Western Ontario Athletics

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Western Mustangs won their second straight OUA swimming championship on Feb. 7, while the Mustangs men performed admirably to earn provincial silver.

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"It's obviously really exciting to repeat as OUA women's champions, and it was a full team effort," said Western head coach Paul Midgley. "We have a pretty broad base of talent and we're pretty deep across the board."

"We have 19 (female) swimmers who have qualified for the CIS championships, we're over the cap, one swimmer over the limit of team you can take, and that's the first time that's ever happened at Western and it's very rare to happen at all."

"The women overcame a lot of injuries and adversity and illness to put this together," Midgley said.

Western earned more than just team hardware on the day.

Jennifer Trung (Maple, Ont.) was named as the female Rookie of the Year, while Hayley Nell (London, Ont.) won her third consecutive OUA female swimmer of the year honour.

And Paul Midgley earned his second straight OUA women's coach of the year award.

Nine Western male swimmers also qualified for the CIS championships, in Toronto later this month.

"On paper we scored it before the OUA Championships, and our guys were in fifth place going into the meet," Midgley said. "It's common for us not to show our hand until we are at the (OUA championship) meet, but they had to come up with some great swims to get to second."

"We have already had pretty general depth, but now we have quite a few swimmers who can go toe to toe against the best in the nation."

Male swimmers Bryn Jones (Newmarket, Ont.) and Julien Sauvage (Bedarrides, France) both won two gold medals each while Trevor Nicholas (Brampton, Ont.) and Jake Armstrong (Denfield, Ont.) also performed well.

"We are posting results that are a good sign as we move to the CIS level," he said.

Even though Sauvage is a rookie, he was not eligible for the men's rookie of the year award as he is over the age of 21 years. He won his two gold medals in the 400m and 1500m races.

Western's women won all five relays at the OUA championships, setting OUA records in four of the races and missing a fifth record - one that Western holds - by just 0.3 seconds.