The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's and women's swimming teams both defended their provincial titles as the 2020 OUA championships wrapped up on Saturday evening (Feb. 8) at Toronto Pan Am Pool.
 
TEAM STANDINGS: Toronto's men claimed their 17^th consecutive and OUA-leading 68^th Dougall Trophy since 1910 with 992.5 points, ahead of Western (563.5) and Waterloo (549.5)
 
The Blues women won their seventh straight and OUA-leading 31^st provincial banner since 1971 with 1005.5 points, ahead of McMaster (662) and Western (661).  
 
"Winning doesn't get old," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "But of course it's critical that we had top performances to earn that win. There were lots of personal bests, lots of medals and that falls in line with our priorities that we set in September."
 
MAJOR AWARD WINNERS: Fourth-year veteran Hannah Genich earned OUA female swimmer of the year honours. The Cobourg, Ont., native swept the 50, 100 and 200 butterfly events, earning an OUA grand slam and breaking her own record in the latter, and also helped the Blues to gold-medal finishes in the 200 and 800 freestyle relays. She capped off Day 3 with a gold-medal finish in the 200 individual medley, which earned her the Dr. Tihanyi IM award of excellence for the second time in her career.
 
"Hannah had the meet that she deserves," said MacDonald. "She's one of the hardest workers on the team, day in and day out. Magnified by the fact that she hurt her knee in the fall and was unable to kick for a couple of months. Many athletes would have been very discouraged and instead she decided to overemphasize her arms and I think that actually helped her."
 
First-year standout Bernard Godolphin was named the OUA male rookie of the year. The architecture major from Montreal won the men's 200 freestyle, helped U of T to gold in the 400 and 800 freestyle relays and also claimed a silver medal in the 400 freestyle.
 
"Bernard has helped us keep alive our Quebec connection," said MacDonald. "There is a very big upside to Bernard and I think he is just starting to realize what that potential might be. One of the key elements of a successful team is having a strong freestyle corps and Bernard fulfills that and will help lead the team forward."
 
Fifth-year veteran Osvald Nitski earned the male student-athlete community service award.

MEN'S RESULTS: Fourth-year veteran Cam Kidd had a monster day, swimming four events. He won the men's 100 freestyle in 49.55 seconds, placed second in the 50 breaststroke and helped U of T's 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams to victory.
 
 "Special kudos to our fourth-year swimmer Cam Kidd, who swam four races today because he had to miss yesterday's events," said MacDonald. "For a sprinter to do four events in a day is a Herculean task and he did several of them with his best times and was a key member on two relay gold-medal swims and then hammered his best time to win the 100 freestyle."
 
 
Graeme Aylward was also a member of the 200 medley relay team and earned a bronze medal in the 50 breaststroke.
 
"Graeme had a great meet. He did all best times in the breaststrokes and it was huge that he stepped up and improved so much to score those points for us. His breakout came this summer when he realized how good he could be and was able to final at the Swim Canada summer nationals. He has taken that and translated it into medal performances at the university level."
 
Wall had a quick turnaround from the medley relay and won the men's 200 backstroke in 1:58.38. Matthew Mac was third in 2:00.14.
 
Nitski capped off the individual events with a thrilling victory in the men's 200 IM in 2:03.19.
 
WOMEN'S RESULTS: Toronto dominated once again on Day 3. Rachel Rodé, Abby McDonald, Kaitlyn Burwell and Sydney Munro won the 200 medley relay in 1:53.55, while Sarah Polley, Aleksa Gold, Claire Howard and Ainsley McMurray capped off the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:44.92.
 
Howard led a U of T sweep in the women's 800 freestyle, winning in 8:55.00. Kate Rendall and Jess Cheng finished second and third, respectively.
 
Gold won the women's 200 backstroke in 2:11.18, with Polley not far behind in second in 2:12.39.
 
McMurray finished first in the 100 freestyle in 55.02 seconds, while Gold earned the silver medal in 55.31 seconds.
 
UP NEXT: The Blues now prepare for the 2020 U SPORTS championships, February 20-22, hosted by the University of Victoria.
 
"The national championships are in 10 days and it's always a physical and mental challenge to come off the high of the OUA championships. We've done a good job in the past doing that and I expect it will happen again."

MAJOR INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
 
Swimmer of the Year
Female – Hannah Genich (Toronto)
Male - Sebastian Paulins (Western)

Rookie of the Year
Female – Ella Rennie (Western)
Male – Bernard Godolphin (Toronto)

Coach of the Year
Female Team – Phil Parker (Laurentian)
Male Team – Grey Fairley (McMaster

Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Individual Medley Excellence Award
Female – Ella Rennie (Western)
Male – Sebastian Paulins (Western)

Community Service Award
Female – Celine Funk (Brock)
Male – Osvald Nitski (Toronto)

Awards of Distinction
Jasmine Raines – Laurier
Rachel Rode – Toronto
Osvald Nitski – Toronto
Gaël Chubet – Toronto
Cameron Kidd – Toronto
Matthew Mac – Toronto
Mitchell Muizelaar – McMaster
Matthew Loewen – Western
Matthew Fox - Western 

