March 6, 2019

Many congratulations to all of the student-athletes representing the UCC Varsity Swim team at OFSAA this year. Following a spirited display from the first day at OFSAA Swimming, the UCC squad began their morning with a formidable Junior Free relay with Nick De Chazal, Aaren Fung, Michael Wilson, and Jack Fejer. After a dominant preliminary swim, the team was seeded first going into the afternoon finals. This team swam even faster in the afternoon but finished just 0.16 seconds behind the winning team. Silver medals for the team of Nick, Aaren, Michael, and Jack. 

This relay motivated the rest of the team and set the tone for the day. Swimming in the next event, James Kingsmill and Ben Sun were looking to make an impact in the Senior 100 Individual Medley. James won the event in 2018, and this was Ben's first time swimming the IM at OFSAA. After the morning preliminary races, both swimmers were seeded in the top 8 going into the finals. James swam magnificently and claimed his third medal at OFSAA this year. Ben swam well, and finished in 7th place.

In the Junior 100 IM, Aaren Fung swam his best race of the season. Aaren trained tenaciously all season long, and hard work paid off with a personal best in this event.

The 100 Metre Freestyle events were up next. Starting off in the Senior event, Will Blair and Jimmy Li both swam well enough to make the finals. Will finished in 8th place and Jimmy finished in 13th place.

The Juniors were up next, which meant that Nick De Chazal and Henry Wang were joining the fray. Nick was seeded first going into the preliminaries, and expected a strong race. Henry had a superb swim two weeks prior in the CISAA Championship, and ended up qualifying for the consolation finals. Nick swam his best race in the finals, beating a school record and finishing with a Silver medal. Henry made it into consolation finals and improved dramatically from his preliminary race in the mrorning.

Moving on, the Senior 50 Butterfly was up. Matt Karmitz and Andrew Downing both swam fast races. and Matt ended up winning the consolation finals with a new personal best.

Toby Henderson followed this race with an awe-inspiring 100 Butterfly race. He qualified for the finals and finished a close 4th, just out of the medals.

Last race in the 50 Butterfly - Michael Wilson. Michael had been improving meet to meet over the past couple of months. Following a strong swim in the morning, Michael continued this breakthrough season by swimming into a 5th place finish.

Last two events of the day were the Senior 200 Free Relay and the Open 400 Free Relay. The 200 Free Relay was comprised of Andrew Downing, Will Blair, Phil Kong, Ben Sun, and John Babits. This team finished a close second place and went on to win Silver medals. 

The last event of the day, the 400 Free Relay - composed of Jimmy Li, Alfred Shi, Ethan Tsang, and Toby Henderson - finished out OFSAA in style.

Summary of OFSAA:

• Total of 2175 students competing from 327 schools across Ontario
• Senior Boys Champions - Upper Canada College
• Junior Boys Champions - Upper Canada College 
• 3rd place finish in the province out of 327 total Ontario schools - only 54.5 points behind the OFSAA winners
• OFSAA Swimming link to all results: https://www.ofsaa.on.ca/swimming/schedules-results/results

Individual Gold medals: James Kingsmill (Senior 100 IM)

Relay Gold medals: James Kingsmill, Ben Sun, Matt Karmitz, John Babits (Senior 200 Medley Relay)

Inidividual Silver medals:
James Kingsmill (Senior 100 Back)
Nick De Chazal (Junior 100 Free)

Relay Silver Medals: 
Nick De Chazal, Aaren Fung, Michael Wilson, Jack Fejer (Junior 200 Free Relay)
Andrew Downing, Will Blair, Ben Sun, John Babits, Phil Kong (Senior 200 Free Relay)

Individual Bronze Medals: 
John Babits (Senior 50 Free)
Nick De Chazal (Junior 50 Back)

March 6, 2019

2019 OFSAA Swimming began on Tuesday, March 5, and finished about five hours ago on Wedneday, March 6. Starting with a very early warmup time of 7:00 AM, and a competition start time of 9:00 AM, the UCC team was ready to make an impression. The Senior Team (Under 20) were back to repeat as champs, while the Junior Team (U16) looked to solidify their place as the best U16 Swim team in the province. 

