AROUND OUA: deBray Divisional Swimming Championship

Voyageurs successfully defend deBray Division title

The Laurentian Voyageurs men's and women's swim teams were in St. Catharine's this weekend competing in the deBray Divisional Championships at Brock University.

The competition kicked off at 4:30pm on Saturday as the Voyageurs faced off against Brock University, University of Waterloo, Queens University, Wilfrid Laurier University, York University, and Carleton University. The Voyageurs started strong with wins for both the men's and women's 200m freestyle relay teams, with Matthew Schouten, Zach Shalovsky, James Sutherland, and David Ahong competing for the men, while Julie Langlois, Kiana Deland, Riley Konrad and Linda Ferguson competed on the women's side. The men's time of 1:34.09 is a new team record for the Voyageurs.

The day continued to be a victorious one for the Voyageurs as the women's team swept the podium in the 400 IM. Matthew Schouten placed first in the men's 50m Freestyle, qualifying him for his second consecutive CIS championship with a time of 22.89 seconds.

Day two of competition saw Léa Paulus come in second in the women's 200m butterfly with a time of 2:20.65, also qualifying her for the CIS championships. At the end of the weekend, the Voyageurs came out on top with the men placing 2^nd overall and the women defending their Divisional Championship title in 1^st place overall.

The men's and women's swim teams are back in action on Saturday December 5^th as they compete at the Western Invitational.

Source: Laurentian Voyageurs

Warriors capture deBray Divisional Championship

The Warriors swim team had a fantastic weekend of action in St. Catharines at the 2015 deBray Divisional Swim Championships. The men came away with their second consecutive division championship, dominating throughout the weekend finishing 400 points ahead of Laurentian. The women placed 3rd, narrowly behind Queen's and well back of Laurentian. The OUA has been naming their divisions after former coaches and Herb deBray, former Brock coach, was back on deck in his 50th year of coaching to hand out the championship banner. 
 
The women were led by Josie Andres (Thorndale). Josie qualified for the February CIS champs with her 50 fly victory. Andres was able to come back quickly and win the 50 breast as well. Day 1 had Josie finishing 2nd in the 100 fly and 3rd in the 50 free.
 
Other leaders for the women included Frances Heather (Waterloo) who was third in the 100 back with a swift 1:06 swim; Brianna Coens (Kingston) capturing a surprise 3rd in the 100 breast and some outstanding relay swimming. The Andres, Heather, Tamara Shaw (Ottawa) and Meaghen Vydelingum (Toronto) combined to post the 2nd fastest times in Warrior history in both the 200 free and 200 medley relays. Both relays were 2nd behind Laurentian. The final 400 free relay of Vydelingum, Shaw, Linda Wang (Oakville) and Kennedy Fitzgerald (Kincardine) finished 3rd overall to move the team past Laurier in the team standings. 
 
On the men's side there were a trio of team records, a couple of freshmen records, a bunch of wins and overall superior performances. This young team has a senior leader who posted some of the fastest times in the country this year and showed he is prepared to challenge the best at the CIS champs.
 
Graeme Kemp (Waterloo) opened the meet with a team record 4:21.35 400 IM and followed it up with a near record 2:00.8 200 back, a lifetime best 200 IM (2:03.5) and solid 4:03 400 free - all for the win. Add in two big relay swims and Graeme finished the weekend with 6 gold medals and 5 lifetime performances. On the other end of the experience scale Aidan Chow (Gormley) grabbed three wins in the fly events - two with rookie team records (50 and 100 fly). Zao Chen (Ottawa) won a close 200 free race; Brian Dohler (Smithers) won the 100 back but was most excited about his lifetime best 200 swim to finish behind Kemp in 2nd; Jon Ramkissoon won the 100 and 200 breast - the 100 time a PB and narrowly off the team record. Danyon Chu (Unionville) was up against some stiff competition in his main events and came 2nd three different times in the 50, 100 and 200 free. Team records in the relays where Chu, Mitchell Krafczek (Georgetown), Chow and Oscar Elhanafey (Brampton) went 1:36.34 in the 200 free relay; Kemp, Ramkissoon, Chow and Chu combined for a 1:42.67 200 medley relay that ranks in the top 5 nationally. The final 400 free relay of Chen, Kemp, Elhanafey and David Mallett (Kitchener) closed out the meet with a win as well. 
 
The growth of the team and the resiliency of the group through some challenges this fall has been very exciting. Swimming has a lot of demands on the time and energy of all the team members with many early mornings in the pool and days in the gym. To see 65 lifetime best performances spread through the whole team it is a real sign of progress and the strength of the group to use mutual success in lifting individual performances. The Warriors gained momentum through the meet, swimming better on Sunday and growing as a team. A lot of hard work well rewarded. Congratulations to all the Warriors.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Three new Brock records set at deBray Divisional Swimming Championships

Brock University was the host for the first deBray Divisional Swimming Championships, held November 28th-29th. The competition is named in honor of long-time Badger swim coach Herb deBray, now retired, who was inducted into the Swim Ontario Hall of Fame in 2015. Herb was on hand to award the winning team banners on Sunday.