Day Three Results: 
 
Women 200m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 1:53.55
(Rode, McDonalds, Burwell, Munro)
2. Western, 1:54.76
(Miron, Deering, Fedder, Kranjc)
3. Guelph, 1:55.76
(Van Herk, Anderson, Kennedy, Kearney)

Men 200m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 1:39.02 OUA RECORD
(Wall, Aylward, Mac, Kidd)
2. Western, 1:40.81
(Fox, Loewen, Chappell, Ford)
3. Waterloo, 1:41.74
(Wormald, Gu, Chow, Li)

Women 800m Free
1. Claire Howard, Toronto, 8:55.00
2. Kate Rendall, Toronto, 8:58.54
3. Jess Cheng, Toronto, 9:05.89

Women 50m Breaststroke
1. Megan Deering, Western, 32.15
2. Christina Ji, Waterloo, 32.89
3. Lea Zila, Toronto, 32.99

Men 50m Breaststroke
1. Matthew Loewen, Western, 27.82
2. Cameron Kidd, Toronto, 28.32
3. Graeme Aylward, Toronto, 28.56

Women 200m Backstroke
1. Aleksa Gold, Toronto, 2:11.18
2. Sarah Polley, Toronto, 2:12.39
3. Veronica Nichol, McMaster, 2:13.44

Men 200m Backstroke
1. Tyler Wall, Toronto, 1:58.38
2. Matthew Klahsen, Western, 1:59.75
3. Matthew Mac, Toronto, 2:00.14

Women 100m Freestyle
1. Ainsley McMurray, Toronto, 55.02
2. Aleksa Gold, Toronto, 55.31,
3. Isabelle Lei, McMaster, 55.51

Men 100m Freestyle
1. Cameron Kidd, Toronto, 49.55
2. Samuel Boily-Dufour, Laurentian, 50.23
3. Bjoern-Ole Schrader, Toronto, 50.28

Men 1500m Freestyle
1. Sebastian Paulins, Western, 15:21.66, OUA RECORD
2. Mitch Muizelaar, McMaster, 15.43.87
3. Gokhan Bozyigit, Brock, 15:46.49

Women 200m Individual Medley 
1. Hannah Genich, Toronto, 2:11.70
2. Georgia Kidd, Toronto, 2:14.54
3. Ella Rennie, Western, 2:15.45

Men 200m Individual Medley
1. Osvald Nitski, Toronto, 2:03.19
2. Lukas Wormald, Waterloo, 2:03.27
3. Hohyun Ryu, Waterloo, 2:04.03

Women 400m Freestyle Relay 
1. Toronto, 3:44.92
(Polley, Gold, Howard, McMurray)
2. Western, 3:48.97
(Sawchuk, Roberts, Chen, Kranjc)
3. McMaster, 3:49.27
(Nichol, Little, Zhou, Schlyter)

Men 400m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 3:20.47
(Godolphin, Konik, Schrader, Kidd)
2. Western, 3:22.66
(Fox, Chappell, Placek, Paulins)
3. Waterloo, 3:24.52
(Li, Bird, Ryu, Wormald)

DAY 2 RESULTS:

Women's 400m Freestyle
1. Kate Rendall, Toronto, 4:15.89
2. Claire Howard, Toronto, 4:17.20
3. Emma Schlyter, McMaster, 4:20.97
 
Men's 400m Freestyle
1. Sebastian Paulins, Western, 3:49.73
2. Bernard Godolphin, Toronto, 3:54.18
3. Max Tambling, Toronto, 3:55.59
 
Women's 50M Butterfly
1. Hannah Genich, Toronto, 26.79
2. Rachel Rode, Toronto, 27.32
3. Sarah Polley, Toronto, 27.56
 
Men's 50m Butterfly
1. Bjoern-Ole Schrader, Toronto, 24.41
2. Lukas Wormald, Waterloo, 24.68
3. Matthew Mac, Toronto, 24.71
 
Women's 200m Breaststroke
1. Ella Rennie, Western, 2:29.20
2. Jasmine Raines, Laurier, 2:29.28
3. Megan Deering, Western, 2:29.71
 
Men's 200m Breaststroke
1. Graeme Aylward, Toronto, 2:14.70
2. Ian. Chambers, Waterloo, 2:15.66
3. Cameron Johnsen, McMaster, 2:16.17
 
Women's 100m Backstroke
1. Aleksa Gold, 59.81, Toronto
2. Veronica Nichol, 1:01.43, McMaster
3. Eloise Ladyman, 1:02.43, Waterloo
 
Men's 100m Backstroke
1. Tyler Wall, Toronto, 54.64
2. Matthew Fox, Western, 54.69
3. Ian Mackinnon, McMaster, 55.33
 
Women's 200m Butterfly
1. Hannah Genich, Toronto, 2:09.10 OUA RECORD
2. Georgia Kidd, Toronto, 2:12.21
3. Megan Romkes, 2:16.72
 
