The summer is now autumn. Classes have begun on campus, and so has a new season of competition for the defending Ontario University Athletics (OUA) champion Blues swim teams.
To prepare for the year, the team held their traditional Blue and White Meet this past Saturday. This event is a team-building exercise that the squads take part in at the beginning of each season in order to get back into racing form and bond.
The meet operates similarly to a scrimmage: instead of racing against another university, the whole group is divided in two and they swim against each other, one half as the blue team, the other as the white. The meet is made up of non-traditional events, such as the plunge for distance, 50m kick for time, and an assortment of random relays.
It is a great opportunity to get in some racing experience, have some fun, and build a strong team dynamic for the upcoming year.
The Blues have high hopes for this season. They came to the meet with mounds of energy, and a winning attitude.
“I’m really excited for the year,” said Scott Briggs, this year’s co-captain. “The team is looking really good, we’ve got a lot of new rookies and a strong team, and we’re going to swim fast.”
The Blues are coming off OUA Championship seasons, and they both also had great respective showings at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships.
The men’s fourth-place finish at the championship last year left them just short of the podium, and they are hungry to meet this accomplishment and surpass it.
“As far as the men’s team is concerned, we’re out to do what we did last year,” remarked men’s co-captain Ian McLeod. “[We need to] continue to be at the same level, challenge for the OUA title, and try to go for top three at Nationals.”
At last year’s CIS Championships, the women’s squad landed a bronze medal after some incredibly hard work. They were outdone by only the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Calgary.
This season, the women are setting out to outdo their national rivals at the national finals.
“[The women’s team goal at the 2006 CIS Championships] is to beat Calgary and to scare UBC,” women’s co-captain Dale Colman stated after the meet. “It will take everyone having the meet of her life to do it.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams are built on a solid foundation of returning veterans, who have the skills and resumes to give this team the confidence it needs to succeed. For McLeod and Marcia Bryon, the co-captains of the men and women’s squads respectively, they look to use their combined seven individual medals from the 2005 OUA Championships as leverage and motivation for their team.
The Blues will also look to Olympian Terrence Haynes and decorated swimmer Jen Porenta for clutch performances during the season.
U of T’s swim teams set out for Montreal this Saturday to kick off their seasons. Their first official meet of the season takes place against McGill that morning. Go to www.varsityblues.ca for more information about upcoming events and team rosters.
