ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – The Golden Hawks swim team has been an up-and-coming force in the OUA for the last couple of seasons and their strength was on full display over the weekend at the 2024 OUA swimming championships hosted by the Brock Badgers in St. Catherines.

Laurier climbed the rankings from last year, with the men finishing fifth overall - four spots up from last season - putting the Golden Hawks into the top half of the OUA. 

On the women's side, Laurier ended eighth overall, up one position from a year ago. 

Laurier head coach Cathy Pardy picked up the men's team coach of the year award for the drastic improvement in the team's placement. Team captain Marty Konecny earned the men's community service award for his leadership at Laurier and his efforts in promoting university swimming through Uniswimcanada. 

Day One

On the first day of the championship, nine Golden Hawk swimmers advanced to finals. The first final was the women's 4x50m freestyle relay, which saw the Golden Hawks finish eighth.

Next was the men's 4x50m freestyle relay, where the Hawks raced to a fourth-place finish.

The first individual final of the night was the 200m freestyle, where Jacob Wahba finished 15th.

Immediately after was the women's 50m backstroke. Alyse Borges finished 16th.

Then came the men's 50m backstroke, which had William Bryer swim in the B final, finishing 14th. Right after Tyler Greenwood raced in the A final, finishing eighth. 

Next up was the breaststroke duo of Abby Marshall and Maxeen Mullen, who raced side-by-side in the 100m breaststroke, finishing 13th and 15th, respectively. 

Then it was time for Kent Goni Avila to race in the A final of the 100m butterfly. He finished eighth in an extremely fast final. 

After a short break, Mullen was back in the water racing the 400m individual medley, finishing 14th and improving upon her ranking from last season. 

Right after, Owen Jibb raced in the A final of the 400m individual medley, finishing fifth - which was the best individual performance of the night. 

The night ended with the 4x100m medley relay. The women finished eighth overall and the men finished sixth.

Day Two 

The second day of the championship had nine Golden Hawks individually advance to finals. 

The night started with the men's 400m freestyle, as Wahba finished 14th overall. Shortly after, Goni Avila was back in the water racing to a sixth-place finish in the 50m butterfly. 

Next up, in the women's 200m breaststroke, Mullen finished ninth and Marshall finished 13th.

Two men also represented the Hawks in the men's 200m breaststroke final, as Jibb and Dylan Thomas raced together in the B final. Jibb finished 10th and Thomas finished 16th

The next race for the Hawks was the 100m backstroke, where Bryer finished ninth overall and set a new personal best time. 

Shortly after Kelton Langman was in the water for the 200m butterfly final, where he finished 14th.

The last individual event of the night was the 50m freestyle in which Goni finished sixth.

The night ended with the 4x200m freestyle relays, where both the men and women finished seventh, respectively. 

Day Three

The third and final day of competition saw three Hawks qualify individually for finals.

The first event of day three was the 4x50m medley relay, where the women placed eighth and the men seventh.

Marshall was the first Hawk in an individual final with a strong 13th-place finish in the 50m breaststroke. On the men's side, Thomas raced hard to a 16th-place result.

The next final was the 100m freestyle in which Goni had won a medal every year that he has been a Golden Hawk. Goni made it 3 for 3 with a second-place finish and the Golden Hawk's first medal of the championship.

The next event was the fastest heat of the 1500m freestyle in which Jibb finished fourth, earning his second U SPORTS qualifying time. 

With the final results from the 1500m freestyle becoming official, the Hawks also found out that Wahba had finished 11th, earning points for the Hawks.

Only minutes later, Jibb was back in the water racing the 200m individually medley, finishing 7th.

The final event of the championship was the 4x100m freestyle relay, which saw the women finish 8th overall. 

The men had earned the bronze medal the last two years in a row, and everyone wondered if the Golden Hawks could make it three straight. The men's team raced hard but finished just off the podium in fourth - that is until the officials stated Waterloo had been disqualified, due to an early takeover, putting the Golden Hawks into third.

The last swim meet of this season is the U SPORTS Championships from March 7-9 at Pointe-Claire Aquatic Centre in Montreal, hosted by McGill University.

Laurier Swimming Finalists

Women's Scores

1. Toronto - 1181
2. Western - 692
3. McMaster - 491
4. Waterloo – 426
5. Guelph – 343.5 
6. Brock – 203.5 
7. Queen's - 162
8. Wilfrid Laurier – 139 
9. York – 68
10. Carleton – 68

Men's Scores 

1. Toronto – 939
2. Western – 686.5
3. McMaster – 551.5 
4. Waterloo – 458.5
5. Wilfrid Laurier – 277
6. Guelph – 224.5
7. Brock – 181
8. Carleton – 176
9. York – 164
10. Queen's 106

WOMEN

4x50m freestyle relay:

- Tara Tavoularis, Morgan Pequin, Alyse Borges, Olivia Purdy 8th 

50m backstroke:

- Alyse Borges 16th 

100m Breaststroke

- Abby Marshall 13th 

- Maxeen Mullen 15th 

400m Individual Medley

- Maxeen Mullen 14th 

4x100m medley relay

- Alyse Borges, Abby Marshall, Megan Smith, Olivia Francis 8th 

200m breaststroke:

- Maxeen Mullen 9th 

- Abby Marshall 13th 

4x200m freestyle relay

- Katarina Brezovan, Maxeen Mullen, Olivia Purdy, Catherine Tenai 7th 

4x50m medley relay 

- Alyse Borges, Maxeen Mullen. Megan Smith, Tara Tavoularis 8th 

50m Breast: 

- Abby Marshall 13th 

4x100m freestyle relay: 

- Olivia Francis, Morgan Pequin, Abby Marshall, Katarina Brezovan 8th 

MEN

4x50m freestyle relay:

- Tyler Greenwood, Daniel Romagnoli, William Bryer, Kent Goni Avila 4th 

200m freestyle:

- Jacob Wahba 15th 

50m backstroke:

- Tyler Greenwood 8th

- William Bryer 14th 

100m Butterfly:

- Kent Goni Avila 8th

4x100m medley relay:

- Benjamin Cameron, Dylan Murray, Kelton Langman, Dylan Thomas

400m freestyle 

- Jacob Wahba 14th

50m butterfly: 

- Kent Goni Avila 6th 

200m breaststroke: 

- Owen Jibb 10th 

- Dylan Thomas 16th 

100m backstroke: 

- William Bryer 9th

50m freestyle: 

- Kent Goni Avila 6th 

4x200m freestyle relay: 

- Owen Jibb, Jacob Wahba, Dylan Thomas, Cezar Hirsescu 7th 

4x50m medley relay

- Tyler Greenwood, Dylan Murray, Jacob Wahba, Dylan Thomas 7th 

50m Breaststroke: 

- Dylan Thomas 16th 

100m freestyle: 

- Kent Goni Avila 2nd 

1500m freestyle: 

- Owen Jibb 5th 

- Jacob Wahba 11th 

200m Individual Medley: 

- Owen Jibb 7th 

4x100m freestyle relay: 

- Kelton Langman, Daniel Romagnoli, William Bryer, Kent Goni Avila 3rd