The Varsity Blues swimming teams have just begun another strong season as they look to defend their respective championships. Last season, the men’s team won the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships while the women’s team won the OUA championships.

Byron McDonald, last year’s Coach of the Year award winner, is leading the team to another strong season.

The Blues currently sit near the top of the CIS rankings. The men’s team is ranked second and the women’s team ranked third.

So far this season, the teams have competed at events at home and have travelled to Waterloo, Hamilton, and Montreal for meets where both teams have finished first in all meets.

On November 22-23, the Blues competed in the OUA Stratten Divisional Championships in London, Ontario. This event represented the midseason report card for OUA swimmers. This was a chance for the Blues to race against all their Stratten division competitors for the first time this season.

The rest of the OUA competed in the Tihanyi Divisional championships at Wilfred Laurier University. Both men’s and women’s teams swam strongly to claim first place finishes, with top times in 27 of the 38 events.

The teams were led by two freestyle specialists. Rookie Stephen Straszynski led the men’s team with first place finishes in the 200, 400, and 1500 metre freestyle. His 1500 freestyle time of 15:48.05 was the top time by any OUA swimmer in the event this season.

Fourth-year Paige Schultz recorded wins in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle events. Her times in the 100 and 200–metre events topped her times from last year’s OUA championships.

Three men’s swimmers claimed multiple victories. Hochan Ryu won the 200 and 400 IM events, Edward Liu won the 100 and 200 butterfly events and Chris Manning won the 50 freestyle and breaststroke events.

Vanessa Treasure, Kylie Masse, and Bridget Coley contributed to the women’s team victory with top finishes in the IM, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle events.

The strong group of Blues swimmers combined to earn first place results in the relays. The women won three events, and the men won two.

A rare miss in the 400–metre freestyle men’s relay proves the team is human. Both squads racing in the 400 freestyle relays were disqualified for competing out of order and for early takeoffs.

The University of Western Ontario provided the Blues with its closest competition, finishing the meet in second place. Western’s swimmers consistently placed near the Blues’ leaders.

The wins for the Blues are an indication that U of T is the team to beat in the Stratten division. In the Tihanyi division Waterloo University won the men’s event and Laurentian University won the women’s event this year.
The Blues have competed in 5 of their 7 interuniversity meets.

After the holiday break, the Blues will host the Winter Cup in January. This will be their final race before they compete in the OUA championships hosted in Ottawa.

The Blues will then travel to Victoria, British Columbia for the CIS Championships where they will compete against the CIS’s top ranked team University of British Columbia.

The team’s strong group of swimmers and midway results are an indication that the Blues are in the chase for more championships this season.