The U of T Varsity Blues swimming team bested the McMaster Marauders at a tournament this past Saturday at the Varsity Pool. The women ended with a team score of 98–69, and the men finished with a score of 99–68.

“We did what we needed to do, we won the meet, and it was really exciting to watch the team come together the way we did, and win in our home pool,” said Blues’ Zack Chetrat.

Toronto had a great tournament overall, winning 23 out of 24 races, often finishing with a second spot in the top three, and setting multiple meet records. The Blues even swept the podium in eight races.

Hochan Ryu, Edward Liu, Matthew Meyers, Chris Manning, Ross Bennet, Steven Hibberd, Zack Chetrat, and Brian Lee each finished in first in one race, with Chris Manning and Edward Liu winning two races a piece.

For the women, Kate Lyne and Alexandra Kalman both placed first in one race, while Vanessa Treasure, Sherrey Patel, Jennifer Tapley, and Paige Schultz each earned two top finishes.

“We did better than I expected,” said head coach Byron MacDonald. “We came off a very, very hard training camp down south in Florida… I thought they were going to be pretty tired coming into this meet and yet they swam exceedingly well.

“I was also curious as to how we would swim in this meet, because coming back from the training camp we had about a dozen kids that were stranded all over North America coming home because of the snow storm… nowhere to swim, nowhere to do anything… so I was a little worried that they might be a little rough… but they rose up and they swam really well.”

For the Blues, this win brings them one step closer to their  Ontario University Athletics and Canadian Interuniversity Sport goals.

“From day one we’ve said we want to repeat as national champions on the men’s side,” commented MacDonald. “And for the women, we’re trying to win the provincial title… the women have been third in the country the past couple years, I think they can finish third.”

The Blues’ next meet is January 17 to 19 at the Athletic Centre Varsity Pool for the Swimming Ontario Cup.