Noah Chang and Camren Courchene-Carter each earned gold medals as they helped the Badgers repeat their sixth-place finish at the 2026 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships. 

Ending the competition with 296 points, the Badgers finished 36 ahead of the York Lions at the three-day event which took place from Thursday, Feb. 19 to Sunday, Feb. 21 at the Athletic Centre Varsity Pool in Toronto. 

"We scored more points on the men's side than we did last year and we're getting contributions from more athletes," said head coach Dave Ling. "We're flexing our depth a bit and getting better, which is also shown by having four swimmers qualified for the national championships coming up." 

Chang made an impressive debut, claiming gold in the 50-metre breaststroke in a close race as he finished seven hundredths of a second ahead of Isaac Allen of the Western Mustangs with a time of 27 seconds and 70 milliseconds. 

"Noah is super gifted and he's got a lot of speed," Ling said. "He's just starting to scratch the surface of how relevant he could be.  He's got great goals and he's a lot of fun to work with because he's going to be one heck of a swimmer and is going to be one of the best Badgers of all time." 

In just his second year competing at the provincial championships, Courchene-Carter became a back-to-back OUA champion in the 100m breaststroke event as he finished in a time of 1:00.33 to set a new program standard. 

"I don't think there's anybody more competitive on planet earth than Camren," Ling said. "It showed a lot of character to go back-to-back. Everybody thought a bunch of people were going to beat him in the race, and he stepped up and took that swim away from somebody else." 

Ethan Rotsaert-Smith finished the 50m breaststroke event in eighth place but more importantly posted a time of 28.63 to qualify for the U SPORTS Championships. 

The Badgers also saw several records fall over the weekend.  

Evan Karlov, Blake Bishop, Aidan Carroll and Jackson Bates narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the 4x50m freestyle, clocking in at 1:32.83 just 0.56 seconds from the third-place McMaster Marauders. 

Bishop teamed up with Michael McCormick, Courchene-Carter and Aidan Johnston to break the program record in the 4x100m medley relay, touching the wall in 3:46.36 and surpassing the previous mark of 3:48.19 set at last year's OUA Championships. 

"Our relay teams stepped up and broke a couple of school records this weekend," Ling said. "Blake is our unsung hero of our relays and always performs. He's a fifth-year captain and he'll be greatly missed." 

In the preliminary races of the 50m butterfly, Johnston became the new school record holder, breaking Anthony Gunn's record of 25.11 by one second. 

For the second year in a row, a member of the Badgers men's team has received the Student-Athlete Community Service Award as Josh Joubert was recognized at the end of the meet. 

The Badgers who have qualified will head to the 2026 U SPORTS Championships set to take place at the Markham Pan-Am Centre in Markham, Ont., from March 12-14. 

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL AWARDS AT THE 2026 OUA CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Eric Ginzburg (York) 

  

Cathy Pardy (Laurier) 

  

Riley Carswell (Western) 

  

Benjamin Loewen (Toronto) 

  

 

*Awarded to individuals who have medaled in a single event at four OUA Championships* 

Benjamin Loewen (Toronto) - 200m Backstroke 

  

*Awarded to individuals who have medaled at three or more OUA Championships*  

Carter Buck (Toronto) 

Quinn Matteis (Toronto)  

Liam Weaver (Toronto) 

Alex Boden (Waterloo) 

Aidan Iapicco (Waterloo) 

Hayden Bartoch (Western) 

Eric Ginzburg (York) 

 

MEN'S STANDINGS AT THE 2026 OUA CHAMPIONSHIPS  
1. Toronto, 975 
2. Western, 627 
3. McMaster, 488 
4. Waterloo, 406 
5. Laurier, 376 
6. Brock, 296 
7. York, 260 
8. Guelph, 147 
9. Carleton, 123 
10. Queen's, 80 

 

MEN'S MEDALLISTS AT THE 2026 OUA CHAMPIONSHIPS  
Day 1 
4x50m Freestyle Relay 
1. Toronto 1:30.45 (Aiden Harris, Andrew Herman, Carter Buck, Liam Weaver) 
2. Western 1:31.45 (Kyle Stuckless, Hanwen Luo, Jackson Waddell, Luca Cappelletto) 
3. McMaster 1:32.27 (Josiah Terejko, Jacob Pawlak, Nik So, Lucas Chen) 
 
200m Freestyle 
1. Kieran Stone, Western, 1:47.37  
2. Riley Carswell, Western, 1:48. 68  
3. Quinn Matteis, Toronto, 1:49.07  
 
