alongside Calkins, Calgary’s Aiden Norman, Paul McKenzie and Nicholas Duncan took gold in the event in 3:27.10.

UBC’s women’s team won the 4×100-m free relay in 3:50.35. Emma O’Croinin of Edmonton led off the relay after a gold medal performance earlier in the night in the 200-m freestyle.

O’Croinin was the only swimmer in the field in the 200 under 2:00.00, finishing in 1:59.20. In a tight race, Julie Brousseau of Nepean, Ont. and Mia West of Winnipeg fought for silver. Brousseau ultimately finished in 2:02.38 ahead of West’s 2:02.46.

James Dergousoff of Vancouver won the 100-m breaststroke in 1:02.75. Brothers Brayden Hemeon and Ethan Hemeon of Saskatoon battled for the remaining two spots on the podium, touching in 1:04.01 and 1:04.19 ahead of Connor Brown’s 1:04.21.

In the 400-m individual medley, Tessa Cieplucha of Georgetown, Ont. won gold in 4:43.32. Collyn Gagne of Milton, Ont. won the men’s event in 4:18.41.

Due to flight delays, Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont. was unable to make Friday’s sessions. She is slated to race the 100-m butterfly, the 50-m backstroke and the 50-m freestyle Saturday.

Originally founded in 1963 as Canada Cup by swim coach Howard Firby, the Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet works to bring elite national and international talent to Vancouver to race local athletes. Now named after Canadian Olympic swimmer Mel Zajac Jr., the meet is the largest of its kind in Western Canada.

For more information about the Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet, including live results, visit:

https://www.swimzajac.com