Strong showing at the OUA championships

The McMaster Marauders swimming teams hit the road to Toronto last week before hitting the water in the 2013 OUA championships hosted by the Varsity Blues on Feb. 7-9.

Following a strong season, both the men’s and women’s units looked to bring home hardware for their school. After three days of competition, Mac did just that. Asserting the strength of the program with second and third place finishes respectively.

En route to an improvement on last years finish Marauders swimmers set new provincial records in numerous events, ipso facto both teams set school records in the process. Over the three-day competition the swimmers of the Maroon and Grey set a total of 15 new team records.

The men’s side amassed a score of 722, which was only bested by the host side from U of T who finished ahead of the pack with a three-day total of 891 points.

On the women’s side, the Marauders finished with 682.5 points behind Toronto (762) and the Western Mustangs who finished with 876.5 points.

The strong finish across the board should leave Mac with high hopes for the CIS championships where an improved result should be expected.

Reaching the podium each day of the events, Mac captured numerous gold medals but in events that were not won the teams also captured a number of bronze and silver medals.

Resulting from the successes of the tournament, both teams remain in the CIS top ten with the women moving from No. 9 to No. 7 after an exceptional showing and the men remained at No. 5 after continuing to achieve top results.

Here at McMaster, Konrad Bald of the men’s team and Emma Mittermaier of the women’s team were named Pita Pit Athletes of the week, an honor given to the two most outstanding Marauder athletes each week.

Bald finished the tournament with two gold medals, including setting an OUA record in the 50m breaststroke, reaching the podium four times in total. Bald also contributed to the Mac relay teams, overall making a huge impact on the outstanding overall results for the program.

Emma Mittermaier, a rookie for the Marauders, won gold in two individual events and contributed to a OUA record setting effort by the 200m freestyle relay team which has been a strength for Mac this year. Mittermaier would add another medal as part of the 400m freestyle relay team.

This year has been an overall success for Marauder sports and heading into CIS competition, the swim teams look to add even more achievements to the list.

Both teams have an opportunity to breakthrough on the national stage and with the youth on both sides- these Marauders appear equipped to be a force for years to come.

Heading to Calgary, there is plenty of optimism and hype surrounding this upstart team.