The University of Toronto Varsity Blues won 10-of-14 races and broke three OUA records as Day 1 of the OUA swimming championships Thursday night (Feb. 5) at the University of Ottawa.
 
The Blues sit in first place in both the men's and women's standings. Toronto's men have 356 points ahead of the second-place Western Mustangs (217), while the Blues women have 275 points, also ahead of Western (257).

"Despite some top swims by our women tonight, the meet is still too close to call for the title," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "The men were strong favourites to win and are not disappointing. Especially noteable tonight was our Ottawa native Eli Wall. Eli swam a life-time best time and set an OUA record in his 200 breaststroke gold medal swim."
 
Record Breakers
 
Fifth-year veteran Vanessa Treasure earned a grand slam, winning her fourth career 200 breaststroke title while bettering her own OUA record with a time of 2:28.95.
 
Rookie sensation Kylie Masse smashed the women's 100 backstroke OUA record en route to her first provincial title. Masse bettered U of T alumna Andrea Jurenovski's 2011 mark of 1:00.63 with a new time of 59.15 seconds.
 
Sophomore standout Eli Wall wowed his hometown crowd in Ottawa, earning his first OUA title in the 200 breaststroke with a record time of 2:12.14.

"Eli has been the hardest, most dedicated swimmer on the team this year," added MacDonald. "His gold medal in record OUA time was fully merited. It was great to see."

 
Other Golden Blues
 
Veteran sprinters Chris Manning and Paige Schultz earned their second consecutive 50 freestyle races. Manning touched the wall in 22.54, with Schultz just missing the record (25.52) with a time of 25.53.
 
Second-year standout and last year's OUA male rookie of the year Hochan Ryu garnered his first OUA gold medal, winning the 200 butterfly in a time of 1:58.05.
 
Toronto also won all four relay events on Day 1. Masse and Schultz teamed up with Melanie McDonald and Kate Lyne to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:44.44, while Schultz, Treasure, Bridget Coley and Victoria Radounski won the 800 freestyle relay in 8:10.69.
 
Manning, Edward Liu, Mitch Ferraro and Steven Hibberd won the men's 200 freestyle relay in 1:31.85, with Ryu, Oliver Straszynski, David Riley and Kent Kikot winning the 800 freestyle relay in 7:27.65.

DAY ONE TEAM STANDINGS

Men:
Toronto – 356 pts
Western – 217
McMaster – 183
Guelph – 126
Ottawa – 123
Waterloo – 85
Laurentian – 77
Laurier – 63
Queen's – 40
York – 29
Brock – 12

Women:
Toronto – 275 pts
Western – 257
McMaster – 165.5
Guelph – 162.5
Ottawa – 158
Laurentian – 91
Waterloo – 64
Laurier – 52
Brock – 44
Queen's – 40
York – 26

DAY 1 INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS (Thursday)

Women 200 Free Relay
1. Toronto 1:44.44
(Melanie McDonald, Kylie Masse, Kate Lyne, Paige Schultz)
2. Western 1:45.01
(Katie Keeping, Paulina Bond, Hayley Hess, Kelly Hotta)
3. McMaster 1:45.34
(Emma Mittermaier, Hannah Dvorski, Jacqueline McDonald, Emily Fung)

Men 200 Free Relay
1. Toronto 1:31.85
(Edward Liu, Mitch Ferraro, Steven Hibberd, Chris Manning)
2. Western 1:33.17
(Aaron Rode, Louis Wong, Mark Loyzer, Brent Waddell)
3. McMaster 1:33.48
(Kurt Schubert, Ali Rizk, Konrad Bald, Corey Helie-Masters)

Women 400m Free
1. Emma Sproule, Western, 4:13.92
2. Caitlin Hodge, Ottawa, 4:14.42
3. Bridget Coley, Toronto, 4:17.81

Men 400m Free
1. Robert Wise, Western, 3:54.20
2. Oliver Straszynski, Toronto, 3:55.91
3. Jake Silverthorn, Western, 3:56.38

W 100m Back
1. Kylie Masse, Toronto, 59.15 OUA Record
2. Emily Anzai, Guelph, 1:01.73
3. Emma Sproule, Western, 1:02.01

M 100m Back
1. Robert Bonomo, Ottawa, 54.88
2. Matthew Myers, Toronto, 55.38
3. Eric Anderson, McMaster, 55.68

W 200m Breast
1. Vanessa Treasure, Toronto, 2:28.95 OUA Record
2. Eryn Weldon, Ottawa, 2:29.70
3. Sophie Cieplucha, Western 2:32.10

M 200m Breast
1. Eli Wall, Toronto, 2:12.14 OUA Record
2. Connor Michie, Ottawa, 2:13.38
3. David Riley, Toronto, 2:17.97

W 200m Fly
1. Jennifer McNaughton, Western, 2:14.15
2. Sarah Asselin, Western, 2:17.66
3. Melanie McDonald, Toronto, 2:18.23

M 200m Fly
1. Hochan Ryu, Toronto, 1:58.05
2. Ben Stubbs, McMaster, 2:00.26
3. Gamal Assaad, Western, 2:01.79

W 50m Free
1. Paige Schultz, Toronto, 25.53
2. Emma Mittermaier, McMaster, 25.94
3. Paulina Bond, Western, 26.15

M 50m Free
1. Chris Manning, Toronto, 22.54
2. Evan Van Moerkerke, Guelph, 23.09
3. Matthew Schouten, Laurentian, 23.26

W 800 Free Relay
1. Toronto, 8:10.69
(Victoria Radounski, Bridget Coley, Vanessa Treasure, Paige Schultz)
2. Western, 8:13.48
(Kelly Hotta, Jennifer McNaughton, Victoria Munro, Emma Sproule)
3. Ottawa 8:24.65
(Eryn Weldon, Nicole Lachance, Caitlin Hodge, Mackenzie Finkbeiner)

M 800 Free Relay
1. Toronto, 7:27.65 
(Kent Kikot, Hochan Ryu, Oliver Straszynski, David Riley)
2. Western, 7:28.43
(Robert Wise, Gamal Assaad, Jake Silverthorn, Alex Paulins)
3. Guelph, 7:29.47
(Philip Vranic, Evan Van Moerkerke, John Carroll, Myles Zagar)

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