The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's swim team has cracked the 2012 CIS Top-10 swim rankings for the first time in more than 10 years.
Fresh off an excellent performance at the Dino University Invitational in Calgary last weekend, the 'Horns have jumped into the seventh spot nationally. The Dino meet continued a run of positive early season results.
Highlighting the weekend for the men's side was a third place finish in the 200-metre medlay relay. The 'Horns were just behind CIS powers UBC Thunderbirds and University of Calgary Dinos. The team of Nick Vander Sloot, Jeff Nicol, Ryan Thornley and Tiha Konyves set a new school record by more than two seconds and beat the defending CIS bronze medalist University of Alberta Golden Bears.
The 'Horns also finished fourth in the 200-metre free relay, breaking the school's best time by more than a second. The team of Vander Sloot, Thornley, Konyves and Hunter Scott finished with a time of 1:34.52.
"It was a good start to the season for us against some of the top teams in the CIS," says first-year Pronghorn head coach Peter Schori. "Canada West is the toughest swimming conference in the country and we are closing the gap between us and the top schools."
To date, the 'Horns have 18 qualifiers (10 men and 8 women) for the Canada West Championships that will be hosted by the University of Victoria, Jan. 25-27, 2013. Five Pronghorn men have also already qualified for the CIS Championships in February.
Following are the current CIS rankings.
MEN'S SWIMMING
(points) / (previous rankings)
1. Toronto 610 points / (1)
2. Calgary 603 / (2)
3. UBC 263 / (NR)
4. Laval 260 / (3)
5. Alberta 218 / (8)
6. Montreal 170 / (4)
7. Lethbridge 160 / (NR)
8. McGill 148 / (5)
9. Ottawa 113 / (7)
10. McMaster 105 / (9)
WOMEN'S SWIMMING
(points) / (previous rankings)
1. Calgary 399 points / (3)
2. Montreal 368 / (1)
3. Toronto 365 / (4)
4. UBC 354 / (NR)
5. McGill 249 / (2)
6. Alberta 157 / (9)
7. UQTR 149 / (6)
8. McMaster 126 / (5)
9. Guelph 104 / (7)
10. Dalhousie 103 / (NR)
