Varsity Blues win 2016 Fairweather Division Championships

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's and women's swimming teams won division titles as the 2016 Fairweather championships wrapped up Sunday afternoon (Nov. 27) in Guelph.
 
Toronto's men ended the two-day meet with a combined team score of 1069.5 points, ahead of Western (704), Ottawa (558.5), McMaster (521) and Guelph (397).
 
The Blues women finished with 1066 points ahead of Western (620.5), Guelph (620), McMaster (461) and Ottawa (460.5).

U of T added five more qualifiers for the 2017 U Sports national championships in February. 

"Very few teams reach the max complement so this is nice to set the bar that high this early in the season," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "We head into the exam period with good momentum."
 
Leading Toronto's women on Day 2 was team co-captain Cino Ling. Ling won the 200 IM (2:20.63) and 200 breaststroke events (2:34.46), with Rachel Parsons placing third in the 200 breaststroke in 2:35.74.
 
Rookie standout Sophia Saroukian continued her winning ways, touching the wall first in the 400 freestyle in a time of 4:16.61. Teammate Victoria Radounski finished second in 4:19.93.
 
Toronto's women swept the 200 butterfly race, with Melanie McDonald touching the wall first in 2:17.83, followed by Sophie Du Plessis (2:19.36) and Jess Yu (2:20.63).
 
Other solo victories were won by 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Kylie Masse in the 100 backstroke (56.87), Olivia Sbaraglia in the 100 freestyle (56.61), Rachel Rodé in the 50 butterfly (27.33) and Lea Zila in the 50 breaststroke (32.90).
 
Heather Lam, Parsons, Jess Yu and Rodé also won the 200 medley relay in 1:55.75.
 
On the men's side, team co-captain Eli Wall led the Blues, winning the 200 breaststroke (2:15.25) and 50 breaststroke (28.40) events.
 
U of T swept the men's 100 backstroke as Daniel Kuiack touched first in the 55.26 seconds, followed by Matthew Mac (55.88) and Keith Eriks (56.52).
 
Veterans Matt Dans and Edward Liu finished 1-2 in the men's 50 butterfly in 24.37 and 25.06 seconds, respectively, while Michael Sinila took the top spot in the 200 butterfly (2:03.67). Ian MacKinnon wrapped up the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle in 3:56.30.  
 
Kuiack, Wall, Liu and Will Morley won the 200 medley relay in 1:43.10, while Mac, Sinila, Kuiack and Mitch Ferraro took the top spot in the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:23.59.

"The key now is the swimmers can't throw all of this training away," added MacDonald. "They need to continue through exams until close to Christmas and then we resume full tilt December 28th with a training camp in the sunshine in Barbados."
 
The Varsity Blues return to action in the New Year as they host the Western Mustangs in dual-meet action on Saturday, January 14.
 
The University of Toronto is the proud host of the 2017 OUA Swimming Championships, February 9-11, at Varsity Pool.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues