Repeat performance at OUA swimming championship

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Toronto Varsity Blues and Western Mustangs successfully defended their men's and women's team banners, respectively, at the 2010 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) swimming championships at the Eleanor Misener Aquatic Centre at Brock University.

The Varsity Blues won their seventh straight OUA men's title, and ninth in the past 10 years with 998 team points. The Mustangs finished second with 656.5, followed by the Ottawa Gee-Gees with 469.5. The Mustangs won consecutive OUA women's titles for the first time in school history with 1032.5 points. The Varsity Blues were second with 630, followed by the McMaster Marauders with 419.

Toronto coaches Linda Keifer and Byron MacDonald were named OUA men's team coaches of the year, while Paul Midgley of Western was named women's team coach of the year.

Five more records were set on Sunday for a total of 11 at the championship. Male swimmer of the meet Colin Russell (Burlington, Ont.) of the Varsity Blues set his third individual OUA record, this time in the men's 50m breaststroke in a time of 28.42. He set records in both the men's 100m and 200m freestyle. He also won gold in the men's 50m freestyle in a time of 22.94 on Sunday. Russell holds Canadian records in both the 100m and 200m freestyle and 4x100m and 4x200m free relays. He represented Canada at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Female swimmer of the meet Hayley Nell (London, Ont.) of the Mustangs won the women's 50m freestyle in OUA record time of 25.80. She also won the women's 100m and 200m freestyle events earlier in the meet. Brittany Maltais (Charlottetown) of the Laurentian Aqua Vees beat defending champion Whitney Rich (Dorchester, Ont.) of the Golden Hawks in the women's 50m breaststroke, winning in an OUA record time of 32.58.

The Western team of Jennifer Trung (Maple, Ont.), Katie Fox (Oakville, Ont.), Melissa Loyzer (Hamilton, Ont.) and Amber Hutchinson (Brampton, Ont.) won the women's 4x50m medley relay in an OUA record time of 1:55.16. The Varsity Blues team of Cam Cummings (Oakville, Ont.), Marco Monaco (Oakville, Ont.), Mike Smerek (St. Catharines, Ont.) and Russell also set a meet record, winning the men's 4x50m medley relay in 1:41.62. Trung was named female rookie of the meet. She won the women's 50m and 100m backstroke races and was part of the winning women's 4x100m medley relay team earlier in the meet.

The male rookie of the meet was Andy Townsend (Toronto) of the Varsity Blues. He was a bronze medalist in the men's 100m butterfly and was part of the men's 4x200m freestyle relay winning team.

Andrew Ford (Guelph, Ont.) of the Guelph Gryphons continued his strong meet winning the 400m individual medley in a time of 4:24.33 on Sunday. Ford followed this with a gold-medal performance in the men's 200m backstroke in a time of 1:59.17. Earlier in the meet, Ford won the men's 200m individual medley and men's 100m backstroke. He was the winner of the male Dr. Jeno Tihanyi IM award. Rich won the female IM award with her victory in the women's 200m individual medley earlier in the meet.

In other races on Sunday, Brittany Cooper (London, Ont.) of the Mustangs successfully defended her 2009 women's 400m individual medley title in a time of 4:55.52, just over one second ahead of teammate Paulyne Kilty (Newmarket, Ont.). Toronto's Andrea Jurenovskis (Timmins, Ont.) won the women's 200m backstroke in a time of 2:15.42. Melissa Loyzer (Hamilton, Ont.) of the Mustangs won the women's 200m butterfly in a time of 2:18.97 while Zack Chetrat (Oakville, Ont.) of the Varsity Blues won the men's 200m in a time of 2:00.51. Chetrat was the defending champion in the event.

In the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, the Western team of Ashleigh Dunnington (Prescott, Ont.), Lenore Chesworth (London, Ont.), Nell and Cooper won in a time of 3:48.61. Luke Hall (Swaziland), Martyn Forde (Barbados), Steven Hibberd (Calgary) and Taylor Bond (Westmount, Que.) of the Varsity Blues won the men's 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:24.97.

Gold and silver medalists in individual races and gold medalists in relays at the championship are named OUA all-stars.

OUA swimmers will now prepare for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) swimming championships, hosted by the University of Toronto from Feb. 18-20.

COMPLETE REAL-TIME RESULTS: www.brocku.ca/brockswimming/results/oua2010/

FINAL TEAM RANKINGS

Men
1. Toronto 998
2. Western 656.5
3. Ottawa 469.5
4. Guelph 448
5. McMaster 418.5
6. Waterloo 188
7. Queen's 177
8. York 163
9. Laurier 88.5
10. Brock 84
11. Laurentian 68
12. Carleton 30
13. Trent 22

Women
1. Western 1032.5
2. Toronto 630
3. McMaster 419
4. Laurier 292
5. Ottawa 274
6. Brock 268
7. Guelph 262
8. Laurentian 255.5
9. Waterloo 175
10. Queen's 94
11. Trent 83
12. Carleton 61

OUA AWARD WINNERS

Female Swimmer of the Meet: Hayley Nell (Western)
Male Swimmer of the Meet: Colin Russell (Toronto)
Female Rookie of the Meet: Jennifer Trung (Western)
Male Rookie of the Meet: Andy Townsend (Toronto)
Female Dr. Jeno Tihanyi IM Award: Whitney Rich (Laurier)
Male Dr. Jeno Tihanyi IM Award: Andrew Ford (Guelph)
Women's Team Coach of the Year: Paul Midgley (Western)
Men's Team Coach of the Year: Linda Keifer and Byron MacDonald (Toronto)

RESULTS - DAY 4

Women's 4x50m Medley Relay
1. Jennifer Trung, Katie Fox, Melissa Loyzer, Amber Hutchinson (Western) 1:55.16
2. Brooke Buckland, Meg Sloan, Sarah Taylor, Alexandra Vanommen (McMaster) 1:58.22
3. Renee Dijk, Whitney Rich, Carly Martin, Brittany Shaw (Laurier) 1:59.10

Men's 4x50m Medley Relay
1. Cam Cummings, Marco Monaco, Mike Smerek, Colin Russell (Toronto) 1:41.62
2. Trevor Nicholas, Jake Armstrong, Bryn Jones, Cameron Mclellan (Western) 1:43.32
3. Benjamin Roberts, Matthew Stephenson, Andrew Ford, Chad Johnson (Guelph) 1:43.66

Women's 400m Individual Medley
1. Brittany Cooper (Western) 4:55.52
2. Paulyne Kilty (Western) 4:56.74
3. Pamela Ruksys (Toronto) 4:57.95

Men's 400m Individual Medley
1. Andrew Ford (Guelph) 4:24.33
2. Zach Summerhayes (Toronto) 4:25.88
3. Curtis Samuel (Toronto) 4:30.34

Women's 50m Freestyle
1. Hayley Nell (Western) 25.80
2. Sarah Taylor (McMaster) 26.68
3. Amber Hutchinson (Western) 26.70

Men's 50m Freestyle
1. Colin Russell (Toronto) 22.94
2. Martyn Forde (Toronto) 23.10
3. Taylor Bond (Toronto) 23.81

Women's 200m Backstroke
1. Andrea Jurenovskis (Toronto) 2:15.42
2. Heather Martin (Western) 2:16.59
3. Renee Dijk (Laurier) 2:20.08

Men's 200m Backstroke
1. Andrew Ford (Guelph) 1:59.17
2. Cam Cummings (Toronto) 1:59.82
3. Adam Best (Ottawa) 2:02.38

Women's 50m Breaststroke
1. Brittany Maltais (Laurentian) 32.58
2. Whitney Rich (Laurier) 33.24
3. Katie Fox (Western) 33.30

Men's 50m Breaststroke
1. Colin Russell (Toronto) 28.42
2. Bryn Jones (Western) 29.43
3. Jake Armstrong (Western) 29.76

Women's 200m Butterfly
1. Melissa Loyzer (Western) 2:18.97
2. Paulyne Kilty (Western) 2:20.81
3. Alexandra Augello (Toronto) 2:20.91

Men's 200m Butterfly
1. Zack Chetrat (Toronto) 2:00.51
2. Mike Smerek (Toronto) 2:04.43
3. Robert Irvine (Ottawa) 2:06.90

Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay
1. Ashleigh Dunnington, Lenore Chesworth, Hayley Nell, Brittany Cooper (Western) 3:48.61
2. Sasha Theron, Julia Boron, Samantha Bancescu, Heather Maitland (Toronto) 3:54.44
3. Kara Demers, Zoe Kamenz, Sarah Boyd, Rachael Shallhorn (Ottawa) 3:56.84

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay
1. Luke Hall, Martyn Forde, Steven Hibberd, Taylor Bond (Toronto) 3:24.97
2. Adam Tudor, Hans Fracke, Adam Best, Sean Dawson (Ottawa) 3:27.47
3. David Landry, Michael McDonald, Zach Dewolfe, Matthew Vogelzang (McMaster) 3:28.62

OUA MEN'S ALL-STARS
Jake Armstrong (Denfield, Ont.) - Western
Taylor Bond (Westmount, Que.) - Toronto
Zack Chetrat (Oakville, Ont.) - Toronto
Cam Cummings (Oakville, Ont.) - Toronto
Frank Despond (Millgrove, Ont.) - McMaster
Andrew Ford (Guelph, Ont.) - Guelph
Martyn Forde (Barbados) - Toronto
Luke Hall (Swaziland) - Toronto
Steven Hibberd (Calgary) - Toronto
Robert Irvine (Whitby, Ont.) - Ottawa
Bryn Jones (Newmarket, Ont.) - Western
Steven Kalaba (Toronto) - Toronto
Marco Monaco (Oakville, Ont.) - Toronto
Benjamin Roberts (Kingston, Ont.) - Guelph
Colin Russell (Burlington, Ont.) - Toronto
Curtis Samuel (Oakville, Ont.) - Toronto
Julien Sauvage (Bedarrides, France) - Western
Mike Smerek (St. Catharines, Ont.) - Toronto
Zach Summerhayes (Waterloo, Ont.) - Toronto
Andy Townsend (Toronto) - Toronto

OUA WOMEN'S ALL-STARS
Lenore Chesworth (London, Ont.) - Western
Alex Cooper (London, Ont.) - Western
Brittany Cooper (London, Ont.) - Western
Ashleigh Dunnington (Prescott, Ont.) - Western
Katie Fox (Oakville, Ont.) - Western
Amber Hutchinson (Brampton, Ont.) - Western
Andrea Jurenovskis (Timmins, Ont.) - Toronto
Paulyne Kilty (Newmarket, Ont.) - Western
Melissa Loyzer (Hamilton, Ont.) - Western
Heather Maitland (Toronto) - Toronto
Brittany Maltais (Charlottetown) - Laurentian
Heather Martin (Etobicoke, Ont.) - Western
Hayley Nell (London, Ont.) - Western
Chantique Payne (Brantford, Ont.) - Guelph
Whitney Rich (Dorchester, Ont.) - Laurier
Pamela Ruksys (Kingston, Ont.) - Toronto
Morgan Singleton-Fookes (Calgary) - Western
Sarah Taylor (Stittsville, Ont.) - McMaster
Sasha Theron (Mississauga, Ont.) - Toronto
Jennifer Trung (Maple, Ont.) - Western
Alexandra Vanommen (Barrie, Ont.) - McMaster

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