ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – The Golden Hawks' swim team travelled to Brock University over the weekend to compete at the Dean Boles Divisional Championship named after former Laurier's former longtime head coach - and Golden Hawks Hall of Famer - Dean Boles. 

Owen Jibb and Kent Goni led the charge for the Golden Hawks. Jibb earned 53 points during the weekend and set a new divisional record time in the 1500m freestyle for 30 minutes before a Marauder broke his record and won the event. 

Jibb won the 400 individual medley in a new team record time while also qualifying for the U SPORTS Swimming Championships to be hosted by McGill in March. 

The Bracebridge, Ont. native came third in the 200 individual medley and was also a force on Laurier's relays, helping the team place sixth and third. 

Goni soared over the weekend, winning the 100m butterfly in a new divisional record time, winning the 200m individual medley, and coming second in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly - all while also helping Laurier's relays, finishing third overall in the 4x100m freestyle relay. 

This will be the first time the Golden Hawks have sent two male swimmers to the U SPORTS Championships since 2013 when Lukas Summerhayes and Christopher Courtis competed.

The women also had a fantastic competition. Their first event of the weekend was the women's 4x50m freestyle relay which saw the group finish fifth and tenth overall. 

The first individual event for the women was the 400m individual medley, where Maxeen Mullen finished fourth, earning the first individual points for the Hawks. 

Next up was the 50m backstroke, where Alyse Borges and Tara Tavoularis finished fifth and tenth, respectively. 

Shortly after, Katarina Brezovan finished ninth overall in the 200m freestyle. Seconds later, Megan Smith raced the 100m butterfly finishing ninth overall.
 

When the Golden Hawk women got back in the water Abby Marshall, Mullen, and Olivia Purdy all earned points, finishing fourth, fifth, and thirteenth in the 100m breaststroke. 

Tavoularis was back in the pool with a strong fifth-place finish in the 200m backstroke. 

Next was the "splash and dash", better known as the 50m freestyle, in which Morgan Pequin and Borges got points for the Hawks with their eleventh and twelfth-place finishes. 

The last race on Saturday evening was the 800m freestyle, which saw Brezovan and Kenzy Khattab earn points with their fourteenth and fifteenth-place finishes. 

The women started the second day of competition with a strong fifth and tenth-place finish in the 4x50m medley relay. Shortly after, Mullen finished fifth overall in the 200m individual medley. 

Brezovan was back in the pool for the 100m freestyle, finishing with a new personal best and fifteenth overall. 

Next up was Megan Smith in the 200m butterfly, where she won 14 points for the Hawks with her fifth-place finish. 

The Golden Hawks soared to the podium in the 200m breaststroke, with Mullen winning the event and Marshall finishing third. 

Borges just missed the podium, finishing fourth in the 100m backstroke, while Tavoularis finished twelfth overall. 

In the 50m butterfly, Borges and Smith finished twelfth and sixteenth respectively for the Hawks. Brezovan was back in the water for the 400m freestyle, in which she finished fifteenth overall. 

The final event of the weekend for the women was the 4x100m freestyle relay, where the women finished fifth and tenth overall. 

The women had a very successful weekend, improving on their score from last year and moving up in the rankings. 

On the men's side, day one started rocky, with a ninth-place finish in the 4x50m freestyle relay. But Jibb got the whole team on their feet with his decisive victory in the 400m individual medley in team record time. 

This energy set the men up for success as Tyler Greenwood and Benjamin Cameron finished fifth and sixteenth overall in the 50m backstroke, earning points for the Hawks.

Next up was the 200m freestyle, where the Hawks Jacob Wahba, Cezar Hirsescu, Dylan Thomas, and Ethan Handy finished eighth, ninth, eleventh and fourteenth, respectively.

Shortly after was the 100m butterfly where Goni finished first overall in a new divisional record time while Daniel Romagnoli also made it to the podium with a third-place finish. 

Kelton Langman and Marty Konecny also finished in the top 16 with sixth and eleventh place finish, respectively. 

The Hawks made their presence known in the 100m breaststroke with Thomas, Dylan Murray, Andrew Zab, and Brett Moroz finishing tenth, eleventh, fourteenth and fifteenth overall. Shortly after, Connor Cartier was the lone Hawk to score in the 200m backstroke with his sixteenth-place finish. 

The Hawks were determined to make the podium Golden again and Goni delivered, getting back on by finishing the 50m freestyle second overall, while Greenwood and Romagnoli finished tenth and twelfth.

In the last individual event of night one, Jibb broke the divisional record in heat two of the 1500m freestyle before ultimately finishing second overall. While Wahba, Handy and Hirsescu finished sixth, eleventh and fourteenth overall. 

On the second day of competition, the men started with a sixth and tenth-place finish in the 4x50m medley relay. The podium was once against Golden in the first individual event of the day. The 200m individual saw Goni and Jibb finish first and third overall, while Cartier and Zab also earned points for the Hawks with their thirteenth and fifteenth-place finishes. 

Next up was the 100m freestyle, where Romagnoli and Greenwood finished seventh and twelfth overall. After that was the 200 butterfly which saw Wahba, Langman, Konecny, and Nolan Pittman finish fifth, ninth, eleventh and thirteenth, respectively. 

After that was the 200m breaststroke, where Murry, Zab and Hirsescu all got points for the Hawks with their eighth, tenth and eleventh-place finishes. Shortly after in the 100m backstroke Greenwood just missed the podium finishing fourth overall while teammates Cartier and Cameron finished fourteenth and fifteenth overall. 

The Hawks soared to the podium once again when Goni finished second overall in the 50m butterfly while Landman, Romagnoli, and Moroz finished ninth, twelfth and fourteenth, respectively. 

Right after was the 50m breaststroke, which saw Thomas, Moroz, Murray, Konecny and Zab all find more points for the Hawks with their tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth place finishes. 

In the last individual event of the meet, Wahba, Handy, and Hirsescu gained more points for the Hawks, finishing fifth, eleventh and thirteenth overall. 

The last event of the competition was the 4x100m freestyle relay. The whole pool was on its feet as three teams were even as they approached the wall, with the Golden Hawks finishing third and eleventh overall. 

Overall, the Hawks had a fantastic competition, improving on their scores and placements from last season while beating team and divisional records. This is a great sign of what might come at the final championship in February. 

Laurier's next scheduled meet is the Toronto Varsity Invitational at the Athletic Centre Varsity Pool on Sunday January 21, 2024. 
 

Women's Team Scores: 

McMaster – 1209

Brock – 713.5

Queen's – 694.5

Wilfrid Laurier – 368

Carleton – 196

York – 116

Men's Team Scores:

McMaster – 1111

Brock – 759.5

Wilfrid Laurier – 529.5

Carleton – 356

Queen's – 351

York - 196