The newly reinstated Carleton Ravens varsity swim team competed in the Tihanyi Division Championships at McMaster University Nov. 16-17, earning several personal bests.
The head coach of the team, Sarah Boyd, said she was proud of how the team performed.
“It was a very good meet for everyone. We had five of 11 best-ever times and all 11 swims were season-best times,” Boyd said.
She said it was a great improvement from the first two meets.
First-year students Thomas Leigh, Tristan Ogilvie, and Sonja Weilgart-Whitehead represented Carleton at the two-day meet.
Although the team came last overall, Leigh said he believed the team did really well.
“The three of us managed to make some best times and it was an overall good showing from us,” he said.
Leigh placed 18th in the men’s 200-metre freestyle, 20th in the 50-metre butterfly, 21st in the 100-metre freestyle, and 28th in the 50-metre freestyle.
Ogilvie placed 19th in the men’s 200-metre freestyle, 26th in the 100-metre freestyle, 26th in the 50-metre butterfly, and 35th in the 50-metre freestyle.
“We have a small team this year so you can’t really compare placing with other teams,” Boyd said.
Weilgart-Whitehead, a para-swimmer with cerebral palsy, came in 22nd in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke, 26th in the 50-metre backstroke, and 46th in the 50-metre freestyle.
Boyd said this is the first time she has worked with a para-athlete.
“It’s been hard with her transitioning here because she doesn’t have the same doctors that she has back home,” Boyd said.
Boyd said she has been working with Weilgart-Whitehead on athletic therapy to increase her flexibility in her arms and refine her strokes.
Boyd said she wants to focus on the personal growth of the swimmers this year over team placement.
Leigh said he hopes to drop more time in his races and place in the top 20 at the upcoming Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships at Brock University Feb. 6-8.
“With it being such a small team, there’s a lot of room for us to grow team-wise and ability-wise because we have a lot of one-on-one time with the coach,” Leigh said.
According to Boyd, the team doesn’t get very much funding from the university and swimmers have to pay quite a bit to train with the Ravens of Carleton Swimming (ROCS) club.
The Carleton swim team lost its varsity status for the second time in 2010.
The team was run as a university competitive club in the past few years, but Boyd said the university decided to reinstate varsity status to the swim team this year.
Boyd said she hopes to recruit more swimmers this spring and build up the team.
“I would really like to have a bigger team in future years,” she said.