100m Breaststroke 
1. Camren Courchene-Carter, Brock, 1:00.33  
2. Hayden Yeung, McMaster, 1:01.03 
3. Isaac Allen, Western, 1:01.04  
 
Para 100m Breaststroke 
1. Charles Giammichele, McMaster, 1:24.43 
2. Nicolas Scott, Carleton, 1:33.99 
3. Ian Steadman, Guelph, 2:49.86 
 
M 100m Butterfly 
1. Eric Ginzburg, York, 52.22 OUA Record 
2. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 52.68  
3. Alexander Boden, Waterloo, 53.62  
 
Para 100m Butterfly 
1. Alec Elliot, Waterloo, 1:00.10 
2. Nicolas Scott, Guelph, 1:10.08 
 
Para 50m Butterfly 
1. Ian Steadman, Guelph, 1:10.08 
 
50m Backstroke 
1. Andrew Hermann, Toronto, 24.29 OUA Record 
2. Ben Winterborn, Toronto, 24.92  
3. Daniel Chernin, McMaster, 25.26  
 
400m IM 
1. George Radic, Laurier, 4:21.47  
2. Rowen Uy, Western, 4:22.70  
3. Owen Jibb, Laurier, 4:23.17  
 
4x100m Medley 
1. Toronto, 3:38.64 (Carter Buck, Nathan Thomas, Benjamin Loewen, Raymond Duong) 
2. Waterloo, 3:42.85 (Louie Yin, Liam Wallich, Alexander Boden, Kevin Zhang) 
3. McMaster, 3.43.29 (Emilio Gonzalez Maciel, Hayden Yeung, Brady Macpherson Lewison, Preston McMann)

1. Liam Weaver, Toronto, 22.52 

2. Eric Ginzburg, York, 22.66 

3. Connor Barnardo, Western, 22.77 

 

1. Nathan Thomas, Toronto, 2:12.39 

2. John Ryan, Laurier, 2:14.56 

3. Logan Milne, Toronto, 2:14.70 

 

1. Quinn Matteis, Toronto, 3:49.88 

2. Kieran Stone, Western, 3:51.43 

3. Riley Carswell, Western, 3:51.87 

 

2. Ben Winterborn, Toronto, 52.81 

3. Carter Buck, Toronto, 54.47 

 

1. Charles Giammichele, McMaster, 1:25.07 

2. Nicolas Scott, Carleton, 1:18.83 

3. Ian Steadman, Guelph, 2:28.96 

 

1. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 1:58.89 

2. Elijah Daley, Toronto, 1:59.80 

3. Isaac Allen, Western, 2:01.53 

 

1. Eric Ginzburg, York, 23.63 

2. Aiden Harris, Toronto, 24.30 

3. Liam Weaver, Toronto, 24.41 

 

2. Toronto 7:18.25 (Paul Yang, Quinn Matteis, Mateusz Powalowski, Ben Winterborn) 

3. Laurier 7:29.64 (Owen Jibb, George Radic, Jacob Wahba, William Bryer) 

 

2. McMaster 1:39.71 (Daniel Chernin, Hayden Yeung, Brady Macpherson Lewison, Josiah Terejko) 

3. Waterloo 1:40.62 (Louie Yin, Liam Wallich, Gavin Lusby, Quitze Bracho) 

 

1. Benjamin Loewen, Toronto, 1:56.38 

2. Bill Dongfang, Toronto, 1.57.72 

3. Alexander Boden, Waterloo: 1:59.33 

 

1. Eric Ginzburg, York, 48.63 

2. Connor Barnardo, Western, 49.85 

3. Raymond Duong, Toronto, 49.94 

1. Elliot, Laurier: 25.88 

 

1. Elliot, Laurier, 57.56 

2. Giammichele, McMaster, 1:09.33 

3. Scott, Carleton, 1:09.07 

 

2. Isaac Allen, Western, 27.77 

3. Hayden Yeung, McMaster, 28.07 

2. Andrew Herman, Toronto, 1:56.58 

3. Ben Winterborn, Toronto, 1:57.77 

 

1. Quinn Matteis, Toronto, 15:26.45 

2. Riley Carswell, Western, 15:44.90 

3. Mateusz Powalowski, Toronto, 15:47.91  

 

1. Toronto 3:19.66 (Liam Weaver, Raymond Duong, Bill Dongfang, Ben Winterborn) 

2. Western 3:21.41 (Connor Barnardo, Isaac Allen, Rowen Uy, Kieran Stone) 

3. Laurier 3:22.83 (George Radic, Greg Hayward, Griffin Oldman, William Bryer)