After five years spearheading the McMaster swimming team, Olivvya Chow has swum her last collegiate competition for the McMaster Marauders. Initially coming to Mac from thousands of kilometres away, Chow quickly felt like she belonged on campus.
“I’m from British Columbia and if you’re in a sport, there are only two or three schools out there so you have to look at other universities,” said Chow. “I came here for a recruiting trip and everyone here was just so nice and inviting. They flew my mom out which was a big deal because it’s pretty far. As soon as I came here, I knew I wanted to come here and I accepted on the very last day the last time during my recruiting trip.”
A mainstay of the Marauder swimming team and a strong presence in the national swimming circuit, Chow can hang up her swim cap after another strong and successful season filled with medals. As one of the more tenured members of the program, Chow has settled into more of a leadership role due to the large amount of incoming rookies.
“There are 24 rookies, so they take over our entire team,” said Chow. “So you’re doing whatever you can to get them to practice, have them motivated to get them to swim. I thought less of myself and it was more developing them as their personalities, their training and stuff like that. I was less stressed about how I would swim versus how they would swim.”
One notable rookie to immediately make a splash across the country was Isabelle Lei, who set records and earned a lot of hardware in her own right. In addition to being a big presence on the team, Lei is a fellow B.C. native who actually swam for the same home team as Chow.
“We have a little rivalry, not really, but she took all my records at the home club and then she came here, and we’re in some different strokes,” Chow said of Lei. “But she went two minutes which is very impressive for 200[m freestyle], and I started crying. I was so excited for her and that inspired me to race harder just because of the way she swam.”
“When Isabelle raced, four of our teammates started crying and you don’t see that in any other sport. We are like a family, and I know that sounds very cliché, but we honestly are.”
Olivvya Chow
McMaster Swimming Team
Looking back on her time with the swimming program, Chow will most fondly remember the moments and experiences outside of the pool possibly more than any moment racing.
“Just being on a sports team is probably the best experience anyone could ever have,” Chow said. “You’re never going to be able to make friendships like this. I’m never going to live in a house like this, so I just cherish those moments. I live in a swimmers’ house with six girls, so it’s something I’m never going to experience again, but it’s an experience that everyone should have.”
Chow is of course no stranger to the podium herself; the Surrey native once again helped the women’s swimming team collectively medal in the Ontario University Athletics tournament in early February. While bringing home four individual medals of her own, including three gold, she contributed to two relay medals as well, resulting in an overall team bronze for the second consecutive year.
This is the second time the women’s team was able to reach the podium during Chow’s tenure, with last year being a defining moment in her collegiate career.
“For sure last year when we medalled at [OUAs], we were third and we hadn’t been third since I came here and there were 16 of us,” Chow said of her fondest memories at Mac. “You can have a team of 18 so that team wasn’t full and we still medaled which was pretty impressive.”
Most impressively, Chow was able to etch her name into the history books once again, breaking two OUA records (both she had previously held): one in 100m breast stroke with a time of 1:08.44, and one in 50m breast stroke with a time of 31.26.
“It was the last time I was going to race so I just had to know to trust in my coaches trust in my training and just go for it,” Chow said. “There were three of us who were going to be under the cut no matter what. So it was just whoever got their hand on the wall first.”
Chow took her success down to Toronto to the U Sports Championships, proving to be the top-performing Marauder at the national tournament as the only Mac swimmer to reach the podium. The French and economics major brought home a silver medal in 100m breast stoke and a bronze in the 50m breast stroke. Chow also helped the Marauders to a fourth-place finish in the 4x100m medley relay.
While medals look great in trophy cases and in pictures, Chow emphasized just how strong the bond is between the swimmers at Mac. Especially in a sport that primarily consists of individual events, the Marauders’ support for one another and their team-first mentality truly sets them apart from other programs.
“Mac is very inclusive,” Chow said. “When we’re racing, if someone is on the blocks, everyone’s standing up cheering. Every other team is sitting down worrying about themselves, and our team is always about the person racing and no one else. We always yell ‘M-A-C’ like three times before someone races and everyone calls us a cult because we are always so involved in everyone else’s races.”
