Men’s Track and Field

The Varsity Blues men’s track and field team started their season with disappointing finishes at a Cornell tournament, with only James Turner medaling with a gold in pentathalon. At the Can Am Classic, the Blues were more successful, as Michael Trnkus and Sasha Smart placed second and third, respectively, in the men’s 600-metre.

SAM CEN / THE VARSITY

At the Fred Foot Classic, the Blues team continued to improve, as Turner came back with gold once again, Brett Georgevski won the high jump, and Pierce Lepage topped the field in the men’s triple jump. Georgevski then brought home the Blues’ only medal at the McGill team challenge — a bronze in the high jump.

Next came the York Open, which resulted in three silver medal finishes for the Blues including Trnkus in the 600-metre, Zain Ahmed in the 3000-metre, and Nathan Tesfu in the high jump. At the Ohio SPIRE Division Indoor invitational, the squad brought home three medals. Smart broke a U of T record while also winning a bronze medal in the 1000-metre. Smart also finished third in the 800-metre, as Trnkus finished fifth in the men’s 600-metre.

At the Hal Brown meet, Toronto swept the men’s 60-metre with Tim Arbido in first, Raphael Ihunaegbo in second, and Jermaine Davis-Wilson in third. In the men’s 3,000-metre Alex Denault took home silver, as Jam He finished third in the 60-metre hurdles. The Blues’ 4×400-metre relay team finished first, and Jason Wurster won gold in men’s pole vault. Brett Georgievski finished first and Tesfu third in the high jump.

At the OUA championship, Turner won the men’s pentathlon, while Trnkus finished third in the 600-metre. Georgevski finished second in high jump, as the men’s team finished sixth overall.

At the CIS championships, Turnus had a disappointing finish and was not able to make the podium in the men’s pentathlon. Georgevski finished fourth in the high jump, while the 4×800 relay team of Smart, Trnkus, Ethan Davenport and Connor Outhit claimed bronze for Toronto. Townsend Benard won the bronze in the pole vault, and Trnkus finished third in the 600-metre.

Women’s Field Hockey

The Blues women’s field hockey team had a very successful regular season, with a perfect 12–0 in conference play.

BERNARDA GOSPIC / THE VARSITY

The Blues entered the OUA championship in first place, and faced the University of Waterloo Warriors in the OUA semi-finals. The Blues defeated the Warriors 4–0 to move on to the finals against Guelph, a team that they have met six times in the OUA finals since 2005, with the teams splitting the series. This time, after a tie to end the first half, the Blues pulled away in the second, and came away victorious, with a 5–2 win. It was the second year in a row that the Blues took home the title. Defender Kaelan Watson and midfielders Tegan Stairs and Amanda Woodcroft were named OUA all-stars.

The Blues moved on to the CIS playoffs, which were hosted by U of T. The Blues headed into the tournament in second place, with the ubc Thunderbirds in first. The top two teams faced off in the first CIS round-robin game, with the Blues leading as the game wound down. However, the Thunderbirds were able to score in the final minutes, ending the game in a tie.

U of T was more successful in their second round-robin match against the Western Mustangs, winning 6–0, with five different Blues players marking goals. The team had already beat the Mustangs twice during the regular season, winning both of those games.

The third Blues game of the CIS tournament was against the Guelph Gryphons, who the Blues had beaten in the OUA finals the preceding weekend. Despite this win, and two other wins against the Gryphons during the regular season, Guelph was able to defeat the Blues, in a 3–2 upset.

BERNARDA GOSPIC / THE VARSITY

In their final CIS round-robin game, the Blues defeated the Victoria Vikes 1–0, ensuring their place in the CIS championship game against the top ranked ubc Thunderbirds. Unfortunately, although the Blues fought hard in the match, they couldn’t defeat the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds took the game 3–0, ending their season undefeated.

Although the Blues ended their season with a loss, they brought home the CIS silver medal. Midfielder Stairs was named a CIS second team all-star, as fellow midfielder Woodcroft and defender Watson were named CIS first team all-stars.

Women’s Swimming

The Varsity Blues women’s swim team had success this year, placing first in five swim meets, and second in two.

U of T hosted the OUA championships, and the home pool advantage seemed to give the Blues an edge. The 2012 OUA Female Swimmer of the Year, Vanessa Treasure, broke the OUA record, which she set herself in 2011, in the 200-metre im preliminaries, and went on to place second in the race, while teammate Margot Cunningham took bronze. Andrea Jurneovskis captured first place in the 100-metre back stroke, as former OUA Female Rookie of the Year Bridget Coley won gold in the 400-metre freestyle. Cunningham took third in the 200-metre backstroke, while Treasure took second in the 100-metre breaststroke. Bridget Coley won gold in the 800-metre freestyle, while Esther Haines took bronze in the event. The women’s 400-metre medley relay ended with U of T in second place, and the 200-metre medley relay gave the women another medal, this time, gold. Coley and Jennifer Tapley won silver and bronze respectively in the 200-metre freestyle, Alexandra Kalman finished third in the 50-metre breaststroke, and Jurneovskis won silver in the 50-metre breaststroke. Treasure took home another medal, this one gold, in the 400-metre im. Treasure was also awarded the women’s 2013 Dr. Jeno Tihanya Awards for Individual Medley Excellence. Blues swimmer Jurneovskis was also honored, winning a Graduating Athlete Award of Distinction. The women finished second overall.

