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| Dal Tiger David Sharpe. (Nick Pearce Photo) |
While Canadian athletes were collecting medals at the winter Olympics in Vancouver, Dal student David Sharpe was on his own hunt for gold.
The first-year Dalhousie Tiger swimmer turned in an incredible performance at the 2010 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)Swim Championships held in Toronto this past weekend, winning four medals: one gold and three silver.
The Halifax native earned a gold medal in the 50-metre backstroke with a Dalhousie-record-breaking time of 25.17. He then capped off his weekend with a trio of silver medals in the 100 and 200-metre butterfly events, and the 100-metre backstroke.
These are the first CIS medals for a Dalhousie swimmer since 2006-07 when Dal's three men's relay teams earned bronze while hosting the CIS meet. These are the first individual medals for a Tiger swimmer since 2005-06 when Andy White earned bronze in the 400-metre individual medley.
Mr. Sharpe was recently named AUS Rookie of the Meet and AUS Swimmer of the Meet at the 2010 conference championships where he won all four individual races he competed in and was a member of Dalhousie's three winning relay teams.
Andrew Ferraro, another rookie Tiger also competed in the A final in the 50-metre backstroke and finished sixth in a time of 25.97, while the Dalhousie men's 400 metre freestyle relay team (Brannyn Hale, Sharpe, Ferraro and Jo Ur) finished fourth in a time of 3:22.27. Other A final performances on the men’s side included Kit Moran who placed sixth in the 200 metre backstroke and Brannyn Hale who earned a seventh place finish in the 50-metre freestyle. On the women’s side, top performers included Terri Lynn Benison’s fourth place finish in the 200 metre butterfly and Kristen Vandenberg and Hannah Vaughn who finished eighth and twelfth respectively in the 800 metre freestyle race.
Dalhousie's men's team finished the meet in fifth place overall while the women earned an eighth place team finish.
For complete results of the 2010 CIS Swim Championships, click here.