While her time as a Marauder has officially come to a close, the impact Chow leaves on the swimming program will surely remain. It is clear in both the team’s performance and in how Chow speaks of the team that the swimming program at McMaster is truly something unique that deserves to be recognized.
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Following a successful training camp in Florida over the winter break, the McMaster University swimming team is back in action. After having the opportunity to bask in some much needed sun during outdoor training, the Marauders returned north of the border to prepare for the upcoming Ontario University Athletic swimming championship on Feb. 8.
For head coach and McMaster Hall of Fame swimmer Grey Fairley, Marauder pride runs deep through his veins. Known for often saying, “My name is Grey and I bleed maroon,” to his swim team, he knows exactly what it means to be a McMaster student-athlete. To those around him, Fairley is not just a coach. He is a mentor.
Fairley and the Marauders hosted both the Guelph Gryphons on Jan. 16 and the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Jan. 19 in dual meets before finishing off their busy week at the University of Toronto’s Invitational. Entering into the team’s second half of the season, Fairley used the meets as a way to prepare the Marauders for championship season.
“I thought their effort was exceptional,” said Fairley. “It really gave me the information that I’m going to need moving forward on who to select for the team and what races they should be doing at the OUA Championships.
“On the men’s side I thought Mitch Muizelaar was fantastic in the 400m freestyle,” Fairley added, speaking on Muizelaar’s performance against the Gee-Gees. “He started off the race and was a little out of sorts, but he was able to get it back and win the event because of it.”
Success is not a brand new experience for the third-year swimmer. Muizelaar has been to the OUA Championships twice before and has already qualified for this season’s U Sports swimming championships being held Feb. 22-24 at the University of Toronto.
“I was pretty excited for this meet because it had my type of races,” said Muizelaar about the dual against the Gee-Gees. “It’s a good way to benchmark myself and see where I’m at before the OUA Championships. It was also a very successful race for me because even though it was not my best time, I managed to out-touch my competition in the race.”
Working with Fairley has helped Muizelaar become one of the best in the pool, helping him succeed in his career as a student-athlete.
The McMaster women’s team dominated at the Fairweather Division Championships in Guelph, taking home 10 out of McMaster’s 12 medals.
“Having people there who have done it before and have gone through the process and know what it’s like to be a student-athlete is just really awesome,” said Muizelaar. “Being able to relate to our head coach like that has been a really good experience for me.”
Although the men are not ranked within the top 10 by U Sports nationally, the women have been able to remain in eighth place, eight points ahead of the Dalhousie Tigers and the Western Mustangs who are tied for ninth place.
Earlier this season, the McMaster women’s team dominated at the Fairweather Division Championships in Guelph, taking home 10 out of McMaster’s 12 medals. First-years Veronica Nichol, Isabelle Lei Sarah Little veteran Olivia Chow were among those who stood out.
Fast-forward to the dual against Ottawa and Chow has only gotten better.
“Olivia swam a ton of events and was able to dominate the 200m breast stroke and that was great to see,” said Fairley. “She struggled in the fall with her conditioning, but has really shown improvement since December.”
After all three meets, like most athletes, Chow still sees room for improvement within herself. But she, along with the entire team, plans on using the next few weeks to get much needed rest and recuperation before the provincial championships.
“I’m really excited because it’s my last year of university and my last time racing within the OUA,” said Chow. “So although it is a very sad time for me, I am still extremely excited to race one last time and hopefully win multiple events for our team.”
For Chow, this should not be hard to do. During last year’s OUA championship, she brought home the team’s lone gold medal on the third day, sporting a time of 32.11 seconds in the 50m breast stroke. Chow added a silver medal for 100m along with four other medals to add to her trophy case.
Chow’s time as Marauder may be coming to a close but the women’s team is in good hands with a number of high-performing swimmers who have competed extremely well this year, like the rookie trio.
And with Muizelaar, Mohamad Jrab and Alex Tropynine who all finished within the top three for the 400m at the U of T Invitational, the men’s team has a promising future ahead as well.
The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind for the McMaster swimming team, but they are looking forward to the next two weeks as they bring down the level of intensity to prepare for the OUA championships.
And for Coach Fairley, that requires three simple things: Getting a lot of rest, saying your prayers and being a “hulkamanic”.