Men's 200m Butterfly
1. Sebastian Paulins, Western, 1:58.77
2. Osvald Nitski, Toronto, 2:01.12
2. Kevork Baghdassarian, McMaster, 2:04.68
 
Women's 50m Freestyle
1. Rachel Rode, Toronto, 25.63
2. Ainsley McMurray, Toronto, 25.64
3. Isabelle Lei, McMaster, 25.80
 
Men's 50m Freestyle
1. Ethan Fazekas, Toronto, 22.69
2. Matthew Fox, Western, 23.00
3. Samuel Boily-Dufour, Laurentian, 23.06
 
Women's 800m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 8:11.56
(Claire Howard, Hannah Genich, Kate Rendall, Georgia Kidd)
2. McMaster, 8:16.13
(Erin Anderson, Emma Schlyter, Gabrielle Studebaker, Isabelle Lei)
3. Western, 8:31.38
(Ella Rennie, Katelyn Cairns, Rachel Sawchuk, Stephanie Cairns)
 
Men's 800m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 7:24.75
(Gaël Chaubet, Bjoern-Ole Schrader, Max Tambling, Bernard Godolphin)
2. McMaster, 7:31.97
(Alex Tropynine, Kevork Baghdassarian, Mitch Muizelaar, Ian Mackinnon)
3. Waterloo, 7:41.54
(Josh Bird, Michael Li, Kaan Alsan, Hohyun Ryu)

DAY 1 RESULTS:

Women's 200m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 1:42.54
(Sydney Munro, Sarah Polley, Hannah Genich, Rachel Rode)
2. Western, 1:45.21
(Katarina Kranjc, Samantha Roberts, Samantha Wong, Sarah Fedder)
3. Laurentian, 1:47.29
(Erika Savage, Francesca Zammit-Maempel, Rylie Tyron, Natalie Lefebvre)
 
Men's 200m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 1:29.67 OUA RECORD
(Cameron Kidd, Graeme Goodman, Everett Smith, Ethan Fazekas)
2. Laurentian, 1:33.77
(Christopher Eastick, Ryan Sims, Gabriel Fenn, Samuel. Bolly-Dufour)
3. McMaster, 1:34.11
(Mike Dereviankin, James Potma, Louis Sharland, Kevin Bagnell)
 
Women's 200m Free
1. Aleksa Gold, Toronto, 1:58.07 
2. Isabelle Lei, McMaster, 1:58.77
3. Georgia Kidd, Toronto, 1:59.93
 
Men's 200m Free
1. Bernard Godolphin, Toronto, 1:48.97
2. Max Tambling, Toronto, 1:50.30
3. Ian Mackinnon, McMaster, 1:50.36
 
Women's 50m Backstroke
1. Rachel Rode, Toronto, 27.05
2. Sarah Polley, Toronto, 28.64
3. Shania Van Herk, Guelph, 28.71
 
Men's 50m Backstroke
1. Matthew Fox, Western, 25.28
2. Tyler Wall, Toronto, 25.30
3. Chris Ruus, Toronto, 25.80
 
Women's 100m Breaststroke
1. Megan Deering, Western, 1:09.27
2. Abby McDonald, Toronto, 1:09.96
3. Jasmine Raines, Laurier, 1:10.16
 
Men's 100m Breaststroke
1. Graeme Aylward, Toronto, 1:01.40
2. Cameron Johnsen, McMaster, 1:02.41
3. Jake Gu, Waterloo, 1:02.80
 
Women's 100m Butterfly
1. Hannah Genich, Toronto, 58.18
2. Georgia Kidd, Toronto, 1:00.83
3. Abigail McDonald, Laurentian, 1:02.00
 
Men's 100m Butterfly
1. Osvald Nitski, Toronto, 53.90
2. Lukas Wormald, Waterloo, 54.63
3. Matthew Mac, Toronto, 55.59
 
Women's 400m IM
1. Ellen Rennie, Western, 4:50.56
2. Abby McDonald, Toronto, 4:51.85
3. Kate Rendall, Toronto, 4:52.34
 
Men's 400m IM
1. Sebastian Paulins, Western, 4:21.21
2. Declan Tucker, Guelph, 4:30.74
3. Ian Chambers, Waterloo, 4:32.68
 
Women's 400m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 4:09.42
(Aleksa Gold, Abby McDonald, Georgia Kidd, Ainsley, McMurray)
2. Western, 4:13.64
(Emma Miron, Megan Deering, Katelyn Cairns, Joan-Shia Chen)
3. McMaster, 4:13.83
(Erin Anderson, Katherine Toy, Megan Romkes, Isabelle Lei)
 
Men's 400m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 3:40.41
(Tyler Wall, Graeme Aylward, Osvald Nitski, Gaël Chaubet)
2. Waterloo, 3:46.41
(Lukas Wormald, Jake Gu, Maksym Levytskyy, Peter Li)
3. Western, 3:46.61
(Matthew Klahsen, Alexander Encinar, Benoit Potvin, Matthew Babits)