The Guelph Gryphon swimming team is off to Sudbury as Laurentian University is set to host the 2011-2012 OUA Swimming Championship beginning February 9 at the Dr. Jeno Tihanyi Olympic Gold Pool. Racing will continue until Saturday, February 11 when the event will culminate with the team trophy and banner presentations.

For LIVE results click here: http://www.personainternet.com/slsc/2012oua/

Laurentian will be airing LIVE coverage of the event finals each night starting at 6PM.  You can follow the live webcast by clicking here:  http://www.ssncanada.ca/games/

On the men's side, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues cling to an eight year title reign. The Blues won last year's championship by more than 140 points so the rest of the field is looking to close that gap and challenge for gold.
 
The Gryphons will be looking to improve upon their fifth place finish at the OUA championships last year, hosted in Guelph. Starting the year ranked sixth in national polls, the Gryphons still maintain a national ranking at No. 10 heading into this weekend.
 
Leading the way is captain Wil Wright (Mississauga, Ont.) who is coming off a strong quad meet where he won four events, including the 100m freestyle, the event which Wright is looking for his second consecutive OUA gold medal.  Last season, Wright emerged as a strong contender in the OUA also earning two silver medals in the 50m and 100m butterfly and a bronze in the 50m freestyle. Look for this third year to continue to make his mark in the water.  
 
Joining Wright are all the members of last year's gold medal winning 200m and 400m medley relay teams consisting of Benjamin Roberts (Kingston, Ont.), Matthew Stephenson (Brantford, Ont.), David Nowicki (Etobicoke, Ont.), and Troy Baxter (Ottawa). Each of these swimmers have already punched their ticket to the national meet in Montreal but will be heavily leaned upon for contributions to Guelph's point total. Roberts will be defending his title in the 50m backstroke.
 
On the women's side the Western University Mustangs are the three-time defending champions and will be a tough opponent to overcome.
 
After last year's fifth place finish, the Gryphon women are looking to close the point differential with those ahead of them and move up the standings. The No. 10 ranked Gryphons are a relatively young squad but have had strong performances from several members.
 
Watch for rookie Erica Pate (Brantford, Ont.), winner of the 100m freestyle and 200 and 400 individual medley events throughout the year, and sophomore Alisha Harricharan (Brampton, Ont.) to make a splash. Harricharan has already reached CIS qualifying times in every butterfly distance while teammate Olivia Andersen (Oakville, Ont.) also qualified in the 50m fly. Watch out for Harricharan to break an OUA record in the 100 fly, set by former teammate Chantique Payne last year where Harricharan finished third.    
 
Preliminary racing begins at 10 am with the first finals session beginning at 6 pm on Thursday, February 9. The last races of the championship are scheduled to begin at 6 pm Saturday evening.
 
Live results will be posted online, check back at oua.ca for updates from the OUA Swimming Championships and for complete results following the meet. Also stay tuned to luvoyageurs.com for updated results of each night's racing.