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It looks like McMaster swimming will get the push they need to finish off their season at the top of the ranks thanks to new 2013 men’s team recruit – Eric Anderson.
With 15 years of competitive swimming under his belt (starting his career at age six) Anderson is prepared to make an impression on McMaster swimming during his time here at the school.
“Swimming for McMaster means an opportunity to build something truly great, and be a part of something truly meaningful,” said Anderson.
“I have two seasons here where I’d really like to make an impact not only in the pool individually, but for the program as a whole.”
Anderson knows that his time here at McMaster is valuable and he has a lot to prove being that he has not been a Marauder for very long.
“I represented the Dinos for the 2010-2011 season and won a CIS championship with that team,” said Anderson.
“For me, Calgary had been home for a number of years, but the dream had always been to go to a Division 1 NCAA school. After that first season, I transferred to the University of Denver, in Colorado. After two seasons of struggling with injuries, health issues, and a relatively poor coach-athlete relationship, I was ready to pack it in and be done with swimming.”
It was under the suggestion of his father and past swimming coach to contact Andrew Cole, head coach of men and women’s swimming at McMaster University.
Coach Cole would prove to be the deciding factor, which would lead to Anderson’s switch to the Maroon and Grey.
“Andrew made it sound like he could make swimming fun for me again,” said Anderson of his head coach.
“He talked of a Marauder family and an environment that could support whatever goals I had.”
“Three months into the year I can honestly say my experience has been nothing short of incredible. The team spirit is outstanding, the support staff is great, I love showing up to workout every day, and I’m swimming better than ever before.”
After experiencing many high’s during his career such as winning the 2010 Junior Nationals in the 200 freestyle and getting the opportunity to represent Canada internationally at the Pan Pacific Games, McMaster University would prove to only further nurture Anderson’s budding talents.
“On three months of training I’m swimming faster than I ever did back then, and it’s been really exciting,” said Anderson.
“This season is all about putting the pieces back together after the last couple of years in Denver.”
“Coach Cole has been amazing to work with, and the team has been really supportive.”
With lots of responsibility mounting for this young swimming Anderson hopes to lend a hand in helping his program get recognition in the McMaster sports community as well as helping the Marauders achieve a top title in the OUA and CIS.
“I don’t think the program gets the recognition it deserves from the swimming community sometimes, and I’d like to change that,” said Anderson.
“Ideally, by winning some gold medals at the OUA and CIS championships in February. I think I’m really just scratching the surface of what’s possible this season, and I’m excited to see where the team can go over the course of this year.”
Anderson’s passion for the sport is what drives him to be the best he can be. Every day is a new opportunity for him to achieve a new feat and surpass new boundaries.
His attitude and love for the sport will certainly drive this young athlete as well as his teammates to a potential OUA title and we can expect amazing things from the young squad this season.
The Marauders swim team broke records and reached the podium numerous times at the Tihanyi Division Championships on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 at Ivor Wynne Centre.
The team finished second overall, just behind the Toronto Varsity Blues, and had several strong finishes and performances across the board.
One of the most notable finishes on the men’s team was from Eric Anderson – who managed to reach the podium a total of four times on the weekend, with three gold medal finishes and one silver medal.
Anderson also managed to break his own record that he set over a month ago at the OUA Sprint Invitational in the 50m backstroke. At last weekend’s championship meet, he raced to a time of 25.97 seconds.
He also won the 100m butterfly, only four events later.
On the Sunday, Anderson also won gold in a team event, joining up with Konrad Bald, Mo Eldah, and Matt Vogelzang to break a Marauder team record, and win gold in the 200m medley relay.
Anderson’s last events of the meet included the 200m butterfly, where he won silver, and then the 100m backstroke event, where he won yet another gold medal, and broke another McMaster record.
Other than Anderson, another standout performer was rookie Brittany Pask, who won the 50m backstroke, which qualified her for the CIS Championships.
Pask says that the key to her success is visualizing the race the day before it happens, and having faith in her training.
“I don’t really think about it when I’m actually in the water but I will visualize myself swimming the race the day before and looking to what I have to do to reach my goal. I have to remember to trust myself and my training but also knowing that I have an amazing team, coaches and family behind me,” said Pask.
As for the promising goals of the near-future for this talented rookie, she would love to make both the OUA and CIS podiums.
