When Lauren Crisp of the host University of Victoria Vikes won the women’s 100-metre backstroke at the 2023 U Sports national swimming championships at Saanich Commonwealth Place, she followed in the splash-prints of previous event winner, starry Olympic multi-medallist and University of Toronto graduate Kylie Masse.
Masse was among 12 swimmers out of Canadian schools who represented sa国际传媒 in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as U Sports has held its own against the drain of top Canadian athletes to the U.S. NCAA in a range of sports.
Crisp, who won national silver in 2020 in the 200-metre backstroke was swimming in that final again on Saturday night, as she has made her own name in U Sports and has also been a bronze medallist in the 400 IM. Being able to continue doing so in the national championship at home is a career highlight, as it was when she won her previous two U Sports medals the last time UVic hosted in 2020.
“It’s really special with all my family and friends here watching and also Vikes alumni,” said Crisp, a sa国际传媒 West second-team all-star.
The fourth-year performer out of Reynolds Secondary, who is studying to be a teacher, took three years out from high-level swimming to travel. The break proved beneficial when she returned to competitive swimming.
“Mentally, it put me in a better place,” said Crisp.
That has served her and the Vikes well. UVic was sixth in both women’s and men’s last year under head coach Peter Vizsolyi, in his remarkable 40th year of guiding the Vikes, and was headed to another top-10 finish with both Vikes teams holding down seventh position as the U Sports nationals headed into the concluding Saturday night finals.
Olympian Gabe Mastromatteo from the University of Toronto was the story of the nationals by setting meet records in winning two men’s events, including the 100-metre breaststroke on Friday night at Commonwealth Place.
The Toronto Blues are the defending women’s team champions, ending the UBC Thunderbirds’ four-year title run in 2022, and were leading the T-Birds by a tight margin heading into Saturday night. The UBC men were well on their way to a sixth consecutive national title.
