TORONTO (February 12, 2013) - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks travelled to Toronto this past weekend to compete in the OUA Championships at the University of Toronto. Energetic and spirited attitudes lead to CIS qualifiers, along with top A and B finalists, and many personal best swims.
Joining Renee Dijk at the CIS championships are Lukas Summerhayes, Veronica Davis-Freeman and Christopher Courtis. Dijk qualified last weekend for the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke and the 200m individual medley. Davis-Freeman made the standard for the 200m breaststroke while Summerhayes qualified for the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley. Rounding off the CIS swimmers was Courtis making the cut for 50m backstroke.
The Golden Hawks had three swimmers qualify to compete in the A finals over the weekend. Dijk finished 7th in the 100m backstroke (1:03.83) and 200m backstroke (2:17.53), and also placed 6th in the 200m medley with a time of 2:21.86. Summerhayes placed 7th in the 50m breaststroke (29.69), 8th in 100m breaststroke (1:05.05), 6th for 200m breaststroke (2:20.03) and 5th in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:04.46. Rookie swimmer Courtis finished 8th for 50m backstroke in a time of 26.77.
The women had three swimmers that competed in the B finals. Dijk finished 9th overall for the 50m backstroke with a time of 30.02. Davis-Freeman placed 9th for 50m breaststroke (34.97), 10th for 100m breaststroke (1:15.38), and 11th for 200m breaststroke in 2:38.94. Rookie swimmer Miranda Smelt placed 12th in the 200m individual medley (2:24.94), and 11th for the 400m individual medley (5:05.27).
Rookie swimmers dominated the B finals this past weekend with 5 competing finalists. Christopher Caldwell finished 14th in the 200m freestyle event with a time of 1:56.14. Scott McAuley placed 13th for 50m backstroke (27.55) and 16th for 100m backstroke (59.57). Courtis finished 14th for 200m backstroke (2:07.01), and 12th for the 200m the individual medley with a time of 2:09.44. Graham Smith placed 15th for 50m breaststroke (30.89), 10th for 100m breaststroke (1:06.03), and 15th for 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:28.21. Richard Naylor finished 16th in the 200m breaststroke with a final time of 2:26.37.
The Hawks relay teams were cheered on by their fellow teammates leading to great results. The 200m freestyle women's team placed 9th with a time of 1:55.38 (Victoria Rawn, Leila Bautista, Kaitlyn Patterson, Erin Neal), and the men's team finished 10th in a time of 1:46.96 (Peter Burns, Derek Davies, Steven Tang, Brayden Libawski). The 400m freestyle women's team finished 10th with a time of 4:13.43 (Rawn, Neal, Bautista, Jade Scognamillo), and the men's team placed 11th in a time of 3:44.51 (Caldwell, Mike Golian, Naylor, Smith). Rounding up the freestyle relays was the 800m relay placing 8th overall in a time of 9:06.38 (Smelt, Lily Godawa, Neal, Patterson) and the men finished 7th with a time of 8:06.39 (Caldwell, McAuley, Naylor, Golian).
The women's 200m medley relay team placed 6th overall in a time of 2:02.42 (Alana Corrigan, Davis-Freeman, Rawn, Dijk), and the men's team had a respectable 4th place finish with a time of 1:46.44 (Courtis, Smith, McAuley, Summerhayes). Finishing off the relays was the 400m medley with both teams placing 6th overall, the women's team with a time of 4:26.93 (Dijk, Davis-Freeman, Smelt, Corrigan), and the me'ns team in a time of 3:54.97 (Courtis, Smith, Summerhayes, Caldwell).
Wilfrid Laurier is sadly saying goodbye to three members of our Hawks family. Leila Bautisa, Derek Davies and Renee Dijk are graduating this year and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Their leadership and presence will be greatly missed.
The OUA Championships wraps up the season for most of the Golden Hawks. We wish our CIS qualifiers all the best in Calgary next week as the championships kick off on February 21. The swimmers are staying fit over the summer, and are looking forward to new additions to the swim team and another solid season next year.
