The men's and women's Guelph Gryphons swimming team both finished ninth in the nation at the 2009 CIS Swimming Championships held at the UBC Aquatic Centre Feb. 19-21.

On the men's side Guelph finished with 127 points. UBC won the title with 689 points, Calgary was second with 661 points and Toronto won the bronze with 404 points and was the highest OUA school. On the women's side the Gryphons finished with 142 points. Calgary's women won (791pts), UBC was second and Toronto finished as the highest OUA school in third with 369 points.

Chantique Payne (Brantford, Ont.) was the top Gryphon earning a national silver medal in the women's 50m butterfly. Her time of 27.74 was just seconds off the gold-place time of 26.87 swam by UQTR's Jennifer Carroll who set a CIS championship record.

Payne also raced to top ten finishes in three other individual events for the Gryphons. She finished sixth in the 50m freestyle final (25.96); seventh in the 100m freestyle final (56.19) and

seventh in the 100m butterfly final ( 1:01.90).

Other notable performances for the Gryphons included the 4 x 100 medley relay teams for both the men and women breaking the all-time Gryphon record. The women's team finished 8^th overall. The team of Chantique Payne, Mairi Cote, Laura Kendall and Alexis Jordan finished with a time of 4:20.85 and beat the Gryphon record set three years ago. On the men's side, the team of Patrick McBride, Matthew Stephenson, Scott Van Doormaal and Jordan Duggan finished the finals in 7^th place with a time of 3:45.55. They broke the Gryphon record set from 1999.

The Guelph women's 400m freestyle relay placed 8th and broke another Gryphon all-time record. The team of Laura Kendall, Chantique Payne, Mairi Cote and Alexis Jordon finished with a time of 3:55.04 .

Championship web site: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/swimming/2009

Full Results: http://www.universitysport.ca/e/championships/swimming/2009/documents/2009-cis-swimming-completeresults.pdf

GRYPHONS ON THE PODIUM
Silver - Chantique Payne, 50m Butterfly – CIS Second Team All-Canadian

INDIVIDUAL HONOURS
Women Swimmer of the year: Annamay Pierse, UBC
Rookie of the year: Erica Morningstar, Calgary
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Erica Morningstar, Calgary
Coach of the year: Mike Blondal, Calgary

Men Swimmer of the year: Colin Russell, Toronto
Rookie of the year: Steven Bielby, McGill
Sprinter's Cup (single winner of both 50 and 100 free): Colin Russell
Coach of the year: Derrick Schoof, UBC

Women's Team Standings:
1. Calgary, 791 points
2. UBC, 566.5
3. Toronto, 369
4. Laval, 295
5. Western Ontario, 255
6. Alberta, 206
7. Dalhousie, 178.5
8. Victoria, 168
9. Guelph, 142
10. Manitoba, 86
11. McMaster, 73.5
12. UQTR, 64
13. Wilfrid Laurier, 48
14. Brock, 42
15. McGill, 32
16. Ottawa, 27
17. Regina, 26
T18. Montreal, 6
T18. Lethbridge, 6
T20. UNB, 4
T20. Laurentian, 4
22. UQAM, 2.5

Men's Team Standings: 1. UBC, 689 points
2. Calgary, 661
3. Toronto, 404
4. Laval, 371.5
5. Montreal, 199
6. Dalhousie, 171
7. Alberta, 155
8. Victoria, 153
9. Guelph, 127
10. Waterloo, 113
11. McGill, 100
12. Western Ontario, 69
13. Ottawa, 63
14. McMaster, 56.5
15. Manitoba, 31
16. Memorial, 14
17. Lethbridge, 9
18. Laurentian, 8
19. Sherbrooke, 7
20. Wilfrid Laurier, 6
21. Regina, 1