The Varsity Blues swimming teams wrapped up the weekend in the pool by hosting the U of T Winter Invitational on Sunday (Jan. 21) afternoon at Varsity Pool. 
 
"We use this meet as a method to over tax the athletes' mid-season," said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "Our one-on-one dual meets are one session of two hours, and the championships are six two-hour sessions over three days, so we need to expand our meet schedule and this meet helps that."
 
For the men, Liam Weaver picked up two gold medals during the meet. The Calgary, Alta. native touched the wall first in the 50-meter backstroke and the 50 butterfly. The Blues swept the rest of the butterfly events, with rookie Bill Dongfang grabbing gold in the 100, while Michael Sava won the 200 race.
 
Adnan Atwan took top spot in the 200m freestyle, while Jacob Gallant topped the 400m medley. Rounding out the winners for the men was Andrew Herman finishing first in the 200m backstroke
 
On the women's side, Raili Kary recorded two victories on Sunday afternoon, in the 50 and 200 backstroke. Oakville, Ont. native Shannon Russel took home gold in the 400 individual medley (IM). "The 400IM is the toughest race out there," MacDonald said. "Shannon volunteered to do it as she felt she could score extra points for the team come the nationals and needed to rehearse it if that was the plan".
 
The Blues women finished first in two of the four freestyle events, with Haley Klenk winning in the 200 and Ainsley McMurray winning the 400. 
 
The Blues now look ahead to Friday (Jan. 26) where they will face off against the Calgary Dinos and Ottawa Gee-Gees at the Athletic Centre at 5 p.m.