The 2013 Ontario Cup was held at the Varsity pool this past weekend with Blues swimmers competing strongly and coming out on top against fierce club competition.
“The meet being at U of T rather than elsewhere makes it a more comfortable race environment,” explained Troy MacDonald, who swam in the 50m fly, 100m fly, and 50m free. “We’re used to the blocks, walls, and general feel of the pool which can be very advantageous as other swimmers from other schools may misjudge these things.
“The general atmosphere is usually pretty good, you get close friends and family that often show up which adds to the comfortable environment.”
The Cup marked U of T’s first multi-club swim meet since returning from a 10-day training camp in Barbados.
“During the winter break we had a training camp in Barbados for roughly two weeks where we did a combination of weights, swimming, and dry land. We do these sort of training camps every year and they always seem to help boost team moral and fitness,” said MacDonald.
Taylor Bond also commented on the feeling of team bonding. “Training camps provide a great opportunity to build team spirit,” he said. “We come back from the holidays much closer. There has been a great vibe on the team lately and people are swimming fast, and excited for the meets to come.”
“It’s great being able to get away from all the distractions and just focus on training for 10 straight days,” fellow swimmer Brian Lee concluded.
Andrea Jurenovskis also noted, “It sounds like a vacation, but it is very hard work. The sun and sand take a backseat to training, napping and working off those wonderful home cooked Christmas meals.”
The Ontario Cup commenced this past Friday with the women’s 800m freestyle and the men’s 1,500m freestyle. The Blues started off strong, Bridget Coley finishing the former event with a time of 8:42.67, followed by two swimmers from the Toronto Swim Club. Just narrowly missing a podium standing was Blues’ rookie Esther Haines coming in at just under nine minutes. Coley dominated the event from the start, leading from beginning to end. The results mirror her strong performance in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships last year, where she received four medals, and at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships, where she placed fifth, eighth, and tenth in her three races.
Saturday morning, the competition was in full–swing with 12 events, and the Blues did not disappoint a gallery filled with friends, family, and fans.
U of T also controlled the men’s 200m freestyle. Blues Frank Despond placed first with a time of 1:49.67, followed by teammates Zack Chetrat and Matthew Myers, who finished second and third respectively, and Kikot Kent and Taylor Bond, who placed seventh and twelfth respectively.
In the men’s 50m butterfly, U of T put up impressive times, all beating the time of former Olympian, Blake Worsely. Mike Smerek was top of the podium with a time of 24.23s, followed by fellow Blues Edward Liu, and Zack Chetrat, who all placed above Worsely. Close behind were two other U of T swimmers, Brian Lee and Troy MacDonald, who finished sixth and seventh respectively. Smerek also beat Worsely in the men’s 50m backstroke, placing first in the competition with Worsely finishing second.
Smerek, one of the Blues’ veteran swimmers, has finished first in the 50m fly in the oua championships since 2009 and in the cis championships for the past two seasons. He has also put up incredible performances in the 100m and 200m fly, consistently placing higher than seventh in the two events in the oua and cis championships.
“It was a great swim for me, but it’s important to realize that Blake made the Olympics in the 200m freestyle. It’s an off event for both of us and off events are always fun to compete in as we sometimes get too focused on our main events,” Smerek explained, noting that he lost to Worsely on Saturday night in the 100m freestyle.
The women’s swim team came to life in the 50m backstroke where Andrea Jurenovskis placed first, beating the runner–up from Western University, Jennifer Trung, by over a second. U of T’s Margot Cunningham finished ninth in what proved to be a tight race, only 1.26 seconds behind her teammate Jurenovskis.
Jurenovskis has finished between first and sixth place in four consecutive years in the 50m back, 50m fly, 200m back, 100m back, 50m free, and 200m free in the oua and cis championships, consistently proving that she deserved the recognition she received as oua female swimmer of the year in 2011.
This weekend, she also finished second in the women’s 100m freestyle, trailing Chantique Payne, the winner, by 0.92 of a second. Sunday morning, Jurenovskis won the women’s 100m backstroke event, with teammate Cunningham finishing third, less than one second behind her.
Jurenovskis explained, “The Ontario Cup for us is just another stepping stone toward our ultimate goal of winning the Provincial University Championships (OUA), which will be held here at U of T, but more importantly this is all in preparation for the National University Championships (CIS) which will be in Calgary. We have some high expectations for that meet with several reigning cis champions hoping to defend their titles.”
In the women’s 40m individual medley, Vanessa Treasure — a Varsity Blues female athlete of the week in December — finished far ahead of her opponents with a time of 4:41.14, over six seconds faster than Samantha Stratford from gmac who finished in second place. Blues rookie Esther Haines,f finished fourth in the event, just over 12 seconds behind her teammate.
Treasure has proven herself to be a strong leader and competitor for the Blues. This season, she has been named athlete of the week once in December, after receiving the same recognition last year, as well as oua weekly honours, which she has been awarded twice. She swept the individual medley events at the oua championships last year, earning her the Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Award and OUA female swimmer of the year, before finishing first in the 200m and 400m im competitions in last year’s CIS championship. This weekend, she also finished first in the women’s 200m butterfly, finishing almost seven seconds before Emma Spourle, Western’s runner up. She also placed second in the women’s 200m IM.
In the men’s 400m IM, Blues’ swimmers David Riley and Jeremie Holdom earned the top two seeds with Holdom finishing just .03 of a millisecond behind Riley, who also placed third in the men’s 200m backstroke later in the day. Holdom also placed fourth in the men’s 200m IM.
JAMIE MACDONALD/VARSITY BLUES
Zack Chetrat, the 22 year-old Blues competitor, finished first with a time of 53.26s in the men’s 100m butterfly, which the Blues dominated. In second was Smerek, then Liu and Summerhayes who finished third and fourth with Kikot and MacDonald rounding out the results finishing sixth and eighth respectively. The Blues were then able to claim six of the 10 top spots in the event, with Western claiming three of the others.
The Blues host the OUA championships at the Varsity pool in February, before heading to Calgary for the CIS championships.
Blues swimmer David Dorian is excited to compete at home. “This is really getting us geared up for the OUA championships which we are holding here in three weeks. The atmosphere there will be electric without a doubt.”
Another advantage of swimming at home, as Alexandra Augello, who swam in the 50m and 100m butterfly this weekend, pointed out, is, “being able to sleep in your own bed rather than hotel beds.”
