This weekend the Laurentian Voyageurs from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario will be hosting their annual LU Invitational swim meet. They will be competing against the University of Ottawa and the University of Waterloo, just like last year, but this year another team has made the trip up to Sudbury for the two-day affair.
Riley Konrad of the Laurentian Voyageurs exchanges gifts with one of the swimmers from ZUFE
Travelling from Zhejiang, China is the Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics (ZUFE) swim team to compete against the Voyageurs, the Gee-Gees (Ottawa) and the Warriors (Waterloo). This opportunity has arisen because Laurentian and ZUFE have an agreement that was signed in 2012 where students can get a dual Bachelor of Commerce degree, completing two years at ZUFE before coming to Sudbury for two years. They then return to Zhejiang to complete their degree requirements. Upon completion, students receive two bachelor degrees, one from each institution. The Laurentian mens basketball team travelled to China in 2013 and won handedly, so the Chinese are back for revenge in the pool.
The Canadian and Chinese flags both hang at the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool in Sudbury
They may get it, as the Chinese team looks tough to beat on paper. They even have an Olympian on their team, Shi Haoran, who swam at the 2008 Olympics in the 800 freestyle relay. He split 1:49.40 on that relay back then, and will be the top billed swimmer at this meet by far. He will swim the 400 medley relay, 100 freestyle and 800 freestyle relay on Saturday, and the 50 free, 200 free and 400 free relay on Sunday. He is the top seed in the 50 free (22.40) and the 200 free (1:51.00), and is seeded third in the 100 (50.50). Robert Bonomo of Ottawa is the top seed in the 100 free at 50.04. He is also seeded first in the 50 & 100 backstroke and the 50 & 100 butterfly. Overall the Chinese team is fast, which is particularly evident on the mens side in the 50 free, where they have 4 of the top 5 seed times. 
While the men’s side is mostly dominated by Ottawa and ZUFE, the Chinese team is weaker on the female side and the battle within all four teams will be much more wide open.
Nonetheless, it will be a great experience for all swimmers competing to get a taste of some international competition, something that is very rare unless you are a world class talent. The meet will be swum short course metres, a new experience for the Chinese team as they are used to strictly long course metres.
The Voyageurs have already met the ZUFE swimmers on pool deck Friday and exchanged gifts and took pictures. A few of the Voyageurs team captains and coach Phil Parker then had dinner with the ZUFE team Friday night. The schedule for the meet is as follows:
Saturday (5:30pm start time EST) Sunday (10:30 am start time EST)
400 Medley Relay 200 IM
400 Freestyle 100 Backstroke
50 Butterfly 50 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke 800 Freestyle
100 Freestyle 50 Breaststroke
50 Backstroke 200 Freestyle
400 IM 100 Butterfly
800 Freestyle Relay 400 Freestyle Relay
We loves James Sutherland! Go Vees!