Both the University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's and men's swimming team hold first-place in the overall standings at the conclusion of Day 1 of the 2025 OUA Swimming Championships.

An extremely impressive first day for the Blues men saw Toronto capture 10 medals, including five gold medals, while also setting four new OUA records along the way. The men registered 336.5 total points to push themselves well ahead of Western (192.5) in second and Waterloo (172.5) in third.

Meanwhile, the U of T women captured eight total medals, with five being gold. The hardware earned allowed the Blues to tally 289 team points, holding a slim margin over Western (231) in second, followed by McMaster (193) in third.

In the pool, Ben Winterborn not only collected two gold medals in his first appearance at an OUA championship, but also set two new OUA records during the Friday night showcase. Winterborn began with an OUA record time of 24.79 in the 50m backstroke, bettering the previous mark of 24.86 set just earlier in the day during prelims by teammate Andrew Herman. Winterborn was joined on the backstroke podium by Herman and Albert Bouley as the Blues took the complete sweep in the event. To conclude the day, Winterborn was joined by teammates Ben Loewen, Nathan Thomas, and Carter Buck for the 4x100m medley relay, also setting a new OUA record time in the event of 3:36.39. Also being a part of two OUA records on the day, Loewen captured gold in the 100m butterfly with a time of 52.41, continuing to display talent in the pool and leadership within the team

"Ben (Loewen) is continuing a march to international levels with that thrilling come-from-behind victory in the 100m fly and his strong leg in the relay today," said Varsity Blues swimming head coach Byron MacDonald. "He was just one of the reasons we came in as heavy favourites and with the performance from our entire team today, we are true to that designation."

Providing further validation to that moniker of 'favourite', the quartet of Herman, Liam Weaver, Misha Bagrianski, and Albert Bouley also secured an OUA record with a new provincial best in the 4x50m freestyle relay of 1:29.41. And a final milestone on the day not to be underestimated, Blues veteran Jacob Gallant completed the rare Grand Slam, winning the same event in all four years competing at the OUA Championships, once again bringing home gold in the 400m IM with a time of 4:14.16.

For the women, Toronto received an outstanding effort from Katie Marovino who picked up relay gold and her first individual OUA gold medal. Marovino set the career milestone with a career best time of 2:0.93 in the 200m freestyle. She then served as anchor with teammates Tina Guan, Angel Yao, and Teagan McKenzie, taking first in the 4x100 medley relay in a time of 4:12.83.

"It's not often that a third-year swimmers wins their first title but Katie has made a fantastic turn in her career and is really moving forward with lots of momentum," said McDonald. "And her two best event are still to come!"

Guan also added another gold for the Blues in the 100m breaststroke (1:10.80), while Nina Mollin added a third consecutive win in the 400m IM (4:44.60). The group of Kayla Houlder, Angelica Bath, Gemma Norman, Teagan Vander Leek rounded out the gold medals for Toronto, taking first in the 4x50m freestyle relay with a time of 1:42.77.

Day 2 of the OUA championships will begin tomorrow (Feb. 8) morning at 10 a.m. with preliminary races, followed by finals later in the evening at 6 p.m. Both prelims and finals can be streamed online at oua.tv.

TEAM STANDINGS *after Day 1
WOMEN
1. Toronto, 289.0
2. Western, 231.0
3. McMaster, 193.0
4. Waterloo, 159.5
5. Guelph, 148.5
6. Brock, 109.0
7. Laurier, 69.0
8. Queen's, 48.0
9. Carleton, 36.0
10. York, 28.0

MEN
1. Toronto, 336.5
2. Western, 192.5
3. Waterloo, 172.5
4. McMaster, 170.5
5. Laurier, 111.0
6. Brock, 100.5
7. York, 73.0
8. Carleton, 56.0
9. Guelph, 55.0
10. Queen's, 43.5

DAY 1 RESULTS
(W) 4x50 Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto (Teagan Vander Leek, Gemma Norman, Angelica Bath, Kayla Houlder): 1:42.77
2. Western (Katie Graboski, Chloe Baker, Leah Butler, Zea Wetzlaugk): 1:43.37
3. McMaster (Shaunna Walker-Dejong, Amila Skula, Amy Tian, Chizam Nkechika): 1:44.35

(M) 4x50 Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto (Misha Bagrianski, Andrew Herman, Albert Bouley, Liam Weaver): 1:29.41 – OUA RECORD
2. Waterloo (Louie Yin, Gavin Lusby, Cristian Ciorogariu, Allen Zheng): 1:32.08
3. Western (Hanwen Luo, Tyrell O'Dwyer, Jackson Waddell, Luca Cappelletto) – 1:32.68

(W) 200 Freestyle
1. Katie Marovino, Toronto: 2:00.93
2. Danielle Treasure, Western: 2:01.47
3. Liz Greaves, Guelph: 2:01.79

(M) 200 Freestyle
1. Kieran Stone, Western: 1:47.66
2. Bill Dongfang, Toronto: 1:47.90
3. Finn Tuck, Carleton: 1:48.36

(W) 100 Breaststroke
1. Tina Guan, Toronto: 1:10.80
2. Grace Chai, Brock: 1:10.88
3. Nicole Lau, Waterloo: 1:11.48

(M) 100 Breaststroke
1. Camren Courchene-Carter, Brock: 1:00.68
2. Nathan Thomas, Toronto: 1:00.75
3. Hayden Yeung, McMaster: 1:01.06

(W) 100 Butterfly
1. Hannah Gallagher, Waterloo: 1:00.41
2. Sydney Stewart, Toronto: 1:00.75
3. Ali Bertrim, Guelph: 1:01.03

(M) 100 Butterfly
1. Ben Loewen, Toronto: 52.41 – OUA RECORD
2. Eric Ginzburg, York: 52.59
3. Alex Boden, Waterloo: 53.24

(W) 50 Backstroke
1. Tatum O'Connor, Brock: 27.87
2. Leah Butler, Western: 28.46
3. Angelica Bath, Toronto: 28.68

(M) 50 Backstroke
1. Ben Winterborn, Toronto: 24.79 – OUA RECORD
2. Andrew Herman, Toronto: 24.83
3. Albert Bouley, Toronto: 24.97

(W) 400 Medley
1. Nina Mollin, Toronto: 4:44.60
2. Robin Vadeika, Western: 4:53.56
3. Sydney Stewart, Toronto: 4:54.57

(M) 400 Medley
1. Jacob Gallant, Toronto: 4:14.16
2. Brendan Oswald, Toronto: 4:20.10
3. Kieran Stone, Western: 4:22.05

(W) 4x100 Medley Relay
1. Toronto (Teagan McKenzie, Tina Guan, Angel Yao, Katie Marovino): 4:12.83
2. Guelph (Liz Greaves, Ali Bertrim, Hannah Nordquist, Alanna Casasanta): 4:13.23
3. Western (Isabella Howes, Gabriella Casasanta, Lauren Leung, Hannah Estabrooks): 4:14.63

(M) 4x100 Medley Relay
1. Toronto (Carter Buck, Nathan Thomas, Ben Loewen, Ben Winterborn): 3:36.39 – OUA RECORD
2. McMaster (Preston McMann, Colin Campbell, Hayden Yeung, Emilio Gonzalez Maciel): 3:42.31
3. Waterloo (Allen Zheng, Alex Boden, Liam Wallich, Louie Yin): 3:42.76