U SPORTS News

For the first time in nearly three seasons, the Toronto Varsity Blues women have dethroned their national champion rivals in the pool.

The Varsity Blues claimed the No.1 spot in the final rankings of the season, after capturing their sixth straight OUA women’s swimming title over the weekend at Brock in St. Catharines, Ont. The change at the top ends a run of 28 straight weeks for the Thunderbirds, who held the pole position since the second week of the 2016-17 campaign. Toronto last held No.1 on Nov.1, 2016, following its 2016 U SPORTS Championship title. 

Meanwhile, the Alberta Pandas (women’s hockey) and Carleton Ravens (men’s basketball) return to the No. 1 spot in their respective sports. Alberta (23-5-0) wrapped up its regular season with back-to-back victories over Calgary in a home-and-home series and will have a bye to the Canada West semifinals. Carleton (20-1), meanwhile, picked up consecutive road wins over York and Queen’s and will conclude its schedule hosting Nipissing and Laurentian.

In other U SPORTS rankings, Alberta (men’s hockey), Laval (women’s basketball), Brandon (men’s volleyball), Dalhousie (women’s volleyball), UBC (men’s swimming), and Guelph (men’s and women’s track and field) remain national leaders for another week. Brock (men’s and women’s wrestling) maintains its No.1 status in the final rankings of the season.

New this season, U SPORTS is implementing the ELO Rating System for the calculation of its weekly national rankings. Powered by RankR, ELO’s unique algorithm blends a statistical calculation with customized variables that is adaptable across a range of sports. For men’s hockey, it will be combined with the results of the media panel balloting (each weighted 50%) to produce the final top 10. For more information, click here.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Rank School Season  Points  Previous 
1 Carleton 20-1 455 (32) 2
2 Calgary 20-0 426 (15) 3
3 Ryerson 19-2 379 1
4 Saint Mary's 17-0 336 4
5 Alberta 15-5 278 5
6 UBC 17-3 231 7
7 Dalhousie 10-6 133 9
8 Ottawa 13-8 99 6
9 Laurier 16-6 96 8
10 Concordia 10-3 83 10
Other teams receiving votes: UNB (35), Western (12)

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Rank School  Season  Points  Previous 
1 Laval 13-0 551 (45) 1
2 Ottawa 19-2 505 2
3 McMaster 19-3 461 (1) 3
4 Ryerson 17-4 412 4
5 Saskatchewan 16-4 358 5
6 Regina 17-3 332 6
7 Calgary 17-3 275 7
8 Lakehead 18-4 230 9
9 Carleton 16-5 157 8
10 Concordia 8-5 146 10
Other teams receiving votes: UPEI (93), Cape Breton (41)

MEN'S HOCKEY

Rank School Season  Media   ELO    Total  Previous 
1 Alberta 24-3-1 142 (10) 150 292 1
2 UNB 25-2-3 135 (3) 135 270 2
3 Saskatchewan 25-3-0 126 (2) 120 246 3
4 Ottawa 22-2-4 102 105 207 4
5 Calgary 18-7-3 76 75 151 5
6 Carleton 18-5-5 35 90 125 8
7 Saint Mary’s 19-10-1 87 30 117 6
8 Ryerson 20-5-3 56 60 116 9
9 Brock 19-5-4 37 45 82 7
10 Queen’s 19-9-0 18 0 18* NR
Honourable mention: McGill (18)*, StFX (6), Concordia (1), Mount Royal (1)

Ballots

WOMEN'S HOCKEY

Rank School Season  Points  Previous 
1 Alberta 23-5-0 39 (3) 3
2 Montreal 14-4-0 37 (1) 1
3 Manitoba 20-5-3 32 2
4 St. Thomas 22-5-1 25 4
5 Concordia 12-4-3 25 6
6 McGill 13-6-0 22 5
7 Guelph 18-2-3 14 7
8 StFX 18-7-3 14 8
9 Western 15-4-4 8 9
10 UBC 18-5-5 4 10
Other teams receiving votes: None

