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Graphic on predominantly blue background featuring banner photos of the Toronto women's and men's swimming teams above large white text that reads, 'CHAMPIONS' and the OUA Swimming Championships logo
c/o Jayson Childs
February 18, 2024

Banner Season: Decade of dominance continues with another Toronto banner sweep

St. Catharines, Ont. (via Brock Badgers) – The University of Toronto Varsity Blues ruled the waters, sweeping the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Swimming Championships for a 10th consecutive season at Brock University on Sunday, Feb. 18. 

The Blues women took home their 10th title in a row with a score of 1,181 points while Western placed second for the second consecutive year (692). McMaster (491) earned bronze; the Toronto men’s team cruised to their 20th consecutive provincial title, finishing with 939 points. Western repeated as silver medalists (686.5) and McMaster placed third (551.5).

Toronto’s Ainsley McMurray completed an OUA grand slam by winning the same event in four individual seasons. A graduate student from Montreal, McMurray captured gold in the women’s 100-metre freestyle in a time of 54 seconds and 25 milliseconds.

She collected a total of six gold medals across the three-day competition. She was named OUA Female Swimmer of the Year for her efforts.

"It's incredible. I didn't anticipate achieving this milestone when I started my journey at U of T," McMurray said. "The ability to secure an OUA title for four consecutive years, especially considering the challenges posed by the COVID pause, and not being certain if I would reach the fifth year to have that opportunity, makes finally accomplishing it truly special."

McMurray also helped the Varsity Blues set a new OUA record in the 4x100m freestyle relay (3:42.58) alongside teammates Teagan Vander Leek, Gemma Norman and Lily Chubaty.

Eric Ginzburg, a Kinesiology and Health Science major from York University, earned his fourth gold medal of the weekend and was awarded OUA Male Swimmer of the Year.

He held off all challengers to win the men’s 100m freestyle race in a time of 49.30.

“It’s great to see my hard work pay off and to help put York on the map,” Ginzburg said. “It’s my second year competing at OUAs. Last season, the results weren’t exactly what I wanted, so to be able to get this award means a lot to me.”

For the third consecutive day, Western’s Shona Branton broke a provincial record. On Sunday, she shattered the previous record of 31.26 in the women’s 50m breaststroke set in 2018 by McMaster’s Olivvya Chow. Branton completed the preliminaries in a time of 30.71 and eventually broke the record again in the finals with a time of 30.44 for her third win in three consecutive seasons in the event.

It was an impactful debut at the OUA Championships for Toronto’s Katie Schroeder and Bill Dongfang as they earned the Female and Male Rookie of the Year Awards, respectively.

Nina Mollin from the Varsity Blues won the women’s 200m individual medley (2:14.78) for the second consecutive year and was bestowed the women’s Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Individual Medley Excellence Award. Toronto's Jacob Gallant earned the men’s version of the award for a third consecutive season.

The Female Coach of the Year Award was won by Linda Kiefer and Byron MacDonald of the Varsity Blues, while Mahaylia Datars, also of Toronto, earned the Community Service Award.

Laurier’s men’s swimming team secured two awards. Marty Konecny was given the Community Service Award and Cathy Pardy and Ron Forrest were named Male Coaches of the Year.

MAJOR INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS

Swimmer of the Year
Ainsley McMurray, Toronto
Eric Ginzburg, York

Rookie of the Year
Katie Schroeder, Toronto
Bill Dongfang, Toronto

Coach of the Year
Linda Kiefer and Byron MacDonald, Toronto
Kathy Pardy and Ron Forest, Laurier

Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Individual Medley Excellence Award
Nina Mollin, Toronto
Jacob Gallant, Toronto

Community Service Award
Mahaylia Datars, Toronto
Marty Konecny, Laurier

Awards of Distinction

Graeme Aylward, Toronto
Mahaylia Datars, Toronto
Anna Hein, Toronto
Cameron Johnsen, McMaster
Haley Klenk, Toronto
Ainsley McMurray, Toronto

