Apollo Hess after his record-setting swim. (@USPORTSwimming on Twitter)

By David Opinko

U of L swimmers win five medals, set records at national championships

Mar 28, 2022 | 2:25 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The University of Lethbridge Pronghorn swim team dominated the competition at the U SPORTS Championship.

The team of seven athletes set a Canadian record, two provincial records, nine school records, earned four All-Canadians awards, and earned five medals.

Head Coach Peter Schori says five national medals is the most ever for the Pronghorns to win at one national championship and marks the end of a 17-year drought.

“We had so many special moments during the championship. All of our seven swimmers scored points in the finals and our relays were extraordinary.”

On the first day of competition, the U of L’s swimmers brought home a silver medal in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay, then secured another silver in the 4 x 100 medley relay.

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Apollo Hess proved to be the Pronghorns’ standout star.

He started with a silver medal in the 100-metre breaststroke on the first day of competition and followed that up with gold in the 200-metre breaststroke the next day.

Hess would go on to set new U SPORTS records twice in the same day on the final day of the event. The first came in the morning prelims of the 50-metre breaststroke. The second saw him win gold in the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 26.65 seconds.

Schori says Hess put in an outstanding performance that broke the previous record set in 2009.

“Apollo was awesome in the pool and with his words. He has earned all of the accolades but his respect for his competitors and desire to be great are what makes him an excellent role model. The Canadian record at the age of 19 is very exciting.”

Hess was named the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year and a First-Team All-Canadian.

Chris Alexander and Parker Brown also qualified for an ‘A’ final each with Alexander narrowly missing out on a sixth Pronghorn medal, finishing fourth in the 50-metre backstroke. He finished only four one-hundredths behind the bronze medal position.

Alexander also finished 9^th in the 100-metre backstroke and 17^th in the 50 metre freestyle.

Brown, who is in his first year of eligibility, placed sixth in the 100-metre freestyle and 15^th in the 50-metre freestyle.

Raine Arden rounded out the Pronghorn men’s results, finishing 15^th in the 200-metre and 20^th in the 50-metre freestyle.

With the silver medals in the relay events, Chris Alexander, Parker Brown, and Raine Arden were named Second Team All-Canadians.

In the women’s events, Hunter Stewardson finished 10th in the 50-metre breaststroke, 11th in the 100-metre breaststroke, and 21st in the 200-metre breaststroke.

Libby Fox placed 22^nd in the 50 metre butterfly and Emilia Hesterman was 23^rd in the breaststroke.

Apollo Hess, Raine Arden, Chris Alexander, Parker Brown, Eric Louie, Hunter Stewardson and Emilia Hesterman will all compete at the 2022 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria on April 5-10.