The host University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s and women’s swim teams captured their respective gold medals at this weekend’s Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships, held at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Pool, Feb. 8-10.

The Varsity Blues men’s team captured their seventh title in the last eight years, tallying a total of 1071 points. The next nearest competitor was the University of Western Ontario, earning a silver medal with 503 points. There was a real fight for third place as only 1.5 points separated the 2008 OUA bronze medalists McMaster Marauders (422) and the fourth-place finishers, the Ottawa Gee-Gees (420.5).

The Blues women captured their eighth straight crown, amassing a total of 906 points, while the Mustangs women’s team also captured the silver medal. And again, the tightest race of the day was for the bronze with the University of Guelph Gryphons marginally defeating the McMaster University Marauders 497.5 points to 495.5 points over the course of the three-day event.

“This is possibly the most successful OUA championship meet we’ve ever had”, exclaimed head coach Byron MacDonald. “It was virtually 100% best times by all of our athletes and by significant margins.” Adding; “The extra incentive of having the meet at home provided the final ingredient for the fine performances.”

Waterloo Warriors third-year swimmer Oleg Chernukhin (Fredericton, NB) was named the male swimmer of the meet. The Engineering Mechatronics major garnered four individual gold medals and one relay bronze.

He successfully defended his 200 individual medley (IM) gold medal, while finishing first in the 50m backstroke,100m backstroke, 100m butterfly, and earning a bronze medal as part of the men’s 200m medley relay team.

“The swimmers of the year were not from U of T, which shows that our sport is well represented across the OUA”, said Coach of the Year MacDonald. “Oleg Chernukhin from Waterloo has really come into his own as a university swimmer and it’s a treat to watch him swim.”

On the women’s side, two swimmers were tied in the race for swimmer of the meet with two gold medals each. Through the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) points system, Western Mustangs rookie sensation Hayley Nell (London, Ont.) edged out Toronto’s third-year power-house Sasha Theron (Mississauga, Ont.) and won the coveted individual title by two points.

“As far at the women’s swimmer of the meet”, continued MacDonald. “I, along with every top program in the country tried to recruit [Hayley] because she is a great talent. We will be seeing a lot of her in the future since she’s only a rookie.”

For the sixth time since this decade Varsity Blues coaches Byron MacDonald and Linda Keifer were named OUA Coach of the Year – Women. The duo was also named OUA Coach of the Year – Men for the fourth time since 2000-01.

The Bajan sensation put on another terrific performance on Sunday afternoon. The Blues duo of Martyn Forde (Barbados) and Terrence Haynes (Barbados) were head-to-head again in the men’s 50m freestyle event.

Forde, the defending champion in the event, and Haynes, the 2008 100m freestyle champion and new OUA-record holder, were neck and neck through the first turn. As they hit the finish, both swimmers broke the nine-year old OUA record (22.88) with Haynes (22.84) touching in for the gold, just ahead of his teammate Forde (22.85). Western’s Jonny Calderone, a native of St. Lucia, kept pace and won the bronze with a time of 24.11.

In another outstanding finish, the University of Guelph Gryphons Scott Van Doormaal (Guelph, Ont.) defeated Varsity Blues co-captain Massimo Tarulli (Toronto, Ont.) in the men’s 1500m race. The two swimmers were side-by-side through three quarters of the race. Van Doormaal would make his move with 500m to go and hold off Tarulli for the gold, eclipsing the 16-minute mark with a time of 15:56.58.

In a valiant effort, Tarulli finished in second with a time of 16:03.78 as both men hit the Olympic Trials qualifying standard and are now set to compete at the Trials in Montreal this April.
For complete day one results, please visit
www.ac-fpeh.com/oua/swimresults/ or http://www.varsityblues.ca/.