The Brock Badgers men's and women's swimming teams took down both the Laurier Golden Hawks and York Lions at the Laurier Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 4, placing first in the combined, men's and women's categories.
"This was our first meet in racing suits and we wanted to build some momentum into the Boles Divisional Championships at the end of the month," said head coach Dave Ling. " Our swimmers in their first year in the program swam very well while the returning veterans showed the kind of progress that will put us in a position to perform well at divisionals."
On the men's side, Owen Googe earned three gold medals on Saturday, placing first in the 200-metre individual medley (IM) in two minutes, fifteen seconds and seventeen milliseconds as well as the 400 IM (4:45.79) and 200m butterfly (2:13.45)
Michael McCormick took gold in both the 100m (1:00.28) and 200m backstroke (2:12.40) while Anthony Gunn (100m fly - 58.23) and Tomas Galvez (400m freestyle) (4:22.60) also earned golds.
In the relays, the men had their highest finish in the 400m freestyle, as the team of Evan Karlov, Anthony Gunn, Christopher Ball and Liam McKenna placed second, touching the wall in 3:34.3.
Alex Walker earned three silver medals with his performances in the 50m (30.35), 100 m (1:07.07) and 200m breaststroke (2:24.27).
Walker and Julien Legault partnered with Tatum O'Connor and Quinn Mersereau of the women's team to place first in the mixed 200m medley relay in 1:54.39.
Though Laurier may have won more events than the Brock side, the depth of the Badgers really showed through, flooding the points table in every event and ultimately coming away with the win.
For the women, the standout performance came from Jayden Toews. The first-year Teacher Education major took home golds in the 50m (36.29), 100m (1:18.94) and 200m breaststroke (2:52.39), earning personal best times in all three races.
O'Connor (50m back - 30.17) (100m back - 1:05.74), Mersereau (50m free - 28.26) (100m free - 1:02.69), Mara Di Persio (200m back - 2:32.84) (100m fly - 1:08.73) and Jami Fusion (200 IM - 2:33.18) (400 IM - 5:19.62) all took home two golds each.
Sydney Peace (9:53.64) placed first in the 800m freestyle while Noemie Ringuette (200m free - 2:15.00), Bella Seabrook (200m fly - 2:35.47) and Chloe Smith (50m fly – 30.51) also earned gold medals.
O'Connor, Fuson, Smith and Mersereau placed first in the 400m medley relay with a time of 4:22.76.
The women's side continues to improve over last year's performances as evidenced by their showing in Waterloo, winning every event except for one at the Laurier Invitational.
Up next, the Badgers host the Boles Divisional Championships at home at the Eleanor Misener Aquatic Centre on Saturday, Nov. 25 and Sunday, Nov. 26.
