For the tenth year in a row, the Varsity Blues’ men’s swim team brought home the OUA team championship title, with the women taking second.
“It’s always great to win,” said men’s head coach and OUA coach of the year, Byron MacDonald. ”[And the women’s team] swum above and beyond what they were [expected to].”
Having won multiple medals in the first two days of the meet, the Blues were looking to continue their success on the final day of the OUA competition.
On their first event of day,Toronto brought home gold as both the men and women won their 200-metre medley relay, with the men setting a new OUA record.
The Blues continued to perform at a high level, winning at least one medal in nine out of 10 individual events. Toronto’s Bridget Coley and Jennifer Tapley took home silver and bronze in the women’s 200m freestyle with Blues’ Frank Despond and Matthew Myers finishing first and second in the men’s race. Meyers would later add to his medal count with a silver in the 50-metre backstroke.
Next, Alexandra Kalman won bronze in the 50-metre breaststroke with Brian Lee finishing third in the men’s race. Andrea Jurenovskis ended the 50-metre backstroke in second place, followed by an Edward Liu gold and Mike Smerek bronze in the 200-metre fly, with Liu setting a new OUA record.
In the final individual events, Vanessa Treasure and Jeremie Holdom both took home fist place in their respective 400-metre IM races. The two would later be given 2013 Dr. Jeno Tihanya Awards for Individual Medley Excellence.
“It was actually such a big shock,” said Treasure, “I thought that you had to win both the IMs, and last night I got just out-touched in the 200 [but I won] because I scored the highest points. It feels good.”
The OUA meet ended with a bang for Toronto, as the men’s team, made up of swimmers Edward Liu, Brian Lee, Matthew Myers, and Cameron Bailey, won the 4×100 freestyle.
“My favorite moment of the day was the 4×100 freestyle relay,” said Coach MacDonald. “It’s always an incredibly exciting relay, it finishes the meet always with a burst of energyand we won it very convincingly and handily.”
Blues swimmers took home several honours as Zach Chetrat was named men’s swimmer of the year, and Andrea Jurenovskis and Mike Smerek took home Graduating Athlete Awards of Distinction.
For Jurenovskis the moment was “bittersweet.”
“We haven’t won a championship in my five years although we’ve always been very close. Ending with the men’s relay winning by a huge margin, their victories are ours, so it was really special to end on that kind of note. To have a couple more golds under my belt was definitely icing on the cake.”
However, continued Jurenovskis, “I’ve got to say that just being part of the women’s team has been my favorite memory of my university career.”
The many Blues swimmers, including the entire men’s team, continuing to the CIS championship, are working to stay focused as they continue with their season.
“The difficulty of this Ontario championships is that while it’s a very, very important meet for us, and we’re glad to win it, our goal is always to win the national championship,” explained Coach MacDonald. “What we can’t do is pat ourselves on the back too hard and relax too much after this meet, because we, in 10 days, have to try to go out and win the national championship.”
The Blues men’s team, who finished second in Canada last year, has high expectations for the CIS competition. “The team championship I think is very doable,” commented swimmer Matthew Meyers. “It’s taper time, so lots of rest, eating well. This is my favorite part of the year, I’m excited.”
