Toronto poised to defend championship banners after day two of competition
LONDON, Ont. – The Varsity Blues continued to tower over their competition as they maintained a firm grasp on the lead in both the men’s and women’s OUA Swimming Championship with 21 podium finishes on day two.
On the men’s side, Toronto racked up eight medal finishes to end the day with 653 points, while the women added 13 top three finishes to their total for 728 points. Six of those finishes came from just two races, as the Blues swept the women’s 50 metre butterfly and the 200m butterfly.
Only one race managed to fully escape the grasp of the Varsity Blues, with the men’s 400m freestyle serving as the only event that did not see someone from the Toronto roster standing on the podium.
Western continues to sit in second in both the men’s (515.5) and women’s (399) contests after the second day of competition saw the teams add a combined eight podium finishes to the purple and white total. The men were responsible for five, while the women earned three.
McMaster and Ottawa round out the top three teams, with the Marauders third in the women’s while the Gee-Gees are third in the men’s competition.
McMaster’s only podium finish of the day came from Olivvya Chow’s performance in the 200m breaststroke. Chow finished behind Laurier’s Jasmine Raines to take second with a time of 2:30.27.
Ottawa was led by Davide Casarin, who had a hand in three of the five medals the Gee-Gees won throughout the day. Casarin took gold in the 400m freestyle and silver in the 200m butterfly, while also anchoring the second-place 800m freestyle relay team.
Montana Champagne raced alongside Cararin in the 800m relay, after taking gold in the 200m butterfly. Miles Ruttan rounded out the podium finishes with a third-place finish in the 100m breaststroke.
Four records were also broken throughout the day – three of which came courtesy of the Varsity Blues.
Kylie Masse set a new OUA standard for the 50m freestyle in the preliminaries (24.77), while Hannah Gerich finished the 200m fly in 2:10.56 for an OUA record of her own.
Eli Wall was the third Varsity Blue to break a record in the second day of competition, as he completed the 200m breaststroke in 2:10.19, eclipsing the previous record – set by Wall in 2017 – by almost an entire second.
Raines was responsible for the fourth record of the day, beating the time she initially set in last year’s OUA Championship. The Golden Hawk finished the 200m breaststroke in 2:27.50, shaving 0.13 seconds off the previous mark.
The championship continues tomorrow, with the women’s 800m free and men’s 1500m free at 2:45 pm. The rest of the day continues at 5pm, with another 14 races before the champion is crowned.
Day Two Results:
Women 400m Free
Gold: Sophia Saroukian (Toronto): 4:14.84
Delphine Vandal (Ottawa): 4:15.00
Mac Finkbeiner (Ottawa): 14:18.82
Men 400m Free
Gold: Davide Casarin (Ottawa): 3:54.91
Silver: Osvlad Nitski (Toronto): 3:56.34
Bronze: Sebastian Paulins (Western): 3:56.72
Women 50m Fly
Gold: Rachel Rode (Toronto): 26.91
Silver: Hannah Genich (Toronto) 26.99
Bronze: Sophie Du Plessis (Toronto) 27.58
Men 50m Fly
Gold: Cameron Kidd (Toronto): 24.23
Silver: Gamal Assaad (Western): 24.36
Bronze: Mitch Ferraro (Toronto): 24.78
Women 200m Breast
Gold: Jasmine Raines (Laurier): 2:27.50
Silver: Olivvya Chow (McMaster): 2:30.27
Bronze: Rachael Parsons (Toronto): 2:30.35
Men 200m Breast
Gold: Eli Wall (Toronto): 2:10.19
Silver: Jotham D’Ailly (Western): 2:13.69
Bronze: Matthew Loewen (Western): 2:14.00
Women 100m Back
Gold: Kylie Masse (Toronto): 56.95
Silver: Charis Huddle (Western): 1:00.70
Bronze: Sarah Polley (Toronto): 1:01.12
Men 100m Back
Gold: Kyle Haas (Toronto): 54.35
Silver: Dan Kuiack (Toronto): 55.36
Bronze: Miles Ruttan (Ottawa): 55.90
Women 200m Fly
Gold: Hannah Genich (Toronto): 2:10.81
Silver: Sophie Du Plessis (Toronto): 2:16.52
Bronze: Jess Yu (Toronto): 2:17.49
Men 200m Fly
Gold: Montana Champagne (Ottawa): 1:57.37
Silver: Davide Casarin (Ottawa): 1:58.79
Bronze: Osvlad Nitski (Toronto): 1:59.08
Women 50m Free
Gold: Kylie Masse (Toronto): 24.78
Silver: Charis Huddle (Western): 24.91
Bronze: Rachel Rode (Toronto): 25.56
Men 50m Free
Gold: Cameron Kidd (Toronto): 22.32
Silver: Matthew Schouten (Laurentian): 22.54
Bronze: Mitch Ferraro (Toronto): 22.75
Women 800m Free Relay
Gold: Toronto: 8:16.56
(Hannah Genich, Sophia Saroukian, Melanie McDonald, Victoria Radounski)
Silver: Western: 8:25.63
(Stephanie Cairns, Keira Brazeau, Katelyn Cairns, Rachel Sawchuk)
Bronze: Ottawa: 8:27.60
(Mackenize Finkbeiner, Alina Juuti, Delphine, Morgan Mccartney)
Men 800m Free Relay
Gold: Toronto: 7:27.80
(Simon Meier, Gaël Chaubet, Osvald Nitski, Matthew Mac)
Silver: Ottawa: 7:32.24
(James Cormier, Montana Champagne, Marko Tanasijevic, Davide Casarin)
Bronze: Western: 7:34.12
(Alex Paulins, Andrew Vallee, Alex Bartley, Sebastian Paulins)