First Inductees Selected to Gee-Gees Swimming Hall of Fame
The first class of inductees to the Gee-Gees Swimming Hall of Fame will feature five athletes and two builders, all of whom left a lasting impact on the program.
Louis David Bonneau, Eryn Weldon, Montana Champagne, Delphine Vandal, and Davide Casarin are the first athletes to enter the Hall of Fame, alongside Dr. Fouad Kamal who coached the team from 1972 to 1975, and Stephen Partridge who was head coach from 1997 to 1999 following his career as a student-athlete.
The inaugural induction class will be celebrated at the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony November 8, on campus at the University of Ottawa. Event details will follow, please check the Gee-Gees tickets website for updates.
Thank you to all those who provided nominations for the Hall of Fame. The next induction class for swimming will be selected in 2030.
Inductee Profiles:
Louis David Bonneau (1999-2004)
Louis David Bonneau of Hull, Que., won three national medals during his five years as a Gee-Gee. He was named the uOttawa Athlete of the Year in 2003-04 after winning a silver medal in the 200 metre freestyle and a bronze medal in the 100 metre freestyle at the CIS National Championships. He added a fourth place finish in the 100 metre backstroke at the 2004 nationals; he was a three-time OUA gold medallist in that event.
As a Gee-Gees rookie, Bonneau captured a national bronze medal in the 100m freestyle, also finishing fourth in the 200m freestyle. An electrical engineering student during his swimming career, Bonneau later earned a Master's in Business Administration from uOttawa. He ranks fourth in team history with a career total of five conference gold medals, and sixth among men's swimmers in overall conference medals with a total of 14.
Eryn Weldon (2010-2015)
Eryn Weldon set ten team records during her career, and seven of them remain standing as the top times in program history. She was named Team MVP four times in her career and holds the women's team record with 20 conference medals. She captured five OUA medals in both 2011-12 and 2013-14, and was named the OUA's Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Individual Medley Excellence Award recipient in 2012-13.
A medley swimmer and strong breaststroker, she reached the A Final of an event at the national championships 12 times, placing fourth in the 200 individual medley (IM) in 2014. She added fifth place finishes at nationals in the 400 IM in both 2014 and 2015. Weldon, who came to uOttawa from Moncton, N.B., earned a degree in Human Kinetics from uOttawa before completing a Master's in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto.
Montana Champagne (2014-2019)
Montana Champagne was the first Gee-Gee swimmer to establish a U SPORTS national record and the first Gee-Gees men's swimmer to win multiple national gold medals. He would finish his career with four national gold medals: winning the 400 metre IM in both 2017 and 2019, as well as the 200m butterfly in 2018 and the 200 IM in 2019 (establishing a U SPORTS record which remains intact).
The Ottawa native's breakthrough season at nationals was the 2016-17 season which saw him claim silver medals in the 200 fly and 200 IM alongside his first national gold in the 400 IM. Champagne also won the OUA's Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Individual Medley Excellence Award in 2016-17, and again in 2017-18. He added two national bronze medals in 2018 and represented Canada at the 2019 Summer World University Games.
His career total of 20 conference medals, including eight gold medals, is second in men's team history and he retains five team records. When he graduated with a degree in Human Resources Management Champagne's national medal total of eight was the most by a Gee-Gee swimmer and now ranks third. Champagne also helped lift the team onto the OUA podium with a bronze medal placing in 2017, followed by RSEQ conference bronze medals in 2018 and 2019. He was selected as uOttawa's Athlete of the Year for 2016-17.
Delphine Vandal (2015-2020)
Delphine Vandal was named Team MVP three times and the distance freestyle specialist from Shelburne, Vermont, currently holds seven team records. She is one of just two women's swimmers in team history to twice win five conference medals in a single season, which she accomplished in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
She captured the RSEQ gold medal in the 800m freestyle in 2019 and the 400m freestyle in 2020, as well as a gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay in 2020. Vandal's total of 14 conference medals in her career ranks her tied for second in women's team history.
At nationals Vandal swam in seven A finals, notably placing fourth in the 800 free in 2019 and fifth in both the 400m and 800m free in 2020. 2020 was the best-ever finish at nationals for the women's team (6th), and Vandal's five-medal performance at the RSEQ Championships in 2019 helped lift the team into second place overall. Vandal earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication and Sociology and then a Master's in Organizational Communication from uOttawa.
