Gabe Mastromatteo and Brendan Oswald have been awarded Swim Ontario’s Post-Secondary Performance Scholarships. The intent of the Swim Ontario Post-Secondary Performance Scholarship is to award a financial scholarship to two Ontario swimmers allowing the recipients to focus on swimming excellence while pursuing post-secondary academics in Ontario.
Both athletes plan on attending the University of Toronto and compete as Varsity Blues, a program that has seen great varsity swimming success under the direction of long-time coaches Byron MacDonald and Linda Kiefer.
Mastromatteo, a born and bred Kenora Swimming Shark and breaststroke specialist, is coached by his mother Janet Hyslop. He enters his grade 12 year at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Kenora after a very successful 2019 swimming season. Mastromatteo finished second at the Canadian Swimming Trials in the 50 and 100 breast earning him a place on the Senior Canadian Team and the opportunity to compete at the FINA World Championships in Gwangiu, South Korea. He also won three medals at the World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary; one silver in the 50 breast and two bronze medals in the 4x100m mixed medley relay and the 4x100m medley relay.
Oswald, a Windsor Ontario native, is one of the top swimmers in the graduating class of 2020. “Brendan is just coming into his own,” said Varsity Blues head coach Byron MacDonald. “I expect his improvement arch to continue. The product of Windsor Aquatic Club and under the direction of head coach Mike McWha, Oswald shone in the 2019 season at the Ontario Swimming Championships and was a double medalist in the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly at the 2019 Canadian Junior Championships. He was also a recipient of the Victor Davis Award for promising swimmers in Canada.”
Mastromatteo and Oswald will be the inaugural recipients of the revamped program where Swim Ontario, in collaboration with Ontario Post-Secondary institutions will double the funding to award each recipient $36,000; $18,000 funded by Swim Ontario to be matched by the post-secondary institution they enroll in. Eligibility criteria includes athletes being identified on a published Top 40 highest performing ON-Track Athlete List, eligibility to compete for Canada at the International level, a minimum 80% average in grade 12 and acceptance to a post-secondary program of 2 years or longer at an accredited Ontario University or Ontario College for the Fall of 2020.
The information above was provided by Swim Ontario.