“I would love to reach the podium at CIS and OUA’s in the 50 and 100 backstroke and to represent McMaster the best that I can.”
Pask, along with Alexa Vanommen, Natasha Strass-Hundal, and Emily Fung joined forces to win silver in the 200m medley relay.
The Marauders were able to get to 33 podium finishes in the span of two days, which was encouraging for the team and coaching staff.
Next up for the Marauders swim team is a meet in St. Catharines, Ont. where they will take part in the Brock Cup, and strive to top their finishes and swim to some personal best times.
William Lou
The Silhouette
On Oct. 12, the McMaster Swimming Teams travelled across the border to Buffalo, New York to partake in a friendly meet hosted by the University of Buffalo.
The Marauders opened their season on Sept. 29, against the five-time defending conference champions Western Mustangs at the Ivor Wynne Centre. The Mustangs, claiming 16 podium finishes en route to a hotly contested 347-329 point loss, narrowly edged the women’s team. The men’s team claimed 17 medals at the meet.
So when coming into the meet in Buffalo, coach Andrew Cole and his athletes were unsure of what to expect. The University of Buffalo swim teams compete in NCAA Division I, meaning the Marauders were in for a tough challenge, especially given that the Marauders’ season was in its infancy. To further complicate matters, Buffalo’s pools are 25 yards in length, as opposed to 25 meters, so the Canadian swimmers had to make some adjustments for the shorter pool.
Despite the difficulties, however, both the men’s and the women’s teams managed to capture several podium finishes against their tough American counterparts.
There were several notable finishes on the Women’s team. Olivvya Chow claimed the gold in the 200-yard individual medley, Kieran Liew took the gold in the 100-yard backstroke and Virginia Hetherington finished first in the 200-yard backstroke.
The Men’s team also claimed several podium finishes. The quartet of Cameron Bailey, Konrad Bald, Mohamed Eldah and Matthew Vogelzang won gold in the 4x50- yard relay. Bailey claimed gold in the 200-yard individual medley and Eric Anderson, a transfer student from Denver, Colorado, came within 6/10th of a second of beating the pool record in the 100-yard backstroke en route to winning gold and qualifying for the CIS competitions. Several other Marauders also medalled on the day.
After the meet, coach Andrew Cole complimented both the Men’s and the Women’s teams on their performances early on in the season. “I can easily say, for this early in the season, that it’s the best we’ve looked,” said Cole. He also noted that several American coaches who were thoroughly impressed with the Marauders’ showing approached him. A few in particular asked in disbelief, “how good are you guys in Canada?”
Coach Cole said that the meet was very productive. It gave him a chance to “see any weak links...with regard with individuals and what we need to do to get better, and to focus on in training over the next month.” He also said that the “athletes feel a little more confident” following their impressive performance against their Division I opponents.
Their next meet, hosted by the University of Guelph will take place on Oct. 19. Look for newcomers like Eric Anderson, Eldah and Chow to retake the podium, and for veterans like Virginia Hetherington, Kieran Liew, Bailey and Bald to continue to impress.
Last season, the McMaster varsity swimming teams enjoyed record-breaking performances that brought home several awards for the Marauders. This year, with the regular season coming to an end, both Mac teams find themselves in the top ten. The men, ranked No. 8 in the country, and the women, ranked No. 9, prepare for the OUA championships that will take place on Feb. 7-9 in Toronto.
Host Varsity Blues men’s and women’s teams are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in Canada. Mac got a chance to get in the water with a usually strong U of T program, hosting the Blues on Jan. 12, narrowly losing to the visitors by a combined men’s and women’s score of 161-110. In what was their eighth event of the season, the Marauder swimmers made a strong showing against one of the tougher opponents in the CIS.
On Jan. 27 the swim teams headed to Waterloo for a duel meet hosted by the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. Both the men’s and women’s teams from Laurier sit in the CIS top 20, ranked No. 17 and No. 18 respectively.
Sunday was a day of dominance for the Marauders, outscoring the sides from Laurier and the rest of the field handily with program total of 14 first place finishes. The strongest showings for the women’s team came in the 200m distances with a group consisting of Kieran Lieuw, Erin MacFayden, Virginia Hetherington and Madeleine Tam capturing gold in the medley. Lieuw would also take home gold in the freestyle relay alongside Natasha Strauss-Hundal, Emily Fung and Meg Sloan.
