Podium placements at the Dean Boles Divisional for the men's and women's swim team leads to Sam Chisholm and Megan Deering receiving Marauder award
On Nov. 27, Sam Chisholm and Megan Deering from the men's and women’s swim team respectively won the Marauder Athletes of the Week awards. The honours were awarded to the two following outstanding first place performances at the Dean Boles Divisional Championships in St. Catherines, Ont. on Nov. 25 and 26.
For the men's team, Chisholm picked up two individual gold medals in the meet, winning both the 400 and 1500 metre freestyle races. His silver medal finishes in the men’s 200 and 400 metre individual medley also helped in propelling the Marauders to the top of the podium with 1111 points.
On the women’s team, Deering logged individual gold medals in women’s 50 and 100 metre breaststroke as well as the 50 and 100 metre butterfly. Along with recording first and fourth place results in the 200 metre medley and freestyle relays respectively, Deering recorded the most points for the women’s team on the way to a team gold for the meet.
Along with recording first and fourth place results in the 200 metre medley and freestyle relays respectively, Deering recorded the most points for the women’s team on the way to a team gold for the meet.
The women earned an outstanding 1209 points at the championship, besting the Brock University Badgers and the Queen’s University Gaels who earned 713.5 and 694.5 points as the silver and bronze medallists.
Overall, McMaster University secured 66 podium place finishes across the meet with phenomenal all-around efforts by both the men and women’s team.
Overall, McMaster secured 66 podium place finishes across the meet with phenomenal all-around efforts by both the men and women’s team.
Looking ahead to Jan. 2024, the Marauders set their sights on a tri-meet with the University of Waterloo and University of Guelph at the Ivor Wynne Centre on Jan. 20. They will take on a winter invitational meet at the University of Toronto on Jan. 21 as their last regular season event before the Ontario University Athletics championships from Feb. 15 to Feb. 18.
The men and women place fourth overall in the standings following strong swims at their playoff meet in London
The McMaster University swim team competed at the Ontario University Athletics championships on Feb. 9 to Feb. 11 at the Western Student Recreation Centre in London. Against 10 other participating schools, both the men and women’s teams placed fourth after tallying 512 and 428 points respectively.
The Marauders were coming off an impressive performance at the University of Toronto Winter Invitational on Jan. 23 after first place finishes from the men and women’s team.
On the opening day of the competition, McMaster finished first in the women’s 4x50m free relay race with a time of 1:46.00. Backed by a team of Hiva Fazeli, Michelle Wang, Leah Russell and Heather Aylward, the Marauders set the competitive tone early to capture their first medal of the OUAs.
Following the women’s race, the men also battled their way to the podium for the 4x50 meter free relay, earning the silver medal behind the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The quartet of Cyrus Drabik, Bijan Ziaian, Josiah Terejko and Cameron Johnsen finished the race with a time of 1:31.60.
To finish off their first day, Johnsen swam a time of 1:01.59 to nab the bronze medal in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke. The time was less than a second off of Graeme Aylward and Gabe Mastromatteo from Toronto, who rounded out the podium with times of 1:01.29 and 1:01.05 respectively.
“This year, I felt really lucky that we were back to that environment that we haven’t been in three years, which was the place just being absolutely electric, so loud during the relays that you can’t even hear your own voice. . . That was just awesome,” said Johnsen.
“This year, I felt really lucky that we were back to that environment that we haven’t been in three years, which was the place just being absolutely electric, so loud during the relays that you can’t even hear your own voice. . . That was just awesome.”
Cameron Johnsen, McMaster Men's Swim Team
On the next day, Johnsen continued his strong performance with a gold medal in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke. Swimming the race in 2:11.98, Johnsen finished just over half a second faster than the former Olympian, Mastromatteo, who settled for silver with a time of 2:12.51.
The men collected another medal in the men’s 4x200 meter free relay. Max Angove, Trevor Laupland, Kevin Baghdassarian and Colin Campbell finished in 7:36.41 and placed third behind the teams from Western University and Toronto.
To round out their OUA outing, the maroon and grey team collected three more medals on their final day in London.
Johnsen’s dominance carried over into the men’s 4x50 meter medley relay, where he finished in second alongside Campbell, Ziaian and Drabik with a time of 1:41.43. The three-time OUA athlete concluded his spectacular showing by inking the bronze medal in the men’s 50 meter breaststroke.
Aylward, Naeva Scott-Bouris, Andie Llyod and Chelsea Zhou secured the team’s final medal of the competition in the women’s 4x100 meter free relay. Their time of 3:55.26 was good for third place and the race’s bronze medal.
“OUA magic is kind of what we call it on the swim team, which is that feeling of swimming for the team, feeling that electric energy from your teammates on the sideline. . . That’s what turns underdogs into champions and that’s what happened this past weekend,” said Johnsen.
“OUA magic is kind of what we call it on the swim team, which is that feeling of swimming for the team, feeling that electric energy from your teammates on the sideline. . . That’s what turns underdogs into champions and that’s what happened this past weekend.”
Cameron Johnsen, McMaster Men's Swim Team
With eight medals across three days, the McMaster men and women teams each finished fourth in the contest overall. The Toronto Varsity Blues finished first in both the men and women’s standings to defend their title as provincial champions.
To wrap up the season, the Marauders traveled to Victoria, BC to take on the national U Sports Championships at the Saanich Commonwealth Place from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25.
Among those who represented McMaster, swimmers with qualifying times included Terejko and Johnsen in the men’s 100m breaststroke, Will Clarke in the men’s 50m breaststroke, Maggie Smith in the women’s 50m backstroke and Scott-Bouris in the women’s 400m freestyle.
