The Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawk swimming teams competed at the 2019 OUA Swimming Championships this past weekend.
The championships began on Feb. 7 and ended on Feb. 9. It was a memorable tournament for two Hawks in particular: Jasmine Raines and Kenney Tam.
Kenney Tam made history as he became the first Golden Hawk men’s swimmer to win a medal at the OUA championships since 2008, ending an 11-year drought.
Tam picked up a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke race, finishing with a time of two minutes and 18.39 seconds.
On the women’s side of things, it was a similar story for the purple and gold as Jasmine Raines continued her dominance over the competition. Raines won the gold medal in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke races on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
The Kitchener native’s medal count continues to rise, as she now boasts a staggering total of six medals in her career at the OUA championships.
“The more success you have, the more you want to keep improving your performance and keep doing better. I think that the more you reach your goals, the more you set goals higher and ahead of yourself. It just keeps pushing you further and further and makes you keep wanting to achieve more,” Raines said.
Raines won a bronze medal at last year’s national championships, becoming the first Golden Hawk in 13 years to accomplish that feat. Going into this year’s tournament, Raines’ goals are similar to last year.
Raines is now in her third year at Laurier and although she makes it look easy every time she’s in a race, her success comes down to the amount of effort she puts into her craft.
“It definitely does come back to what you put in is what you get out of it. Everybody works hard and puts in a lot of effort, but I think it’s [about] what you set out for yourself. If you really want to achieve something, then you’ll work and work until you reach the goals you have set for yourself,” she said.
For Raines, five of the six OUA championship medals in her career are gold, while one is silver. Along with the hard work, the third-year star also makes sure she sets specific goals before competing in a tournament.
“I usually set goals for myself [before tournaments], whether that is to win or to get a certain time. But there is always some kind of goal that you are working towards. There’s always a target that I want to accomplish at whatever meet that I’m competing in.”
Raines’ spectacular performance at the OUA championships has once again qualified her for the U-Sports Swimming National Championships, which begin on Feb. 21.
Raines won a bronze medal at last year’s national championships, becoming the first Golden Hawk in 13 years to accomplish that feat. Going into this year’s tournament, Raines’ goals are similar to last year.
“I’d like to have a similar performance to last year. I’d love to win a medal again. I think my biggest goals at this moment are to achieve my best times. I’ve written down some times and hung them on my wall and every day I look at that and say ‘that’s what I want to do at this competition,’” Raines said.
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