Swim team prepares for season in Florida

The McMaster swim team spent their winter break training across the border, readying themselves for a continuation of their season in 2025

As the first portion of the season winded down, the McMaster swim team hosted their annual team training camp in Florida over the winter break.The team has done consistently well in the past year and has high hopes for the upcoming Ontario University Athletics championships. 

Women's team captain Naeva Scott Bouris said in an interview, "We go to Florida and we've gone to the same place for like at least 15 years . . . the point is [to] take yourself out of Hamilton to a better destination and you don't have school, so you're really just only focused on swimming."

The 2024 half of the season saw the McMaster swim team compete in four major meets. The team was consistently able to get good results and peaked in form at their final meet at the Merrily Stratten Divisional Championship on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, 2024. 

At the divisional competition, the men’s team captured a second place finish and the women’s team earned a third place finish. This result kept the Marauder’s in the top division of OUA teams.

“In the fall, we had our divisional meet and we got to stay in the top category. At the end of every season, one team gets boosted down to the lower one and the top of the bottom comes up. So, we usually flip flop between divisions at the end of every season, but we're gonna stay on the top one for next year, which is a really big deal,” said Scott Bouris. 

A strong finish to the end of 2024 led the McMaster team into the holiday break. During this break, the team headed to Florida for their annual training camp. The camp is a way to achieve higher fitness before the semester begins.

“We usually swim double days most of the days and then have a recovery single day every so often. It's just to get you as in shape as you can be before school starts, so that when we start practices again we carry a way higher level of fitness for the next month, before we have our OUA championships,” said Scott Bouris. 

Along with a high intensity of practice, the camp is a way for the team to bond during the break. This aspect of team bonding and team togetherness is something which Scott Bouris attributes to the team’s success so far.

"We're all friends and you come back and we're a way tighter group because we've just gone through really intense stuff together for the past 11 days," said Bouris.

Scott Bouris believes that the intensity of the training camp will only make the rest of the season easier. This is especially important as the team approaches the OUA championships.

“I think that personally, I find that when I come back to school after Florida, I'm gonna know [that] whatever practice gets thrown at me, I can do it because I did way tougher stuff in Florida already. So I think that just gives you a level of confidence that you got through those kinds of things,” said Bouris. 

With only about a month left before OUA’s, the swim team will look to maintain and improve itself. The OUA championships will be hosted on Feb 7. To Feb 9. in Markham, ON.