OFSAA Swimming Championships Return to Windsor with Exciting New Changes

There's a buzz in the pool as the OFSAA Swimming Championships make their anticipated return to the city for the first time since 2023. This year's event, scheduled for March 3-4 at the Aquatics Centre, brings an exciting change for senior swimmers.

"We finally got approval for the changes we'd been trying to make before COVID," Parent told Powerplay Sports. "We have 50's in the senior division now which is something we've been pushing for for a long time."

In addition to the 50m freestyle, senior swimmers can now compete in the 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke.

Parent explained many high school pools across the province have been closed creating a high demand for minimal time at municipal pools. As a result in a lack of training time, many senior swimmers found the 100m races difficult.

"We had a big drop off of seniors." Parent said.

"We've always had the 50m freestyle for seniors but now we have the 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke for the seniors division."

The 100m will still be available in the freestyle and IM. "It was a trade off because they didn't want the meet to get bigger."

The SWOSSA championship takes place in downtown Windsor Tuesday, February 17th.

Essex Makes History

Enthusiasm for swimming in the region was recently on full display at the WECSSAA championships, where the tide may have shifted in the pool.

The Essex Red Raiders delivered a historic performance by breaking a 45-year dominance by Kennedy and Riverside. The Raiders won the Combined Team Championship as both the junior and senior squads placed first overall.

"This is a monumental accomplishment in the swim community, and we couldn't be prouder." said Essex coach Adam Mailloux. "Congratulations to every one of our swimmers on their contributions and we look forward to competing at the SWOSSA championships."

There were numerous standout individual and team accomplishments. Here's the breakdown.

Individual Event Winners

Among the two-event champions were:

• Brian Podar – Assumption

• Logan Cortese – Riverside Secondary

• Simone Brode – Tecumseh Vista Academy

• Evelyn Derbyshire – St. Joseph's

• Alex Dufour – E.J. Lajeunesse

• Mia Arlotti – St. Annes

• Mason Connor – L'Essor

  
  

Three-event champions included:

• Brynn Howard – Essex District High School

• Rhys Walda – Sandwich Secondary

• Grace Pattinson – Riverside Secondary

Essex wins Combined Team Championship at WECSSAA, Source: Adam Mailloux

Team Champions

Essex District High School demonstrated their dominance by securing multiple team titles:

• Junior Girls Champions: Essex District High School

• Junior Boys Champions: Sandwich Secondary School

• Senior Girls Champions: Essex District High School

• Senior Boys Champions: Leamington and Assumption (Tied for first place)

• High School Overall Champions: Essex District High School

• Open/Para Division Champions: L'Essor

• Combined Team Champions: Essex District High School