At the CIS tournament, Jurenovskis won a bronze in the 50-metre backstroke, as Treasure claimed silver in the 400m im. Treasure also placed second in the 200-metre butterfly. U of T’s 4×200 freestyle relay team, took home the bronze, as Coley won the U of T women’s final medal of the tournament, a bronze in the 800-metre freestyle. The women won the team bronze for the second year in a row.

Women’s Hockey

The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team ended their season with a 15–11–0 record, seated in fifth place in the OUA despite losing their final game of the regular season 3–2 in overtime against Brock University.  In their 26 regular-season games, the team had a total of 65 goals. Leading the scoreboard for the team was fourth–year Kelly O’Hanlon with 12 goals and 15 assists, for a total of 27 points.

The Blues advanced to the quarter-finals of the OUA on the basis of that record, but fell to the Western Mustangs in two games. Despite this early defeat, the team competed in the CIS championships as hosts.

The team opened the CIS Women’s Hockey Championships with a 1–0 loss to Montreal in game one before rebounding with a 5–4 shootout victory over ubc.  The women ultimately fell short of bronze in game three against St.FX in a 3–2 overtime defeat.

Both teams were scoreless in the first period, until the second period, when U of T forward Amanda Ricker opened up the scoring. By the end of the period, St.FX came back to score, tying the game. Early in the third period, St.FX took the lead by scoring on a power play, when Rebecca Danford was given a penalty for body checking. Late in the third period, forward Sonja Weidenfelder evened the score to take the game into overtime. The X-Women won the game on an overtime power play goal in the first seven minutes. Blues goaltender Nicole Kestersis had an impressive 27–save performance. Toronto native Sonja Weidenfelder was the top scorer of the match, and was named Player of the Game.

BERNARDA GOSPIC / THE VARSITY

Men’s Swimming

The Blues men’s swimming team had an amazing season, triumphing at both the OUA and CIS championships.

U of T’s men led the three-day OUA Championships from start to finish, with a combined team score of 891 points. On day one of the meet, Blues swimmers broke a number of records. Zack Chetrat broke the record previously held by teammate Frank Despond in 2012 (3:48.63), in the Men’s 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:47.87. Chetrat then broke his own record in the 200-metre butterfly, shaving off almost three seconds for a new time of 1:56.34.  The men’s 4×800-metre freestyle relay team consisting of Chetrat, Despond, David Riley and Kent Kikot, broke the record in a time of 7:23.84.

Day two saw the Blues keep their lead. Record times continued to be broken, bringing in six more records including Mike Smerek breaking a 2004 record (24.83) in the 50-metre butterfly with a time of 23.86. Olympian Luke Hall helped his team of Matthew Myers, David Riley and Edward Liu in the 4×400-medley relay to win gold with a time of 3:43.28. The Varsity Blues won their tenth consecutive OUA championship in men’s swimming.

At the CIS championships, the Blues sat third with 163 points after day one of the meet. Jeremie Holdom came from behind in the 400-metre individual medley event to place second overall. The men’s team consisting of Smerek, Lee, Hall and Myers finished the day with a bronze-medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay.

After day two, the Blues sat in first place with 395 points, ahead of ubc, the defending champions. Smerek opened the day swith U of T’s first gold medal of the meet in the 50-metre butterfly. Despond continued winning gold medals for the team, with a two second margin of victory in the 400-metre freestyle.

Heading into the final relay of the night, Chetrat, the OUA male swimmer of the year, helped the Blues move 27 points ahead of ubc by placing fourth in the 1500-metre freestyle. Although ubc won the final 4×100-metre relay event, the Blues team of Chetrat, Riley, Myers and Lee placing fifth, earning them enough points to win the title and bring the trophy home to Toronto.

Women’s track and field

The Varsity Blues women’s track and field team finished their season as OUA and CIS silver medalists.

SAM CEN / THE VARSITY

At the end of day one of the OUA championships, the Blues sat in third place with 68 points. Rachel Jewett won her second consecutive pentathlon title to kick off the meet, with the Blues coming first in the 800-metre, third in the 60-metre hurdles, third in shot put, and tied for fourth in high jump. Toronto’s Alicia Brown and 2012 Olympian Sarah Wells finished first and second in the women’s 300-metres respectively. Individual podium finishes included Hayley Warren with a silver medal in the 60-metre hurdles and Rosa Serafini,who placed third in the 1000-metre race.

The Blues finished the OUA championship in second place with 147 points, placing them just one point behind the tournament champions, the Guelph Gryphons. For the second consecutive year, Natalie Geiger, Wells, Jewett, and Brown won gold in the 4×400-metre relay, crossing the finish line at 3:42.21. The team added seven more medals by the end of the tournament, including 300-metre silver and 600-metre gold for Wells, 600-metre silver for Gieger, and gold for rookie Khamica Bingham in the 60-metre sprint.

The silver medal win meant that the team regained their number one CIS ranking going into the CIS championships, with 104.5 points. On day one of the championships, Toronto sat in second place with 21 points, just five points behind Calgary. Bingham earned the gold medal in the 60-metre sprint, while Jewett won the bronze medal in the pentathlon. After day two, the team had 68 points, placing them second, just eight points Calgary in behind first-place. Individual medal winners included Brown, placing first in the 300-metre race and Wells placing second, as well as the 4×800-metre relay team of Serafini, Jewett, and the Hennessys earning silver. The Blues finished second overall, just 3.5 points shy of the champions, the Calgary Dinos.