Hosting the OUA Stratten Division Championships at the Athletic Centre Pool, both the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's and women's swimming teams carry the overall lead following Day 1 of competition on Saturday (Nov. 23) afternoon.

In the team standings, the U of T men earned 14 podium results, including six gold medals, tallying 461 total points to lead the way after Day 1. McMaster currently ranks second with 380.5, while Waterloo registered 329.5 and Western 300.

The Toronto women also recorded 14 Top 3 finishes, including eight first place results, placing them in the overall lead with 466 total points. Western posted the next highest total with 400 points, followed by McMaster with 388 and Waterloo with 267.

"On the women's side, we are right where we wanted to be after Day 1" said Varsity Blues swimming head coach Byron MacDonald. "Our Day 2 is stronger so the goal was to come out of Day 1 with the lead and we did that. The men were heavily favoured to win by a good margin, so they are also on track."

Backstrokers led the way for the Blues men as Toronto swept the 50m podium via a first-place finish from Andrew Herman, second for Liam Weaver, and third for Albert Bouley. The Blues also took first and second in the 200m backstroke courtesy Ben Loewen and Carter Buck. In the 400m IM, U of T captured another two medals as Jacob Gallant and Brendan Oswald finished first and second, respectively. The gold medal results were rounded out by Weaver in the 50m freestyle, Loewen in the 100m butterfly, and the combination of Bouley, Weaver, Misha Bagrianski, and Ben Winterborn in the 200m freestyle relay.

"Ben [Loewen] continued to impress with his pair of victories, both by wide margins," noted Varsity Blues assistant head coach Linda Kiefer. "And then for Jacob [Gallant], he has won the 400m IM at each of the last three OUA Championships, which has him on track to vie for the prestigious Grand Slam Award as an event winner in four consecutive years."

Varsity Blues veterans Angelica Bath and Katie Marovino topped the U of T women with two first place finishes each. A fourth-year backstroke specialist, Bath claimed the top spot in both the 50m and 200m backstroke events, while third-year distance swimmer Marovino took first in the 200m and 800m freestyle races on Day 1. Toronto also received first place swims from Teagan Vander Leek in the 50m freestyle, Sydney Stewart in the 400m IM, Nina Mollin in the 100m butterfly, and in the 200m freestyle relay with Vander Leek, Gemma Norman, Yolanda Zhang, and Kayla Houlder.

"Katie [Marovino] is having the best year of her career, already right down next to best times that have eluded her in previous years," said MacDonald. "She is training well and simply in a great place right now to carry the distance events for the Blues this season. And then several of our rookies performed exceptionally well with Sydney [Stewart] starting the meet off with a bang of a gold medal in the brutal 400 IM – racing ten seconds faster than her inaugural swim two weeks ago at McGill – and Lavinia [Ricca] qualifying for U SPORTS in the 200m backstroke after dropping five seconds in the past two weeks."

The Stratten Division Championships will conclude tomorrow (Nov. 24) afternoon with the men and women each completing 10 more events. Teams dive back into the pool beginning at 12 p.m.

TEAM STANDINGS
Men

1. Toronto – 461
2. McMaster – 380.5
3. Waterloo – 329.5
4. Western – 300

Women

1. Toronto – 466
2. Western – 400
3. McMaster – 388
4. Waterloo – 267

DAY 1 RESULTS
W-200m Freestyle Relay

1. Toronto – 1:42.55 (Teagan Vander Leek, Gemma Norman, Yolanda Zhang, Kayla Houlder)
2. Western – 1:43.40 (Zea Wetzlaugk, Leah Butler, Danielle Treasure, Katie Graboski)
3. McMaster – 1:45.05 (Shauna Walker-Dejong, Ashley Ko, Amy Tian, Michelle Wang)

M-200m Freestyle Relay

1. Toronto – 1:30.41 (Albert Bouley, Misha Bagrianski, Ben Winterborn, Liam Weaver)
2. Waterloo – 1:31.50 (Raymond Duong, Cristian Ciorogariu, Gavin Lusby, Allen Zheng)
3. Western – 1:32.71 (Kyle Stuckless, Jackson Waddell, Luke Stewart-Beinder, Luca Cappelletto)

W-400m IM

1. Sydney Stewart, TOR – 4:57.74
2. Ashley Ko, MAC – 4:59.86
3. Robin Vadeika, WES – 5:00.28

M-400m IM

1. Jacob Gallant, TOR – 4:16.72
2. Brendan Oswald, TOR – 4:22.76
3. Kevin Zhang, WAT – 4:28.67

W-50m Backstroke

1. Angelica Bath, TOR – 29.06
2. Michelle Wang, MAC – 29.31
3. Leah Butler, WES – 29.45

M-50m Backstroke

1. Andrew Herman, TOR – 24.08
2. Liam Weaver, TOR – 25.28
3. Albert Bouley, TOR – 25.63

W-200m Freestyle

1. Katie Marovino, TOR – 2:01.99
2. Danielle Treasure, WES – 2:03.25
3. Teagan McKenzie, TOR – 2:04.33

M-200m Freestyle

1. Kieran Stone, WES – 1:51.16
2. Emil Gonzalez Maciel, MAC – 1:52.11
3. Preston McMann, MAC – 1:52.53

W-100m Butterfly

1. Nina Mollin, TOR – 1:00.54
2. Hannah Gallagher, WAT – 1:01.56
3. Angel Yao, TOR – 1:01.99

M-100m Butterfly

1. Ben Loewen, TOR – 52.52
2. Kevin Zhang, WAT – 53.93
3. Aiden Harris, TOR – 54.07

W-100m Breaststroke

1. Shona Branton, WES – 1:06.28
2. Tina Guan, TOR – 1:11.74
3. Nina Mollin, TOR – 1:11.97

M-100m Breaststroke

1. Hayden Yeung, MAC – 1:01.77
2. Nathan Thomas, TOR – 1:03.00
3. William Clarke, MAC – 1:03.25

W-200m Backstroke

1. Angelica Bath, TOR – 2:13.54
2. Hannah Estabrooks, WES – 2:15.21
3. Lavinia Ricca, TOR – 2:16.93

M-200m Backstroke

1. Ben Loewen, TOR – 1:56.90
2. Carter Buck, TOR – 2:01.08
3. Emil Gonzalez Maciel, MAC – 2:01.28

W-50m Freestyle

1. Teagan Vander Leek, TOR – 25.58
2. Zea Wetzlaugk, WES – 25.81
3. Kayla Houlder, TOR – 26.05

M-50m Freestyle

1. Liam Weaver, TOR – 22.15
2. Allen Zheng, WAT – 22.70
3. Albert Bouley, TOR – 22.79

W-800m Freestyle

1. Katie Marovino, TOR – 8:56.10
2. Megan Frost, WAT – 9:06.97
3. Robin Vadeika, WES – 9:09.55

M-1500m Freestyle

1. Brian Dietz, MAC – 15:50.90
2. Aidan Iapicco, WAT – 15:54.61
3. Quinn Matteis, TOR – 16:01.50