Tuesday, March 5: Day 1 started off with a bang. Highlights and results included the following:

Year 12 Will Blair (Y12) and Andrew Downing (Y12) both made finals after solid swims in the morning's preliminary races. Will ended up finishing 7th and Andrew swam a personal best in the consolation final, winning the heat. 

Year 9 Swimmers Ethan Tsang, Jace Kim, Leo Zhang, and Tim McCowan competed next in the Open Medley Relay. This relay was strong, but despite a couple of personal bests, they did not make the finals.

Up next, the 50 Freestyle races. Jack Fejer (Y9), Matt Karmitz (Y12), and Toby Henderson (Y11) all swam exceptionally well and secured significant points for team standings. John Babits swam a blistering 24.85  (school record) to win a Bronze medal. 

The Backstroke races followed the Freestyle events. This event worked out very well for UCC. Nick De Chazal (Y10) and Michael Wilson (Y10) both made the main final with Nick winning bronze and Michael swimming brilliantly for a sixth place result. James Kingsmill (Y12) was the next competitor for UCC. James was sensational, winning a silver medal after swimming a very fast 100 Backstroke race and beating his own school record from last year.

The Breaststroke races followed with Aaren Fung (Y10) and Justin Lee (Y9). Aaren made the consolation final and swam well, while Justin finished a respectable 20th place.

The last event of the day - and one of the most exciting races at OFSAA, the Senior Medley Relay - had UCC going in with the fastest seed time by 3 seconds. The Medley Relay team - comprised of James Kingsmill, Ben Sun, Matt Karmitz, and John Babits - were looking to break a remarkably fast OFSAA record, set by SAC four years ago. After a relatively easy swim in the morning's preliminary, the team entered the final with an air of excitement. Each swimmer swam a personal best, and just missed breaking the OFSAA record by about 0.40 seconds. This team won their second consecutive Gold in the Medley relay.

The boys finished up Day 1 with a sizeable point advantage, a relay gold, two backstroke silver medals (James, Nick), and one bronze medal (John Babits).

Day 2 highlights are up next...

On Wednesday, February 20, the Varsity Swim team traveled to the Markham Pan Am pool. The team had spent four long months preparing, and now the Championships were here. The day started with brilliant 200 Freestyle races by Will Blair, Andrew Downing, and Henry Wang - all of whom qualified for OFSAA. The morning continued on with superb individual and team efforts by U16 Swimmers Nick De Chazal, Aaren Fung, Michael Wilson, Jack Fejer, Justin Lee, Henry Wang, Gen Nishiwaki, and Chris Chong.

Throughout the morning as well, the U20 Swimmers continued their sensational and thrilling racing. The Senior Medley Relay team of James Kingsmill, Ben Sun, Matt Karmitz, and John Babits, broke a school record and they are seeded first heading into the OFSAA Swim championship. All four of these student-athletes also qualified for individual events, along with Will Blair, Andrew Downing, Phil Kong, Jimmy Li, Skylar Kim, and Aaron Leung.

Our Open team (club swimmers) qualified both relays - Medley and 400 Free Relay - and Toby Henderson swam a fast 50 Freestyle and 100 Butterfly, qualifying for OFSAA in  those two individual events. Ethan Tsang, Jace Kim, Leo Zhang, Tim McCowan, Alfred Shi, and Toby Henderson will be representing the school at the provincial championship.

After all of the races were complete, and scores were tallied, the UCC teams once again were Champions.
The U16 Swimmers - despite a very disappointing disqualification to start the day - won their division.
The U20 Swimmers successfully defended their title win from last year.
The Open Swimmers also won a championship. 

The Overall Boys Champions for the ninth year in a row - Upper Canada College.

All in all, the UCC squad will be making their way for OFSAA to the Toronto Pan Am pool in Scarborough on Tuesday, March 5, and Wednesday March 6. Every UCC Swimmer should be congratulated for their commitment and team spirit. 

Thank you to team parent, Christine Wilson.

An immeasurable thank you to Coaches Ms. Hui Bon Hoa, Mr. Williams, and Ms. Kanga, for all of their time and energy over the long winter months.

The UCC Swim team continues to be "Too Fast, Too Strong".