Marauders Swimming team wraps up their OUA experience

C/O Serena Repice Lentini (Unsplash)

One podium, numerous medals: A wrap-up of the recent OUA swimming championships   

As the school year nears completion, many varsity teams would have been expected to finish off their season and dive into their post-season period. However, the Marauders swimming team just started off their season midway through March. From March 10 to March 14, the Marauders competed in the Ontario University Athletics championships.  

Although not much has been heard about their season thus far, the swimmers were ready to impress and do their best in their races, and indeed, they did impress.  

The OUA championship was hosted by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Although the championship format stayed the same, this year the OUA’s would solely include the final races, excluding the qualifiers and preliminaries. The Marauders still had plenty of swimmers with impressive results on the first day of the competition.  

Starting off on the first day with the women’s races, the 200-metre free relay featured Cindy Shu, Heather Aylward, Leah Russell and Hiva Fazeli. The four Marauders swam with a final time of 1:46.17, which earned them a silver medal to start off the competition.  

Capturing the second and third medals of the day for the Marauders were Sarah Little and Emma Schlyter. Little earned a bronze for finishing with a time of 1:02:33 in the women’s 100-metre butterfly, while Schlyter also earned a bronze with a time of 4:52.32 in the women’s 400-metre individual medley.  

As the day continued, more women’s marauders gathered points, which awarded the women’s team with third place overall, scoring a total of 164 points. The only two teams ahead of them were the Varsity Blues and Western Mustangs, with 386 and 230.5 points, respectively.  

Meanwhile, on the men’s side, there were also some impressive races on their first day. The most notable, was the 400-metre Medley Relay, which featured Colin Campbell, Cameron Johnsen, Bijan Ziaian and Josiah Terejko. Although they missed out on the podium, the quartet managed to achieve a relatively strong time of 3:49.07, which narrowly stood short of third place.  

In terms of the best individual men’s result, Kevin Ireland managed to place as high as fifth in the men's 400-metre individual medley, earning himself a time of 4:37.55. Although he missed the podium, this race proved to be important for the team to regain some key points as they fought for fourth place in the championship.  

By the end of the first day the men’s team claimed the fourth position with a total of 138 points. The teams in front of them were the Varsity Blues, Waterloo Warriors and the Mustangs, with 342.5, 234 and 176.5 points, respectively. 

On days two and three of the competition, the women’s team further impressed with their podium finishes throughout. The first two medals came in way of the 50-metre butterfly and 800-metre free relay. The 50-metre butterfly awardee was Sarah Little, who achieved a time of 27.89, earning herself a bronze medal. The second bronze medalists were Maeve Bailey, Andie Lloyd, Emma Schlyter and Erin Anderson, who achieved a time of 8:32.27 in the 800-metre free relay.  

The other two podiums achieved by the women’s team came on day three, with Schlyter earning her third podium of the championship tournament after winning a silver in the 200-metre individual medley with a mesmerizing time of 2:17.86. Schlyter was hungry for more. She continued her medal streak by coming out with the team’s last — and her fourth — medal of the championship for the 400-metre free relay, achieving a time of 3:53.11 to take home her third bronze.  

On the men’s side, the only podium finishes that were picked up on the second and third days were by Campbell, Johnsen, Ziaian and Terejko, who achieved an impressive silver medal finish in their 200-metre medley relay with a time of 1:43.25. As for the rest of the team, numerous swimmers worked hard to pick up additional points for the Marauders in the hopes of retaining the fourth place from day one.  

Overall, the OUA championships ended with both teams capturing a top-five spot. After three days of competing, the women’s team grabbed third place with 583 points, whereas the men's team achieved fourth place with 356.5 points. Though this was only a regional tournament, the Marauders also received an invitation to the U Sports championships, taking place in Montreal.