Seven Ontario schools fielded teams in the final competition of the fall. The Divisional Championships serve as a pre-cursor to the OUA Championships in February. Team winners were Laurentian on the Women's side, with Waterloo taking the Men.

Leading the way for the Brock Badgers was perennial standout Rachel Nogard, a third year ConCurrent Education student from Hamilton. Rachel took three gold, in the 100m and 200m Butterfly events as well as the 400m Freestyle; and added a Silver in the 50m Backstroke. Both the 100m Butterfly and 50m Backstroke set new school records. Rachel becomes the first Badger swimmer of the season to qualify for the Canadian University Championships in February 2016.

Incoming first-year swimmer Jessie MacLean of Toronto was also a standout for the host Badgers. Jessie took Silver in the 50m Freestyle and Bronze in the 100m distance. Jessie's 50 time was also a new school record for the Badgers, breaking a record that has stood since 1991.

MacLean and Nogard then combined with Amileigh du Toit 1st year, Oakville) and Caroline Gomba (1st year, Pickering) to collect Silver in the 400 Freestyle Relay to end the competition.

On the Men's side, Curtis Li (3rd year, Oakville) collected Bronze for the Badgers in the 50m Breaststroke.

Also notching top-8 finishes were du Toit, Elise Funk, Brittany Lewis, Sarah Maddock, and Charles Kim.

Source: Brock Badgers

Ravens swimmers deliver strong performance at divisional championship

(ST. CATHARINES, ON) — Led by the breakout swims of rookie sensation Mohamed Aly, Carleton's varsity swim team produced fifteen lifetime best performances this past weekend at the deBray Division Championships held at Brock University in St. Catharines, ON. Though certainly a team effort, it was Aly's 50m backstroke – ranked second on Carleton's all-time top 20 list – that inspired fellow teammates to accomplish their greatest performances yet.

"I was pumped to get in the water and swim fast," said Tristan Ogilvie, the team's most veteran athlete. "The team was awesome," he added. "Way better than I've seen in years!"

Ogilvie, a third-year engineering student at Carleton, had several breakout swims himself – including four lifetime bests, and the first sub 1-minute 100m freestyle of his career.

Other outstanding swims included Courtney Buchanan's 100m freestyle – also a lifetime best, and more than four-seconds faster than she swam earlier this season.

"It feels great after so many years to finally swim that fast again," said Buchanan. "Actually taking time to focus on freestyle and my technique made a huge difference," she added.

With OUAs just ten weeks away, the swimmers will return to the pool this week to begin the process of hard-work that will lead them to the Championships.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Golden Hawks compete at deBray divisionals

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (December 2, 2015) - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks swim teams competed at the deBray Divisional Championships, hosted by the Brock Badgers, this past weekend where the Laurier men finished third in the team standings while the women finished fourth.

In the first major event on the OUA swimming calendar, the Hawks had a number of outstanding individual performances as the two teams combined to win 12 medals at the meet with the men capturing five while the women won seven.

Highlighting the weekend was the performance of third year backstroke specialist Kate Vanderbeek of Hamilton. Vanderbeek won six medals, highlighted by a sweep of the gold medals in all three backstroke events, and met the CIS Championship qualification time in all three distances. In the 50m backstroke, she won gold in a time of 29.49 seconds, captured first place in the 100m in 1:03.75 and swept the distance with a time of 2:18.36 in the 200m.

Vanderbeek also won a silver medal in the 200m individual medley, posting a lifetime best time of 2:23.33.

She rounded out her weekend by picking up two teams medals. As a part of Laurier's 4x100m freestyle relay team, also consisting of Kristen Thompson of Ajax, Ont., Helen Pu of Maple, Ont., and Samantha Lacroix of Toronto, the Hawks finished atop the podium in a time of 3:59.24. Vanderbeek's final medal was a bronze in the 4x50m medley relay as herself, Pu, Lacroix and Sara McLeod of Brampton, Ont., recorded a time of 2:03.62.

Rookie swimmer Bayley Dalbec of Brampton, Ont., also had a strong meet for the women's team as she took home a bronze medal in the 800m freestyle race thanks to a time of 9:28.55.

In the men's competition, Andrew Beaton-Williamson of Southampton, Ont., was Laurier's top performer as he walked away from the event with three medals. The butterfly specialist picked up two individual silver medals finishing second in the 50m with a time of 25.60 and the 100m in 56.78.

Beaton-Williamson added a third medal as a part of Laurier's 4x100m relay team that won bronze. Racing with Tyson MacDonald of Tillsonburg, Ont., Michael Neves of Brampton, Ont., and Chris Caldwell of Brampton, Ont., Beaton-Williamson and the Hawks posted a time of 3:36.68.

Neves also had a strong weekend for Laurier and was the third Hawk to win multiple medals at the event. The second year swimmer took home a bronze in the 200m individual medal thanks to a time of 2:13.44.

The Hawks final medal of the weekend went to rookie Michael Hughes of Toronto, as he won silver in the 400m individual medal after touching the wall in 4:44.83.

Laurier will now be off until the New Year and will resume competition on Sunday, January 10 when they compete in the Guelph Varsity/Club Invitational, hosted by the Guelph Gryphons.

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks