Varsity Blues swimming starts season with a splash

WATERLOO, Ont. - The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's and women's swimming teams defeated both the Guelph Gryphons and Waterloo Warriors in tri-meet action on Sunday in Waterloo, Ont.

The Blues men defeated the Gryphons 70-48 and the host Warriors 82-30, while the women recorded a 65-47 victory over Guelph and came away with a 73-41 win over Waterloo.

"This was a great meet to start the season," said Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. "We have been doing this meet for over a decade and it really sets the tone for the fall. We use it to get the swimmers to start to familiarize themselves with racing again."

First-year standout Zsofi Balazs (Toronto) handily won the women's 400m freestyle and the 200m butterfly and also anchored the relay team to a gold medal. As a member of Canada's national team, she was the top recruit in the county and will definitely bolster the Blues performance as they host the 2009-10 CIS championships in February.

Poppy Ruksys (Kingston, Ont.) won the 200m individual medley (IM) in one of the closer races of the meet, while second-year swimmer Andrea Jurenovskis (Timmins, Ont.) set a new pool record on her way to winning the 50m backstroke.

Third-year humanities student Heather Maitland (Toronto) was victorious in the 200m freestyle and rookie Samantha Bancescu (Regina, Sask.) won her first race for the Blue and White in the 200m backstroke.

In men's action, Zack Chetrat (Oakville, Ont.) led the way, winning both the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly.

Fifth-year graduate student Martyn Forde (Barbados) won the 50m freestyle, while fellow Olympian Colin Russell (Oakville, Ont.) won the 50m breaststroke.

Curtis Samuel (Oakville, Ont.), the 2008-09 OUA swimmer of the year, won the 200m backstroke and fifth-year Toronto native Sergui Bagrianski won the 50m butterfly.

Full Results

The Varsity Blues return to the pool on Fri., Oct. 16 when they host the downtown sprint meet at Varsity Pool. Races are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues