Jess Craig silver in 200m CIS backstroke

Picton's Jess Craig graces the cover of the 2011 Swimming Championships program and posters for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport games Feb. 24-26 at the University of Calgary.

UPDATE MONDAY: Canadian Interuniversity Sport silver medalist Jess Craig will attend the 2010-11 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series meet at Indianapolis next week. The series – which includes the likes of U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps – makes seven stops across the nation. Each event showcases some of the top swimmers in the world as well as the next generation of swimming stars.

UPDATE SUNDAY: “Last night was just crazy,” reports Larry Craig. “Those student swimmers/athletes really know how to make noise. Felt like Guns ‘n Roses all over again. Anyway, Jess won silver in the 200 meter backstroke and was selected All Canadian. The University of Calgary won the women’s and men’s titles. And Jess’ picture wound up on the promotional poster for the meet.”

UPDATE SATURDAY: “Last night’s finals were noisy and exciting,” reports Jessika’s dad, Larry Craig. “The University of Calgary Women’s team extended its point lead over rival University of British Columbia to over 165 points.
“Jess swam in the 100 meter backsroke final and placed sixth overall. She was happy with her time/team points, and it puts her in a good mind set for the 200 meter backstroke.
“This morning she swam the fastest time for the preliminaries for the 200 meter backstroke. I’m thinking that she’ll have to swim faster for tonight’s final.”

FRIDAY: Picton’s Jessika Craig is competing for Canadian Interuniversity Sport titles this weekend and her University of Calgary Dinos swim team hopes home field will be an advantage. Gold medalists earn the right to compete in August at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.
“Jess swam well today even though she doesn’t swim the sprints as well as the shorter more tightly wound swimmers,” Dad Larry says. “In the 50 meter backstroke Jess placed 6th and swam a personal best time (fastest time for that distance). After the first day of competition the University of Calgary Women’s team is in first place by 50 points over rival University of British Columbia. In the morning preliminary for the 100 meter backstroke Jess placed fourth overall and hopes to improve in tonights final to walk away with a medal. The 200 back is tomorrow. She should final for all backstroke events (50, 100, 200 meters).”
All finals start at 6p.m. Western time which puts it at 8p.m. Eastern time. The best web-site of the three covering this event is www.godinos.com . Once on the cover page, look for the calendar on the right side of the screen and under the calendar click on result/live feed.”

Jessika Craig, of Picton

Craig won two gold medals (200 and 100 meter backstroke) – the 100 meter race by 1/100th of a second – at the 2011 Canada West Swimming Championships last month.
The three-day CIS meet got under way Thursday at the U of C Aquatic Centre. The event also kicks off the CIS winter championship season.
A year ago in Toronto, the Dinos swept the CIS women’s and men’s team banners for the very first time. It marked a second straight triumph – and the second in history – for the U of C women, while the men were crowned for the second time in three years.
Highlighting the Calgary lineup for the third season is 2008 Olympian Erica Morningstar – one of five Olympians competing in the U of C pool this week along with Ryan Cochrane, Stephanie Horner, Savannah King and Luke Hall.
The CIS championships will serve as a selection event for the World University Games. All individual gold medalists at this week’s CIS meet will automatically earn an invitation to represent Canada in August at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca
Championship website (live results for all sessions and video webcast of finals): english.cis-sic.ca/championships/swim

Live stats, video: http://www.godinos.com/schedule.aspx?path=swim&tab=swimming