Banner Season: Trio of records fall in thrilling Day 1 races
St. Catharines, Ont. (via Brock Badgers) – Thunderous applause echoed throughout Brock University’s pool as swimmers rewrote the record books at the 2024 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Swimming Championships on Friday, Feb. 16.
Record-breaking performances highlighted the opening day as the Toronto Varsity Blues set the pace early. The Toronto women’s team collected a total of 378 points ahead of Western (223) and McMaster (178); the Toronto men’s team (340) leads Western (215) and McMaster (189) to begin the three-day competition.
Western’s Shona Branton set a new OUA record in the women’s 100-metre breaststroke with a time of one minute, five seconds and 86 milliseconds to shatter her gold-medal performance last year (1:06.07).
Two more records were broken on the men’s side.
Toronto’s Andrew Herman broke a 23-year-old record in the 50m backstroke, finishing in a time of 24.98, to break Guelph swimmer Sean Sepulis’ time of 25.05 from 2001.
Several races later, Eric Ginzburg of the York Lions finished first in the 100m fly in a time of 52.74, besting his own previous record number of 53.02.
The competition continues tomorrow on Saturday, February 17 with the preliminaries taking place at 10 a.m. and the finals set to begin at 6 p.m. You can watch the day’s action on OUA.tv.
WOMEN’S RESULTS:
In their quest to capture a 10th consecutive title, the Varsity Blues delivered a shining performance on the first day of competition, winning six of the seven events.
To start the night, the team of Haley Klenk, Angelica Bath, Raili Kary and Gemma Norman earned a gold in the 4x50m freestyle relay for the Varsity Blues in a time of 1:43.51.
The Blues also earned gold medals in consecutive races from Ainsley McMurray in the 200m freestyle (1:59.09) and Raili Kary in the 50m backstroke (28.23). Nina Mollin and Anna Hein also won the 100m butterfly (1:00.97) and 400m individual medley (4:51.07) races to add to the Blues’ medal haul.
Kary, McMurray and Mollin concluded the evening by winning their second gold with a victory in the 4x100m medley relay with teammate Sydney Winokur.
Overall, the Toronto women’s team won a total of 10 medals. Western earned five medals as Waterloo captured four and McMaster earned three.
MEN’S RESULTS:
For the men, the Varsity Blues roared out of the gate to claim five gold medals in pursuit of their 20th consecutive title.
To start the night, Graeme Aylward, Misha Bagiranski, Ahmed El Tatawy and Liam Weaver touched the wall in 1:30.41 to win gold in the 4x50m freestyle relay.
Toronto also earned gold medals from Gabriel Mastromatteo (1:01.05) in the 100m breaststroke and Jacob Gallant (4:18.51) in the 400m IM. Mastromatteo, who represented Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, has won OUA gold in the 100m backstroke for three consecutive seasons.
Western’s Kieran Stone earned a gold medal in the 200m freestyle after finishing in 1:49.22.
The night cap was the 4x100m medley relay, which was won by the Varsity Blues team of Carter Buck, Graeme Aylward, Benjamin Loewen and Jack Li (3:38.41).
In total, the Varsity Blues picked up 11 medals. McMaster, Western and Waterloo each earned three medals while York secured one.
DAY 1 TEAM STANDINGS
Women's:
Toronto – 378
Western – 223
McMaster – 178
Waterloo – 151
Guelph – 137
Brock – 74
Laurier – 54
Queen’s – 52
Carleton – 32
York – 32
Men's:
Toronto – 340
Western – 215
McMaster –189
Waterloo – 158.5
Laurier – 97
Guelph – 76.5
York – 67
Carleton – 61
Brock – 51
Queen’s – 42
DAY 1 INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS (Friday)
Women 4x50m Free Relay
1. Toronto, 1:43.51
(Haley Klenk, Angelica Bath, Raili Kary, Gemma Norman)
2. McMaster, 1:45.48
(Michelle Wang, Heather Aylward, Leah Russell, Shaunna Walker-Dejong
3. Waterloo, 1:46.53
(Katherine Ye, Hannah Gallagher, Alyssa Zhang, Nyla Smith)
Men 4x50m Free Relay
1. Toronto, 1:30.41
(Graeme Aylward, Misha Bagrianski, Ahmed El Tatawy, Liam Weaver)
2. Waterloo, 1:30.82
(Cristian Ciorogariu, Allen Zheng, Raymond Duong, Lukas Wormald)
3. McMaster, 1:32.94
(Bijan Ziaian, Josiah Terejko, Byron Zhang, Cameron Johnsen)
Women 200m Free
1. Ainsley McMurray, Toronto, 1:59.09
2. Teagan McKenzie, Toronto, 2:01.05
3. Danielle Treasure, Western, 2:01.15
Men 200m Free
1. Kieran Stone, Western, 1:49.22
2. Bill Dongfang, Toronto, 1:49.61
3. Jack Li, Toronto, 1:49.80
Women 50m Back
1. Raili Kary, Toronto, 28.23
2. Katie Schroeder, Toronto, 28.43
3. Haley Klenk, Toronto, 28.44
Men 50m Back
1. Andrew Herman, Toronto, 24.98 OUA RECORD
2. Carter Buck, Toronto, 25.26
3. Liam Weaver, Toronto, 25.56
Women 100m Breast
1. Shona Branton, Western, 1:05.86 OUA RECORD
2. Megan Deering, McMaster,1:09.60
3. Nicole Lau, Waterloo, 1:10.54
Men 100m Breast
1. Gabe Mastromatteo, Toronto, 1:01.50
2. Graeme Aylward, Toronto, 1:01.87
3. Cameron Johnsen, McMaster, 1:02.00
Women 100m Fly
1. Nina Mollin, Toronto, 1:00.97
2. Hannah Gallagher, Waterloo, 1:01.38
3. Gabriella Casasanta, Western, 1:01.67
Men 100m Fly
1. Eric Ginzburg, York, 52.74 OUA RECORD
2. Kevin Zhang, Waterloo, 54.29
2. Ziyad Salouse, Western, 54.29
Women 400m IM
1. Anna Hein, toro, 4:51.07
2. Robin Vadeika, Western, 4:54.71
3. Trinity Boyd, Toronto, 4:56.72
Men 400m IM
1. Jacob Gallant, Toronto, 4:18.51
2. Brendan Oswald, Toronto, 4:22.64
3. Sam Chisholm, McMaster, 4:23.24
Women 4x100m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 4:07.28
(Raili Kary, Sydney Winokur, Nina Mollin, Ainsley McMurray)
2. Western, 4:08.48
(Hannah Estabrooks, Shona Branton, Gabriella Casasanta, Kennedy Scott)
3. McMaster, 4:17.17
(Mikaela Blake, Megan Deering, Emma-Jane Fowler, Amila Skula)
Men 4x100m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 3:38.41
(Carter Buck, Graeme Aylward, Benjamin Loewen, Jack Li)
2. Western, 3:41.82
(David Hickey, Theo Graboski, Ziyad Salouse, Luke Stewart-Beinder)
3. Waterloo, 3:44.43
(Finn Duncan-Snobel, Charles Marcial, Alex Boden, Allen Zheng)