The Varsity Blues men’s and women’s swimming teams handily defeated the McMaster Marauders in dual-meet action on Saturday, January 14 at Varsity Pool.

Toronto’s women came away with a 123-64 victory, while the men topped their Marauder counterparts 121-66.

"The score was actually indicative of the way we swam," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "At times it’s tough to swim well early in January after training camp, but we had a racing opportunity last week at our camp and I believe it really helped us get ready for today.”

The best indicator of the speed on the day was the 22 meet records out of the 28 events.

The key female performer for the Blues was sophomore standout Vanessa Treasure. The Mississauga, Ont., native earned three gold medals, all in meet record time, in the 200m individual medley (IM), the 200m breaststroke, and the 50m breaststroke.

"That 200 IM record was previously held by CIS champion and Olympian Liz Warden; a great accomplishment for Vanessa.” said Blues assistant coach Linda Kiefer.

Not to be outdone, fifth-year veteran Heather Maitland won both of her individual events in meet record time, including a CIS-leading performance in the 400m freestyle.

"That was an impressive swim," said MacDonald. "That is her personal best time and to do that in early January means she should have a dynamite showing at nationals next month."

Maitland, as well as rookie Bridget Coley and fifth-year standout Pamela Ruksys are three of the top distance swimmers in the country

"Every day is like a meet with those three banging heads," said Kiefer. "It will help all three continue to improve and should bode well for the CIS championships.”

Rookies Erin McDermott of Edmonton and Margot Cunningham of Waterloo, Ont., added one and two first-place finishes, respectively, while veteran Andrea Jurenovskis also picked up a pair of gold medals in meet record times.

In men’s action, second-year swimmer Jeremie Holdom, as well as rookies Graham Hawes and Brian Lee each picked up a pair of gold medals.

"This was a huge relief for Jeremie and me to see him swim this well," said MacDonald. "He was not up to par in the fall and neither one of us could explain it. He is now back to the swimmer he should be, dominating the province in the IM and the breaststroke events."

Holdom set meet records in both the 200 IM and the 200 breaststroke.

Lee displayed his natural speed and used it to set a rookie Varsity record, as well as a meet record, in his 50 breaststroke win. His other first-place finish came in the 50m butterfly.

Solo victories came from third-year engineering major Frank Despond in the 400freestyle, Mike Smerek in the 100 butterfly and George Soules with a meet record in the 50 freestyle.

Full Results

For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite U of T athletes and teams, please visit www.varsityblues.ca. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest and greatest in Varsity Blues intercollegiate athletics.