Varsity Blues lead the pack after day one of championship action
LONDON, Ont. – The defending champion Toronto Varsity Blues are in familiar territory after the initial day of the OUA Championships and will head into tomorrow holding a solid lead in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Toronto opened the weekend with a dominant showing, putting them more than 100 points ahead of the second place teams.
Toronto pulled in ten podium finishes on the women’s side and finished the day with 326 points, while the men saw eight top three finishes and a total of 313.
The host Western Mustangs follow the Varsity Blues in both the men’s and women’s competition, with four top-three finishes for the women and seven for the men to finish with 215.50 and 270.50 points, respectively.
Rounding out the top three teams are the Marauders and the Gee-Gees. McMaster is in third on the women’s side with 154 points after earning six podium finishes, while Ottawa holds down the same spot on the men’s side with two top three finishes and 165.50 points.
Day One also saw the establishment of four OUA records, three on the women’s side and one on the men’s, while one athlete earned a grand slam award.
McMaster’s Olivvya Chow broke the first record of the afternoon, just hours after setting the previous record in the preliminary round. Her time of 1:08.85 in the 100m Breaststroke became the new championship standard this morning, but she managed to shave an additional few hundredths of a second off to set the new mark at 1:08.44.
The Varsity Blues’ Eli Wall and Kylie Masse were responsible for the other record setting races, with Wall swimming the 100m Breaststroke in 1:00.15, while Masse topped her own 100m Butterfly record set in 2016 with a time of 57.70.
Masse also set a 50m Backstroke record in the preliminaries (26.46), and would later win the final (26.52) for the fourth time in her university career to earn an OUA grand slam.
Along with a handful of records, the Varsity Blues also executed a full sweep of the Women’s 100m Fly, with Masse (57.70), Hannah Genich (58.47), and Jess Yu (1:02.39) taking the top three spots. Toronto narrowly missed out on three other full podium sweeps, taking two spots in the men’s and women’s 50m Backstroke, and the men’s 100m Fly.
The only other team that neared a full sweep was the Mustangs, who took two of three medals in the women’s 400m IM, and the men’s 400m IM.
Outside of the Mustangs and Varsity Blues, McMaster and Ottawa were the only schools to earn a gold medal finish.
The Marauders saw Isabelle Lei win the 200m Free with a time of 2:00.60, in addition to Chow’s record setting performance in the 100m Breaststroke.
Ottawa’s gold came courtesy of Davide Casarin, who finished the 200m Free in 1:47.25.
Day Two of the OUA Championships begins tomorrow, with the preliminaries scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. The finals will begin at 6 p.m., with fans able to catch all the action live on OUA.tv.
Day One Team Standings
Women
Toronto – 326
Western - 215.50
McMaster – 154
Ottawa – 144
Waterloo – 123
Guelph – 116
Laurentian – 81
Laurier – 58
Queens – 40
York – 39
Brock - 34.50
Carleton - 24
Men
Toronto – 313
Western - 270.50
Ottawa - 165.50
Waterloo – 115
Guelph – 106
McMaster – 98
Laurentian – 82
Queen’s – 75
Laurier – 52
Brock – 31
York – 24
Carleton - 23
Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay
Gold: Toronto: 1:42.04
(Emily Russell, Rachel Rode, Heather Lam, Kylie Mass)
Silver: Western: 1:43.96
(Charis Huddle, Joan Chen, Katarina Kranjc, Hayley Hess)
Bronze: McMaster: 1:44.36
(Hannah Dvorski, Sarah Little, Mianchen Wang, Isabelle Lei)
Men’s 200m Free Relay
Gold: Toronto: 1:31.66
(Dan Kuiack, Cameron Kidd, Joao Fontenelle, Mitch Ferraro)
Silver: Western: 1:32.44
(Brent Wadell, Nathan Lethbridge, Elias Chappell, Andrew Siu)
Bronze: Laurentian: 1:32.65
(Matthew Schouten, Christopher Eastick, Cameron McCabe, Samuel Boily-Dufour)
Women 200m Free
Gold: Isabelle Lei (McMaster): 2:00.60
Silver: Sarah Polley (UofT): 2:01.09
Bronze: Charis Huddle (Western): 2:01.20
Men 200m Free
Gold: Davide Casarin (Ottawa): 1:47.25
Silver: Philip Vranic (Guelph): 1:49.21
Bronze: Gaël Chaubet (Toronto): 1:51.07
Women 50m Backstroke
Gold: Kylie Masse (Toronto): 26.52
Silver: Rachel Rode (Toronto): 27.31
Bronze: Jessica Allen(Western): 28.23
Men 50m Backstroke
Gold: Kyle Haas (Toronto): 25.05
Silver: Matthew Fox (Western): 25.25
Bronze: Dan Kuiack (Toronto): 25.39
Men 100m Breaststroke
Gold: Eli Wall (Toronto): 1:00.15
Silver: Jonathan Ramkissoon (Waterloo): 1:00.87
Bronze: Matthew Loewen (Western): 1:00.93
Women 100m Breaststroke
Gold: Olivvya Chow (McMaster): 1:08.44
Silver: Jasmine Raines (Laurier): 1:09.14
Bronze: Rachael Parsons (Toronto): 1:09.60
Women 100m Fly
Gold: Kylie Masse (Toronto): 57:70
Silver: Hannah Genich (Toronto): 58:47
Bronze: Jess Yu (Toronto): 1:02.39
Men 100m Fly
Gold: Gamal Assaad (Western): 53.54
Silver: Osvald Nitski (Toronto): 54.37
Bronze: Gaël Chaubet (Toronto): 54.65
Women 400 IM
Gold: Courtney DeCarlo (Western): 4:56.47
Silver: Stephanie Cairns (Western): 4:57.86
Bronze: Jess Cheng (Toronto): 4:58.10
Men 400 IM
Gold: Alex Bartley (Western): 4:25.37
Silver: Alex Paulins (Western): 4:29.21
Bronze: Will Morley (Toronto): 4:30.94
Women 400 Medley Relay
Gold: Toronto: 4:08.12~
(Heather Lam, Rachael Parsons, Hannah Genich, Sarah Polley)
Silver: McMaster: 4:12.52
(Veronica Nichol, Olivvya Chow, Cailyn Eley, Carleen Ginter)
Bronze: Western: 4:16.78
(Jessica Allen, Brigitte Ryan, Katelyn Cairns, Lexi Meklensek)
Men 400 Medley Relay
Gold: Toronto: 3:38.88
(Kyle Haas, Eli Wall, Osvald Nitski, Dan Kuiack)
Silver: Western: 3:42.72
(Matthew Klahsen, Matthew Loewen, Gamal Assaad, Andrew Siu)
Bronze: Ottawa: 3:43.01
(Miles Ruttan, Montana Champagne, Davide Casarin, James Cormier)