1stLondon, ON – It was a tightly packed three days of competition, but the Mustangs Swimming team picked up plenty of hardware at the 2023 OUA Championship hosted in the Western Student Recreation Centre Pool.

"It's a challenging meet with a lot of swims and I thought our team really fought through right to the end" said Mustangs Head Coach Paul Midgley "We got some of our best results throughout but especially the last night which is really gratifying and I'm so proud of this entire group,"

Overall the Mustangs picked up 27 medals over course of the championship and finished in second place in the team standings on both the men's and women's sides of the competition.

EVENT RECAP

Day one saw the Mustangs win one gold, four silver and four bronze medals. The highlight of the night was Shona Branton breaking the OUA record in the 100m Breaststroke with a final time of (1:08.19).
 

"To be honest I was hoping for a little faster," said Branton of breaking the record "My second 50 (metres) is where I really come up, I always touch last on that first 50 and that's something I really need to work on. Once I get that down I can easily get under the 1:08 and that's what I'll be going for next year."

Day One Medals:

Shona Branton - 100 Breaststroke - GOLD
Women's 4x50 Freestyle Relay - SILVER
Kieran Stone - 200 Freestyle - SILVER
Women's 4x100 Medley Relay - SILVER
Men's 4x100 Medley Relay - SILVER
Luke Stewart-Beinder - 50 Backstroke - BRONZE
Megan Deering - 100 Breaststroke - BRONZE
Ella Rennie - 400IM - BRONZE
Matthew Ketchin - 400IM - BRONZE

Day two saw a full-force effort from the rival Toronto Varsity Blues who had a dominant performance, topping the podium in all events on the women's side of races while also taking 5 gold medal finishes in individual competitions on the men's side. Western held their own though staying right there with the Varsity Blues collecting seven medals on the day.

This included a pair of silver medals in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay's from both the men's & women's teams while Kieran Stone picked up his second individual silver medal of the championship in the 400m Freestyle. Ella Rennie took the only individual silver of the day for the women's team when she finished the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:30.33, just .18 seconds off of the gold medal time.

Day Two Medals:

Kieran Stone - 400 Freestyle - SILVER
Ella Rennie - 200 Breaststroke - SILVER
Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay - SILVER
Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay - BRONZE
Luke Stewart-Beinder - 50 Freestyle - BRONZE
Megan Deering - 200 Breaststroke - BRONZE
David Armstrong - 100 Backstroke - BRONZE

The third and final day was electric in the WSRC Pool with all teams trying to make an impact and finish the competition strong.

Western had a trio of gold medal performances on the day including Branton taking the top spot on the podium for her second time in the event, this time winning the 50m Breaststroke in 31.52 seconds, pairing that with her medals in the 200m Medley Relay and  4x100 Medley Relay it was her fourth medal of the event. On the men's side, Luke Stewart-Beinder took the top spot in the 100m Free in a time of 49.70 seconds, this was his third individual medal of the championship, the other two being bronze in the 50m Freestyle & 50m Backstroke.

"This was my first championship competition in university and it was nothing like a club competition. The excitement and passion in the atmosphere was an extremely unique experience. I remember being behind the blocks for the start of my 100m free and I couldn't even hear the whistle go off due to the amount of noise and cheering going on. Definitely unlike anything I've ever experienced before."

The Men's team also took gold in the final event of the weekend, the 4x100 Freestyle Relay which included Stewart-Beinder, Stone, Ethan Placek & Justin D'Ailley. They swam an incredible 3:21.70 which was just shy of 4 seconds faster than the closest competition.

"Picking up the gold was pretty special. Everything about it was almost out of a movie." said Stone "It was the final event of the competition, a thrilling race and best of all, in front of a home crowd. It was awesome getting to stand up on the podium with the three other guys and holding the Mustang flag."

Day Three Medals:

Shona Branton - 50 Breaststroke - GOLD
Luke Stewart-Beinder - 100 Free - GOLD
Men's 4x100 Free Relay - GOLD
??Megan Deering - 50 Breaststroke - SILVER
??Women's 4x50 Medley Relay - SILVER
??Women's 4x100 Free Relay - SILVER
??Ella Rennie - 200 IM - BRONZE
??Kieran Stone - 200IM - BRONZE
??Hayden Bartoch - 1500 Freestyle - BRONZE
??Men's 4x50 Medley Relay - BRONZE
??Hannah Estabrooks - 200 Backstroke - BRONZE

After the races were concluded, the OUA Major Award winners were announced and Western's Paul Midgley was named OUA Men's Coach of the Year.

"I will be honest, I really wanted this one and it's always gratifying to be voted by your peers," said Midgley of the award "I know the work we did together with the team and I'm really pleased that it was recognized."

This is Midgley's third time being recognized as OUA Men's Coach of the Year, he has also received the award five times on the Women's side.

"When they announced Paul as the Coach of the Year our team erupted." said Kieran Stone "After the amount of work and belief he instilled in us, it was a poetic finish to our championships."

The next stop for the Mustangs is the U SPORTS Championship in Victoria, BC February 23-25 for all those who have qualified.

MAJOR INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS

Swimmer of the Year
Female – Aleksa Gold, Toronto
Male – Gabe Mastromatteo, Toronto

Rookie of the Year
Female – Nina Mollin, Toronto
Male – Ben Loewen, Toronto

Coach of the Year
Female – Chantique Carey-Payne, Guelph
Male – Paul Midgley, Western

Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Individual Medley Excellence Award
Female - Nina Mollin, Toronto
Male - Jacob Gallant, Toronto

Community Service Award
Female – Aleksa Gold, Toronto
Male - Nicholas Scott, Carleton

Awards of Distinction
Megan Deering, Western
Bernard Godolphin, Toronto
Aleksa Gold, Toronto
Claire Howard, Toronto
Ella Rennie, Western
Lukas Wormald, Waterloo

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
 
Men's
Toronto – 790.5
Western – 726
Waterloo – 604
McMaster – 512
Guelph – 227.5
Brock – 190
Carleton – 181
Queen's – 180
Laurier – 173
York - 129

Women's
Toronto – 1207
Western – 777.5
Guelph – 478
McMaster – 428
Waterloo – 339.5
Queen's – 144
Brock – 129
Carleton – 122
Laurier – 103
York – 36