By Anil Jhalli
It sure didn’t take Ottawa native Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson long to settle in to her new surroundings.
Making her debut at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Swimming Championships for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds Feb. 20-22 in Toronto, the 18-year-old swam to a silver medal in the 200-metre backstroke, and four gold in the 200 m individual medley, the 200 m butterfly, the 4×200 m freestyle relay and the 400 m IM, where she established a new CIS record time of 4 minutes, 34.76 seconds.
“It was just a flutter of excitement,” describes Seltenreich-Hodgson, who started swimming competitively at age 10. “The goal is to go out there and swim your best. The whole experience was just fantastic.”
The accolades continued to pour in for the John McCrae Secondary School grad as she was named CIS rookie of the year, and swimmer of the year.
“It’s one thing to be named rookie of the year,” Seltenreich-Hodgson highlights, noting the competition was fierce with a lot of new swimming talent coming into the university ranks. “But being named swimmer of the year too, that was just the icing on the cake.”
The UBC women’s swim team won its third consecutive national title and a CIS-leading 19th overall. With a combined score of 802.5 points, the team set a CIS record for the largest margin of victory – 397.5 points ahead of the second-place Montréal Carabins. The storied history of the swimming program at UBC – also a national team training base – was what attracted Seltenreich-Hodgson to head west to Vancouver.
“The program here has such a great reputation and in the end, I just felt it was the right move for me,” explains the athlete who advanced past the first heat in her FINA senior world championships debut last summer.
Adjusting to life in a new environment wasn’t too bad, adds Seltenreich-Hodgson, who’s enjoying the luxury of the pool being next door, unlike her experience in Ottawa.
“I’m just really enjoying it here,” she underlines. “It is different, but the people here are great.”
Nevertheless, Ottawa remains close to her heart.
“Ya, I miss my family a lot, I miss home for sure,” says the former Nepean-Kanata Barracudas and Greater Ottawa Kingfish swimmer. “I don’t get to see them a lot, but I get to talk to them and Skype with them as much as I can, so that helps.”
A fourth-place finisher at the 2012 Canadian Olympic team trials at age 16, Seltenreich-Hodgson continues to build quite the swimming resume, with one ultimate goal in mind.
“The Olympics for sure,” states the former world junior medalist. “I am just going to keep working at it until I can get to that point.”
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees’ Caitlin Hodge won a CIS silver medal in the women’s 800 m free, while Robert Bonomo took bronze in the men’s 200 m back.
GGs stun Ravens bball
Local basketball fans were left salivating at the thought of a rematch on both teams’ home turf after the Ontario University Athletics men’s basketball championship between the Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens was decided in the final seconds on March 1.
The Gee-Gees upset the Ravens for their first victory against the defending national champions in the past 18 tries, with Johnny Berhanemeskel hitting the winning bucket with half-a-second left to play for a 78-77 triumph at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.
“Just talking about it gives me goose bumps,” Berhanemeskel said in a Gee-Gees press release. “Having the chance to play with these guys and experience this is the best feeling I’ve felt in my life.”
uOttawa head coach James Derouin couldn’t have been more pleased for the Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School grad.
“Johnny is a great kid and incredible player,” Derouin stated. “He has given so much to this program and there is no better player to hit that shot than him. I’m so proud of him and this team.”
The Gee-Gees will now enter the March 7-9 CIS Final-8 Tournament at Canadian Tire Centre as the top seeds, but with Carleton occupying the #2 slot, the possibility of the dream final lurks.
Basketball, volleyball & wrestling medals
The Algonquin Thunder women’s basketball team claimed its record fourth consecutive Ontario college championship on March 1, completing an undefeated season against provincial opponents with a 76-65 victory over host Mohawk College. The #3-seeded Thunder now move on to the March 12-15 Canadian championships south of Montreal.
Ottawa native Steve Delayen, a former Tsunami Academy wrestler, won a bronze medal for his Concordia Stingers in the men’s 65 kg category at the Feb. 28-March 1 CIS Championships in New Brunswick.
The Ontario silver-medalist Gee-Gees women’s volleyball team bowed out in the first round of their Feb. 28-March 3 nationals in Regina.