VICTORIA – A sensational weekend for the Manitoba Bisons and fourth-year Kelsey Wog finished on Saturday at the 2020 U SPORTS Swimming Championships, hosted by Victoria.
Winning two more gold medals on day three to give her a total of four for the second straight year, Wog was named Female Swimmer of the Meet when all was said and done.
Her most impressive win on Saturday came in the 200-metre individual medley, where she out-raced five members of the UBC Thunderbirds, recorded a U SPORTS record, a pool record (set in 1994), and set the fastest time in the world this year with a 2:10.87.
The Winnipeg native also finished a sweep of the breaststroke distances with a win in the 50-metre event, coming up just shy of a U SPORTS record by winning in 31.21. Her other two gold medals came in the 100-metre and 200-metre distances.
"It's been a really fun meet and I've had a great time with my friends," said Wog. "I'm happy with my times. My 200 IM has come together nicely over the past few years, especially the back half of it."
The honours didn't stop at Manitoba's superstar swimmer, though. Bisons head coach Vlastik Cerny was named the U SPORTS Fox 40 women's swimming Coach of the Year in his 27th year at the head of Manitoba's teams. Cerny has worked closely with Bisons swimmers on peaking performance at this weekend's event, with Wog and first-year Jamie Alexiuk among those setting personal bests at the meet.
Also on Saturday, fifth-year Bisons swimmer Anthony Iliouchetchev concluded his Bisons career with one last A-final, as he qualified and finished sixth in the men's 100-metre freestyle, racing it in 51.54.
In the final team standings, the Bisons women finished 12th with 212.5 points while the men finished 15th with 69 points. The UBC Thunderbirds defended their team titles on both sides.
For Wog, the next big event on the calendar are the Canadian Swim Trials from March 31 to April 5, where she will look to earn a spot on Team Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer. Wog has previously competed with the senior national team at the FINA World Championships in 2019 and the Pan Pacific Championships in 2018.
See full results from the 2020 U SPORTS Swimming Championships.
