The Warriors swim team had a fantastic weekend of action in St. Catharines at the 2015 deBray Divisional Swim Championships. The men came away with their second consecutive division championship, dominating throughout the weekend finishing 400 points ahead of Laurentian. The women placed 3rd, narrowly behind Queen's and well back of Laurentian. The OUA has been naming their divisions after former coaches and Herb deBray, former Brock coach, was back on deck in his 50th year of coaching to hand out the championship banner.
The women were led by
Josie Andres (Thorndale). Josie qualified for the February CIS champs with her 50 fly victory. Andres was able to come back quickly and win the 50 breast as well. Day 1 had Josie finishing 2nd in the 100 fly and 3rd in the 50 free.
Other leaders for the women included
Frances Heather (Waterloo) who was third in the 100 back with a swift 1:06 swim;
Brianna Coens (Kingston) capturing a surprise 3rd in the 100 breast and some outstanding relay swimming. The Andres, Heather,
Tamara Shaw (Ottawa) and
Meaghen Vydelingum (Toronto) combined to post the 2nd fastest times in Warrior history in both the 200 free and 200 medley relays. Both relays were 2nd behind Laurentian. The final 400 free relay of Vydelingum, Shaw,
Linda Wang (Oakville) and
Kennedy Fitzgerald (Kincardine) finished 3rd overall to move the team past Laurier in the team standings.
On the men's side there were a trio of team records, a couple of freshmen records, a bunch of wins and overall superior performances. This young team has a senior leader who posted some of the fastest times in the country this year and showed he is prepared to challenge the best at the CIS champs.
Graeme Kemp (Waterloo) opened the meet with a team record 4:21.35 400 IM and followed it up with a near record 2:00.8 200 back, a lifetime best 200 IM (2:03.5) and solid 4:03 400 free - all for the win. Add in two big relay swims and Graeme finished the weekend with 6 gold medals and 5 lifetime performances. On the other end of the experience scale
Aidan Chow (Gormley) grabbed three wins in the fly events - two with rookie team records (50 and 100 fly).
Zao Chen (Ottawa) won a close 200 free race;
Brian Dohler (Smithers) won the 100 back but was most excited about his lifetime best 200 swim to finish behind Kemp in 2nd; Jon Ramkissoon won the 100 and 200 breast - the 100 time a PB and narrowly off the team record.
Danyon Chu (Unionville) was up against some stiff competition in his main events and came 2nd three different times in the 50, 100 and 200 free. Team records in the relays where Chu,
Mitchell Krafczek (Georgetown), Chow and
Oscar Elhanafey (Brampton) went 1:36.34 in the 200 free relay; Kemp, Ramkissoon, Chow and Chu combined for a 1:42.67 200 medley relay that ranks in the top 5 nationally. The final 400 free relay of Chen, Kemp, Elhanafey and
David Mallett (Kitchener) closed out the meet with a win as well.
The growth of the team and the resiliency of the group through some challenges this fall has been very exciting. Swimming has a lot of demands on the time and energy of all the team members with many early mornings in the pool and days in the gym. To see 65 lifetime best performances spread through the whole team it is a real sign of progress and the strength of the group to use mutual success in lifting individual performances. The Warriors gained momentum through the meet, swimming better on Sunday and growing as a team. A lot of hard work well rewarded. Congratulations to all the Warriors.
Complete ResultsTeam Results