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Women's:
Toronto – 1,181
Western – 692
McMaster – 491
Waterloo – 426
Guelph – 343.5
Brock – 203.5
Queen's – 162
Laurier – 139
Carleton – 68
York – 68

Men's:
Toronto – 939
Western – 686.5
McMaster – 551.5
Waterloo – 458.5
Laurier – 277
Guelph – 224.5
Brock – 181
Carleton – 176
York – 164
Queen’s – 106

DAY 3 INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS (SUNDAY)

Women’s 4x50m Medley Relay
1. Western, 1:52.65
(Leah Butler, Shona Branton, Gabriella Casasanta, Danielle Treasure)
2. McMaster, 1:53.79
(Mikaela Blake, Megan Deering, Michelle Wang, Shaunna Walker-Dejong)
3. Toronto, 1:54.05
(Katie Schroeder, Sydney Winokur, Caroline Carruthers, Alcina Leung)
 
Men’s 4x50m Medley Relay
1. Toronto, 1:38.90
(Andrew Herman, Gabe Mastromatteo, Ahmed El Tatawy, Misha Bagrianski)
2. Waterloo, 1:40.80
(Raymond Duong, Charles Marcial, Lukas Wormald, Allen Zheng)
3. Western, 1:41.63
(David Hickey, Simon Terejko, Theo Graboski, Jackson Waddell)

Women’s 800m Freestyle
1. Mahaylia Datars, Toronto, 8:45.88
2. Anna Hein, Toronto, 8:55.62
3. Megan Frost, Waterloo, 9:02.24

Women’s 50m Breaststroke
1. Shona Branton, Western, 30.44 OUA RECORD
2. Megan Deering, McMaster, 31.71
3. Kaelyn Kelly, Waterloo, 32.46

Men’s 50m Breaststroke
1. Graeme Aylward, Toronto, 28.10
2. Gabe Mastromatteo, Toronto, 28.39
3. Hayden Yeung, McMaster, 28.48
3. Ziyad Salouse, Western, 28.48

Women’s 200m Backstroke
1. Katie Schroeder, Toronto, 2:09.86
2. Angelica Bath, Toronto, 2:11.23
3. Raili Kary, Toronto, 2:11.90
 
Men’s 200m Backstroke
1. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 1:58.82
2. Carter Buck, Toronto, 1:59.55
3. Andrew Herman, Toronto, 2:00.50

Women’s 100m Freestyle
1. Ainsley McMurray, Toronto, 54.25
2. Teagan Vander Leek, Toronto, 55.66
3. Lily Chubaty, Toronto, 55.79
 
Men’s 100m Freestyle
1. Eric Ginzburg, York, 49.30
2. Kent Goni Avila, Laurier, 49.78
3. Raymond Duong, Waterloo, 49.99
 
Men’s 1500m Freestyle
1. Aidan Iapicco, Waterloo, 15:43.65
2. Alex Boden, Waterloo, 15:49.43
3. Hayden Bartoch, Western, 15:55.98

Women’s 200m, Individual Medley
1. Nina Mollin, Toronto, 2:14.78
2. Haley Klenk, Toronto, 2:18.68
3. Claire Macleod, Western, 2:20.70

Men’s 200m Individual Medley
1. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 2:02.07
2. Isaac Allen, Western, 2:02.81
3. Finn Tuck, Carleton, 2:02.86

Women’s 400m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 3:42.58 OUA RECORD
(Teagan Vander Leek, Gemma Norman, Lily Chubaty, Ainsley McMurray)
2. Western, 3:55.38
(Leah Butler, Heidi Bartoch, Kennedy Scott, Ella Rennie)
3. Waterloo, 3:56.60
(Ema Masic, Chloe Chen, Dilara Pamuk, Alyssa Zhang)

Men’s 400m Freestyle Relay
1. Toronto, 3:20.87
(Bill Dongfang, Max Tambling, Carter Buck, Jack Li)
2. Western, 3:22.95
(Luke Stewart-Beinder, Ziyad Salouse, Hanwen Luo, Kieran Stone)
3. Laurier, 3:25.35
(Kelton Langman, Daniel Romagnoli, William Bryer, Kent Goni Avila)