AROUND OUA: Eastern Cup

Blues' Masse shines against Olympic competition

Varsity Blues women's swimming star Kylie Masse won all four of her races as the University of Toronto played host to the Eastern Cup, January 15-17, at Varsity Pool.

The sophomore from Windsor and kinesiology major shone in a meet that featured several Olympians and standout swimmers from Eastern Canada.

Masse won the 100 and 200 backstroke as well as the 50 and 100 butterfly.

"Kylie's time in the 100 backstroke was her best time and one of the top 20 in the world, so that's a tremendous swim at this point of the season," said head coach Byron MacDonald. "We just came off a tough training camp so the expectation was the swimmers would need a few more weeks of adjustment to that workload and some more racing to get down to best times. Some are definitely struggling at this meet, but Kylie is setting the bar pretty high with that swim."

Also winning four events was third-year men's standout Hochan Ryu. Ryu claimed the top spot in the 200 and 400 individual medleys (IM), as well as the 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke.

"Hochan is one of the most versatile swimmers in the country and he showed that today." said assistant coach Linda Kiefer.

Canadian Olympians Victoria Poon and Barbara Jardin from Montreal each won a pair of races. Poon won the sprints in the 50 and 100 freestyles and Jardin won the 400 and 800 freestyle events.

2011 PanAm Medallist Ashley MacGregor, also of Montreal, won both the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 2015 Toronto PanAm Silver medallist Evan Van Moerkerke from the University of Guelph was dominant in his wins in the 100 and 200 freestyle races.

"This meet was specifically designed to get all the top swimmers in Eastern Canada together for a racing opportunity a little over two months from the Olympic Trials, ' said MacDonald.

The Blues had several other gold medallists.  Rookie Victoria Wicks continues to impress with her breaststroke speed as she nabbed first place in the 50-metre event. Fifth-year veteran Paige Schultz continues to blaze her freestyle races with a gold in the 200-metre race over Olympian Barbara Jardin.

Third-year swimmer Matt Dans of Ottawa picked up gold in the 50m butterfly, while fellow Varsity Blue Dan Kuiack won both the 50 and 100 backstroke events.

"Some folks don't recover from a major injury but Dan has come back hungrier than ever and its showing in his great swims," said MacDonald.

Finally, alumni Chris Manning picked up gold in the 50 freestyle and incoming recruit Hannah Genrich showed why she was highly sought-after, with a first-place finish in the 200m butterfly.
 
The Blues return to action February 11-13 when they travel to London, Ont., for the 2016 OUA championships.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Mustangs among top finishers at Eastern Cup

TORONTO – Western was well represented this past weekend at the Eastern Cup, which was hosted by the Varsity Blues and featured exceptional swimmers from Eastern Canada as well as several current and future Olympians.
 
Engineer major Gamal Assaad lead the purple and white with a first place finish in the men's 100 butterfly as well as a second place finish in the competitive 200 butterfly event, narrowing trailing behind Toronto's Hochan Ryu.
 
Also placing second in both the women's 50 butterfly and backstroke was veteran standout Paulina Bond. The women's co-captain has put up impressive results so far thus season and is expected continue with this success through the OUA Championship weekend as well as at the CIS Championship.
 
Jake Silverthorn led the Mustangs in the men's 1500 freestyle, taking first place with a clear lead of 10 seconds followed by teammates Ryan Hatch in third place, Alex Paulins in fifth, Alex Bartley in seventh, and Andrew Vallee in ninth out of over 30 competitors. 
 
Matthew Fox and Gordon Barkwell capped off the weekend with third and fourth finishes, respectively, in the men's 100 backstroke.
 
The Mustangs will be back in action on February 11-13 when they host the 2016 OUA Championship at the Western Student Recreation Centre.

Source: Western Mustangs

Van Moerkerke leads the way at 2016 Eastern Cup

TORONTO, ON - This past weekend (January 15-17) several of the Gryphons top varsity swimmers traveled to Toronto to compete at the 2016 Eastern Cup. This event is one of the two major competitions to be held this weekend with the country divided into two regions; Western (provinces Manitoba and West) and Eastern (provinces Ontario and East). This meet also serves as a last chance for varsity swimmers to race in the 50m competition prior to the CIS Championships which will take place February 25-27 at the University of Laval.

Leading the men's team at the 2016 Eastern Cup was fourth year swimmer Evan Van Moerkerke who took a commanding lead in both the 100m and 200m freestyle races, finishing 1^st in both events. In capturing the gold in the 200m freestyle event, Van Moerkerke swam a personal best, lowering his previous time by 2.5 sec. Van Moerkerke also finished 4^th in the 50m freestyle. Eric Trevisan just missed the podium in the 50m butterfly, finishing 4^th. Trevisan also swam in the 50m and 100m freestyle finals, finishing 8^th and 12^th, respectively.

For the women, the Gryphons backstroke specialist Emily Anzai was 6^th in the 50m backstroke and 5^th in the 200m backstroke events. Leili Tilvaldyeva was 9^th in the 50m breaststroke and 16^th in the 100m breaststroke while teammate Julia Veidt was 13^th and 10^th in the 50m and 200m breaststroke events. Distance specialist Stephanie Papadedes was 16^th in the 200m backstroke and 15^th in the 400m individual medley while Tara Mallory was 9^th in the 400m freestyle.

The Gryphons will return to their home pool this coming weekend (January 23) for the Dual Meet in what will be the final event for most of the swimmers prior to the OUA Championships in London February 11-13.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Gee-Gees fall just short of gold at Eastern Cup