On the men’s side, a pair of Marauder rookies stood out with spectacular performances in both team and individual events. Freshman Mohamed Eldah and Marc Muise found the top of the podium three times each.
Muise, a 6’3” 187 lb life science student, captured a pair of individual golds in the 50m butterfly and 200m individual medley. Teaming up with Konrad Bald, Cam Bailey and Mohamed Eldah, the Brantford native brought home another gold in the 200m freestyle relay.
Eldah’s other two gold medals came individually in the 100m freestyle and as part of the 200m-medley relay team with Cory Woo, Bald and Jeff Braches.
Competing for the Marauders is a hometown experience for Eldah, who is from the Steel City. Despite his community ties however, the Environmental and Earth Sciences student has taken his talents to the international stage for this season. Earlier in the month the 6’4” freshman represented Canada as part of the National Junior team at the Age group championships in Sydney, Australia from Jan. 8-13.
Eldah not only represented his country with a solid showing Down Under, but added to the tradition of McMaster athletes competing at an international level. Now that he and his fellow Marauders have wrapped up the season, they will look to make a strong showing at the OUA championship and hopefully improve on their solid results from last year’s CIS championship.
This year’s national competition will take place in Calgary on Feb. 21-23, hosted by the annually strong Dinos.
Fraser Caldwell
Sports Editor
With the OUA Championships looming, it appears that the competition is wary of the Marauders.
For the past few weeks, McMaster has engaged in dual meets – short, one day-long events with a small field – and has come up against competition with the most serious of mindsets. The upper echelon squads of Toronto and Ottawa were sporting their $500 racing suits and were fully shaved in preparation.
In the opinion of the Marauders’ sophomore swimmer Cory Helie-Masters, such preparations hint at a shared fear on the part of the competition, a fear of their inability to overcome the athletes of the Maroon and Grey.
“They took more time to be physically prepared for it,” said Helie-Masters of McMaster’s opponents. “They took days off of training, shaved down and put on their $500 racing suits. We saw it as a sign that they needed to do these things because they didn’t believe that they had a chance of beating us.
“We show up having done five hours of training the day before. Although we’d taken the time to be mentally prepared, we haven’t taken the rest because we’re focused on the OUA Championships and the CIS event.”
For McMaster’s swimmers, the dual meets of the past few weeks function primarily as practice runs. They allow athletes to perfect the racing technique necessary to succeed at the more meaningful events that conclude the season.
“There are a number of meet-to-meet goals, but these races are chances to practice everything that you need to do while you’re fully rested,” said Helie-Masters. “It’s a chance to find out if you’re doing everything properly. It allows you to check and to get a coach’s feedback instead of waiting until the OUAs and finding out too late that you’re doing something wrong.”
For the Marauders’ leading male swimmer Cameron Bailey, the dual events are simply steps on a season-long progression that points inevitably to the OUA Championships.
“It’s basically a matter of progression,” said Bailey of the events’ value. “What we try to focus on in these dual meets is using them as dress rehearsals of sorts. We go into them tired from hard training, so they’re a chance for us to race tired which we will be doing come OUAs.
“We’ll have to perform while we’re tired, so that’s what we practice in these races.”
A vital part of that progression to the conference championships came in the form of the Marauders’ holiday training camp in Jamaica, an intensive period of training that saw the Maroon and Grey spend five hours in the pool each day.
“The training effects of Jamaica have been very apparent,” said Helie-Masters. “One of the best things was that we were completely taken away from every sort of distraction and the coach was able to say, ‘We’re going to swim five hours a day, every day, and you’re going to like it.’
“The training effect has been seen and been presenting itself in a lot of races. When we came back, we didn’t slow down, even though we don’t have as much access to pool time here as we did there.”
With the conference championships only two weeks away, the Marauders are each pursuing their own goals in order to properly peak at the most important stage of the season.
Bailey explains that his own path is simply one of continued compliance with the training schedule outlined for him by coach Andrew Cole. He is confident enough in his coach’s planning to believe that adherence to the schedule will suffice to put him in the position to mount the podium at year’s end.
