MSWIM | Voyageurs Pull Away From Field, Claim First Divisional Banner
The Voyageurs swim teams hosted the deBray Divisional Swimming Championships over the weekend, welcoming teams from Brock, Carleton, Guelph, Laurier, Queen's and York to the Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool.
The women's team was looking to lay claim to their fifth consecutive banner while the men's squad were in search of their first Divisional crown.
From their first stroke, the Voyageurs men's team sent a message to their competitors that they meant business. After day 1 of competition, the men had a commanding 177.5 point lead over the Guelph Gryphons, who were another 88 points up on the Queen's Gaels.
The Voyageurs started the meet off strong with a 1-2 finish in the 4x50m freestyle relay. From there it was solid team performance that saw first place finishes from Mitchell Cox in the 200m freestyle, Matthew Schouten in the 100m butterfly and podium sweeps in both the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle with Schouten, Samuel Boily-Dufour and Zach Shalovsky finishing 1-2-3 in both races.
Both Schouten's and Boily-Dufour's times in the 50m freestyle were fast enough to qualify them for the U SPORTS Championships in February.
Day 2 saw the Voyageurs eagerly looking to grow their lead and secure their first Divisional banner. Early in the session, another podium sweep in the 100m freestyle, this time from Boily-Dufour, Schouten and Gabriel Fenn, helped to build some distance between the Voyageurs and the Gryphons. Once again, Boily-Dufour and Schouten saw their times qualify them for the U SPORTS Championships. Shalovsky and Boily-Dufour then went 1-2 in the 50m butterfly to all but clinch the Divisional banner.
With the title wrapped up, the Voyageurs ended the meet the way they began; with a massive exclamation point. In the 4x100m freestyle relay, the Voyageurs A team easily swam to victory while the B team, anchored by Cox, overtook the Queen's team in the final leg to out-touch them at the wall by 32 hundredths of a second to secure a 1-2 finish.
The Voyageurs finished an incredible 303.5 points ahead of second place Guelph, with Queen's rounding out the top 3, 89 points back of the Gryphons.
A full summary of all top-8 results are below.
MEN
4 x 50 freestyle relay
A relay - 1st place GOLD - 1.32.30
B relay - 2nd place SILVER - 1.36.18
400 individual medley
Gabriel Fenn - 1st place GOLD - 4.43.68
Tylor Gmehlin - 6th place - 4.57.73
Quinn Schroeder - 7th place - 4.58.68
Dante Di Lello - 8th place - 5.02.47
50 backstroke
Matt Schouten - 1st place GOLD - 26.12
Samuel Boily-Dufour - 2nd place SILVER - 26.17
Zach Shalovsky - 3rd place BRONZE - 26.65
Mitchell Cox - 7th place - 27.79
200 freestyle
Mitchell Cox - 1st place GOLD - 1.55.46
Chris Eastick - 6th place - 1.57.26
100 butterfly
Matt Schouten - 1st place GOLD - 55.72
200 backstroke
Mitchell Cox - 2nd place SILVER - 2.08.62
Chris Eastick - 3rd place BRONZE - 2.10.80
Nick Vanderschoor - 8th place - 2.15.44
50 freestyle
Matt Schouten - 1st place GOLD - 22.76 – U SPORTS Qualifying Time
Samuel Boily-Dufour - 2nd place SILVER - 23.06 – U SPORTS Qualifying Time
Zach Shalovsky - 3rd place BRONZE - 23.97
Cameron McCabe - 6th place - 24.66
Bryce Jones George - 7th place - 24.79
1500 freestyle
Dante Di Lello - 5th place - 17.23.77
Gabriel Fenn - 8th place - 17.34.48
200 medley relay
Men LU A - 3rd place SILVER 1:46.97
Men LU B - 9th place 1:51.81
200 individual medley
Nick Vanderschoor - 3rd place SILVER 2:13.94
Quinn Schroeder - 6th place 2:18.16
Tylor Gmehlin - 7th place 2:18.23
David MacSporran - 8th place 2:21.49
100 freestyle
Samuel Boily-Dufour - 1st place GOLD 50.06 – U SPORTS Qualifying Time
Matt Schouten - 2nd place SILVER 50.12 – U SPORTS Qualifying Time
Gabriel Fenn - 3rd place 52.67
Chris Eastick - 5th place 53.27
Daxton Timeriski - 8th place 54.60
200 butterfly
Dante Di Lello - 6th place 2:17.76
Johnny Longmuir - 7th place 2:20.22
Felipe Escobar - 8th place 2:21.69
200 breaststroke
Joseph Deni - 8th place 2:30.92
100 backstroke
Mitch Cox - 2nd place SILVER 59.32
Chris Eastick - 3rd place 59.88
Nick Vanderschoor - 7th place 1:01.23
50 butterfly
Zack Shalovsky - 1st place GOLD 25.69
Samuel Boily-Dufour - 2nd place SILVER 25.78
Johnny Longmuir - 5th place 26.55
50 breaststroke
Joseph Deni - 3rd place BRONZE 30.33
Zach Shalovsky - 8th place 30.90
400 freestyle
Gabe Fenn - 8th place 4:17.97
400 freestyle relay
Men LU A - 1st place GOLD 3:27.34
Men LU B - 2nd place SILVER 3:36.44