Thunderbirds goal to defend their crowns at U SPORTS Swimming Championships

MARKHAM, Ont. – In a season the place they’ve come out on prime in every occasion they’ve competed in to date, the Thunderbirds can have the prospect to cap off their 2025-26 varsity marketing campaign with a nationwide title (or two) at this 12 months’s U SPORTS Swimming Championships.

Held on the Markham Pan Am Centre and hosted by McMaster University, this 12 months’s nationals run from Thursday, March 12 by Saturday, March 14.

 

“The team has been happy, healthy, hungry, humble and hard-working all season long,” mentioned UBC head coach Derrick Schoof. “The swimmers have shown the dedication and determination required to perform at their best. Now is the time to let loose and see what they can do after a restful 10-day taper. We are confident in our preparation and excited to see what we can do.”

 

Both UBC groups are defending nationwide champs and have been ranked No. 1 within the nation the complete season, and each enter nationals with Toronto because the workforce sitting proper behind them within the U SPORTS Top 10.

 

That’s not an excessive amount of of a shock, on condition that the Thunderbirds and Varsity Blues have dominated the highest of the swimming podiums for greater than a decade. The final time that every other faculty gained a U SPORTS swimming title was in 2011, when Calgary swept the golds.

 

The Dinos can be one other faculty offering some stiff competitors, and in reality the Calgary males’s squad spent a lot of this season within the No. 2 spot of the Top 10, solely dropping to No. 3 in the latest rankings in late February.

 

The Dinos additionally got here very near getting one over on the T-Birds on the University Cup Mountain, ending inside three factors within the workforce standings on each the boys’s and ladies’s sides the January meet in Calgary.

 

“The competition will be fierce,” added Schoof. “Just a small slip-up can send a swimmer from first to eighth. The racing will be tight, so we will really need to race hard and win the close battles to the finish every chance we get. We will be doing our absolute best to bring some titles back home to UBC.”

 

One of the important thing causes for the Thunderbirds’ excellence as a program this 12 months has been the depth boasted by each groups, helped drastically by how nicely the present group of first-year athletes have tailored to racing on the college stage.

 

Highlighted by Aiden Kirk being named the Canada West Male Swimmer of the Year again in November, the 2025-26 rookie class has carried out nicely all through the season. At Victoria’s West Coast Collegiate (the ultimate meet earlier than nationals), seven first-year T-Birds gained an occasion – Kirk, Jaques Harrison, Paul Hebrard, Zachary Parise, Sebastian van de Logt, Benya Mattig and Ruby Kehler.

 

“All of our first-year swimmers have really been incredible to work with,” mentioned Schoof. “They are eager, excited, and have big goals. They are not afraid to work hard and push our upper years day in and day out. Our team culture has been one of working hard while having fun in a very supportive and fun environment.”

 

You can watch all of this week’s motion unfold throughout all CBC digital platforms, together with on their YouTube channel and on CBC Gem. All three days start with preliminary heats beginning at 6:30 a.m. (PT), adopted by finals which begin at 2:30 p.m. (PT).