Davide Casarin (2017-2020)
In just three seasons, Davide Casarin became the Gee-Gees' most decorated swimmer at the national level, capturing 11 national event medals. Casarin, from Mirano, Italy, set the U SPORTS record in the 200m butterfly at the 2019 championships, and still holds the 1500m freestyle U SPORTS record he set in 2020. At the conference level, he became the first Gee-Gee to win six gold medals in a single season and his career total of 13 conference gold medals ranks first in team history.
His five medals at the 2019-20 U SPORTS national championships set a program record, as he added a second-straight gold medal in the 400 freestyle to his 1500m triumph and won silver in the 100 and 200m freestyle events and bronze in the 4x200 freestyle. In 2019, he won two gold and two silver medals at nationals.
A three-time conference Swimmer of the Year he was also named the uOttawa Athlete of the Year twice. He still holds thirteen team records, and graduated from uOttawa with a Master's in Public and International Affairs.
Dr. Fouad Kamal (1972-1975)
Dr. Fouad Kamal was an Associate Professor in the School of Human Kinetics for twenty-three years, starting in 1970 when he was recruited to uOttawa from McGill where he had served as the swimming coach since 1966. The University of Ottawa was planning its new Physical Education complex, Montpetit Hall, and when it opened in 1972 Kamal was the Gee-Gees varsity swimming coach.
He had won the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) championship with McGill in 1971-72, coaching that team part-time and commuting back and forth between Montreal and Ottawa as he worked to put the finishing touches on Montpetit Hall and waited to start up his own program at uOttawa.
The Gee-Gees men's team made their debut at the CIAU National Championships in that 1972-73 season, scoring 41 points and including John Duncan's gold medal in the 200 yard freestyle.
Duncan was one of three national medallists coached by Kamal at uOttawa, in addition to the 1975 men's medley relay team winning silver. The three-year total of nine national medals under Kamal ranks him second in program history.
As coach, Kamal balanced technical advancements and scientific knowledge with developing a sense of team and complete student-athlete experiences.
Kamal was an assistant coach of the Egyptian National Team before immigrating to Canada and led the Canadian team at the 1973 Summer World University Games, guiding the team to a third place finish. Later in life, he would compete internationally at the 2019 World Masters Championships where he placed third in the 200m freestyle, 85 and over category.
"In the three years that Fouad coached, many top eight finishers benefitted from his excellent coaching and guidance, as did many other swimmers. He was the most influential and best coach I had." – Ken Ekstrand, nominator.
"Fouad Kamal acted daily to promote a friendly climate, good morale and cooperation. He set a good example as a coach and communicated his excitement to us as an innovator when he introduced cross-training to develop transferable skills, strength and endurance. Fouad was a role model for me and I have employed those lessons learned from him throughout my life." – William Crate, nominator.
Stephen Partridge (1997-1999)
Following his time as a Gee-Gee student-athlete which spanned the 1993-1997 seasons and included two Team MVP awards, Partridge served as head coach of the team for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
He may have continued in the role longer had he not made a transformational decision for the program to enter into a formal partnership with the Gloucester-Ottawa Kingfish swimming club. This partnership meant the University had funding for a paid coaching position and an expanded organizational structure, while the club had consistent access to the uOttawa pool. This agreement was vital in reviving the Gee-Gees swimming program's competition level and began the rise to the national level performances of the 2000s.
Another key administrative contribution during Partridge's tenure as head coach was the establishment of summer kids camps as a revenue source for Gee-Gees varsity teams. This funding proved essential as the Gee-Gees swimming program navigated its way to maintaining varsity status - a pressing issue for the team at the time.
Notable athletes on the Gee-Gees team during Partridge's seasons as coach included four-time Paralympian and three-time World Champion Andrew Haley as he pursued his Master's at uOttawa; he would go on to set a world record in 2002. The teams also featured International Triathlon Union athletes Geneviève Pellerin, Jamie Stephenson, and Mike Greenberg.
As a key advocate for the swimming program during a period of uncertainty, Stephen Partridge's combination of performance and dedication made a difference which set the program up for its national successes to follow.