MEN'S SWIMMING

Rank School Points Previous 
1 UBC 677 1
2 Calgary 396 2
3 Montreal 323 3
4 Ottawa 242 4
5 Toronto 195 6
6 McGill 180 5
7 Victoria 117 8
8 Laval 101 7
9 Western 94 NR
10 Sherbrooke 88 NR
Honourable Mention: Lethbridge (80), Regina (78), Waterloo (72), Alberta (69), Dalhousie (56),
Laurentian (56), Acadia (30), Queen’s (26), McMaster (25), Brock (17), Guelph (16), Manitoba (15),
Mount Allison (7), UNB (4), Laurier (1)

WOMEN'S SWIMMING

Rank School Points Previous 
1 Toronto 711 2
2 UBC 603 1
3 Montreal 328 3
4 Manitoba 225 4
5 Calgary 170 5
6 Victoria 162 6
7 Ottawa 108 7
8 Alberta 100 8
9 Western 78 NR
10 Waterloo 70 NR
Honourable Mention: Dalhousie (66), McGill (59), Regina (48), Laval (44), Sherbrooke (43),
McMaster (35), UNB (31), Laurier (25), Guelph (17), Lethbridge (11), Laurentian (10), UQTR (8),
Acadia (3)

MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

Rank School Points Previous 
1 Guelph 107 1
2 Toronto 81.5 2
3 Western 57.5 3
4 Manitoba 49.5 4
5 Laval 45.5 T6
6 Alberta 40 5
7 York 39 NR
8 Saskatchewan 37.5 NR
9 Dalhousie 30 8
10 Trinity Western 26* T6
Honourable Mention: Windsor (26)*, Calgary (17)

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

Rank School Points Previous 
1 Guelph 129.16 1
2 Saskatchewan 100.5 2
3 Toronto 74 4
4 Western 42.5 3
5 York 38.5 6
6 Laval 32.5 8
7 Calgary 31 5
8 Sherbrooke 27 7
9 Alberta 24.5 NR
10 Windsor 24 NR
Honourable Mention: Regina (21), Manitoba (19)

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Rank School Season  VRS Previous 
1 Brandon 18-2 +2.76 1
2 Trinity Western 16-4 +2.28 2
3 Laval 14-0 +1.80 3
4 Mount Royal 15-5 +1.59 5
5 McMaster 12-2 +1.42 4
6 Alberta 15-5 +1.25 6
7 Western 9-4 +0.76 NR
8 Queen’s 13-3 +0.72 9
9 Calgary 10-10 +0.70 7
10 Montreal 12-3 +0.66 10
Honourable Mention: Saskatchewan (+0.54), UBC (+0.53),
Thompson Rivers (+0.51), Windsor (+0.49)

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Rank School  Season  Points  Previous 
1 Dalhousie 17-1 57 (1) 1
2 Ryerson 15-2 56 (2) 5
3 Calgary 17-5 49 (1) 3
4 Waterloo 15-1 48 4
T5 Trinity Western 18-4 45 2
T5 McGill 15-3 45 6
7 Alberta 16-6 36 7
8 Toronto 11-5 30 9
9 Montreal 12-6 29 8
10 UBC 15-7 24 10
Other teams receiving votes: Regina (19), Acadia (9). Grant MacEwan (8) Laval (6), Queen’s (4)

MEN'S WRESTLING

Rank School Points Previous 
1 Brock 83 1
2 Alberta 57 2
3 Concordia 55 7
4 Saskatchewan 48 6
5 Fraser Valley 42 4
6 McMaster 38 5
7 Calgary 31 3
8 Lakehead 24 8
9 Guelph 17 9
10 Western 14 10
Honourable Mention: York (8), Algoma (6), Queen’s (2), UNB (2), Toronto (2)

WOMEN'S WRESTLING

Rank School Points Previous 
1 Brock 63 1
2 Saskatchewan 44 2
3 Concordia 33 4
4 Calgary 32 3
5 Alberta 27 5
6 Guelph 25 6
7 Lakehead 21 8
8 Fraser Valley 19 7
9 Western 16 9
10 McMaster 12 10
Honourable Mention: Queen’s (5), Algoma (4), UNB (2), Toronto (2), York (1)