“My own goal is to follow the program,” Bailey said simply. “Andrew has spent hours creating individual programs for people, so what I have to do at this point is follow what he has for me. If I do that, I know I’ll succeed. I’ve done everything leading up to it and it’s now just the finer details that I have to follow.”
For his part, Helie-Masters looks forward to the next few weeks as an opportunity to sort out the details of his life outside of the pool that will otherwise affect his ability to perform.
“I’m looking to finally catch up on some sleep,” said the sophomore with a wry chuckle. “Every Tuesday and Thursday we’re at the pool by 6:30 am. We’ve had meets every single weekend, which really eliminates the idea of resting on the weekend.
“So I’m looking to fully rein in my studies, catch up on the schoolwork and be in bed by 9 o’clock every single night. If I can do that, when we start our taper I’ll be feeling good and moving really fast.”
The preparedness is essential, particularly in a season ripe with opportunity, with the Marauders eagerly eying the top two positions in the province. Both Bailey and Helie-Masters are confident that McMaster can overcome opposition from teams such as Western, Guelph, and Ottawa to claim team silver on the men’s side.
“Toronto will be a bit harder for us to overcome, but I think that we have a great chance this year of coming second in the OUA,” said Bailey. “The traditional second would be Western. Guelph is there and the Ottawa men’s team is quite good. But so are we.”
McMaster continues its road to the provincial championships this coming weekend, participating in a quad meet on Jan. 29.
Fraser Caldwell
Sports Editor
Another dominant weekend at a dual meet saw the Marauders qualify a 12th athlete for the CIS national championships.
The event in question was the Brock-Mac Cup, a meet held at the two aforementioned schools over the course of two days on Nov. 26 and 27.
McMaster garnered medals in a slew of events on both the men’s and women’s sides, leading the Maroon and Grey to clinch the team titles across the board.
It was at that dual meet at Sara Thompson notched two podium finishes – including a gold in the 200 individual medley and a silver in the 50m fly – and added her name to a current field of a dozen Marauders heading to the national championships.
The Maroon and Grey’s coach Andrew Cole underscored the significance of having 12 athletes earmarked for the year-end meet with only half of the season complete, and indicates that such a figure marks a drastic progression from past seasons.
“As recently as three years ago we didn’t have 12 national qualifiers in a whole year, so the progress of the team is significant,” said Cole. “Even in my first year, I think we had one male and four female qualifiers go to the event.
“It’s also significant because the qualifying time is a running average of the top 16 swimmers in the country. So if you’ve made that time it’s a very impressive milestone and a good marker of where the team is overall.”
Despite his teams’ early successes, the Marauder mentor is quick to acknowledge that his swimmers must continue to build on the momentum that they have accumulated to this point.
“I think [Marauder football coach] Stef Ptaszek said it best,” Cole said. “It’s one thing to have some success, but you have to have the desire to go a lot further. So we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to be more excited to do more.
“There were some solid performances in the fall, but everyone is hungry to be competitive at the national level.”
Cole also knows that while his swimmers have excelled in several smaller events, they remain some distance off the pace set by the strongest units in the country. He believes however that the Marauders have the correct mentality to close that gap in performance.
“We’ve beaten Western and Guelph in some dual meets, but to go into the University Cup on (Nov. 24) where the eight best teams in the country were there, it wasn’t always the case,” said the coach of his athletes’ high standard. “But the athletes believes more and more that we can get there.”
Part of the improvement that the Marauders envision will come over the holidays, as they look to embark on a warm-weather camp in Jamaica over the course of the Christmas Break. Cole knows that the gains made in the Caribbean could make all the difference at the end of the year.
“We’ve always gone on a warm weather camp to make sure that we capitalize on what we’ve been able to achieve so far,” said the coach. “If we didn’t go to the camp, we would come out of the break on a lower level than we went in on. If we go to the camp, we move to a higher level.
“The difference between those is the difference between being either competitive nationally or falling short.”
In Jamaica, Cole will have 24-hour control of his athletes’ routine, and he plans to make the most of that control for training purposes. Fans of the Maroon and Grey will be able to see the fruits of those tropical labours when the Marauders resume their conference schedule at a dual meet with Toronto on Jan. 14.
