Brock men, Western women looking to repeat as OUA Rowing Champions this weekend

BURLINGTON, Ont. – The host Brock Badgers men and Western Mustang women will take to the water looking to repeat as provincial champions when the 2015 OUA Rowing Championships begin on Friday, Oct. 23 at the Royal Canadian Henley Rowing Course in St. Catharines, Ont.

The Badgers are looking to become the first men's team to hoist the P.C. Fitz-James Trophy in back-to-back seasons since Western won the championship in three consecutive years from 2005-07. 

Speaking of Mustangs, the Western women are looking to capture the Mrs. W. Lathrop Challenge Trophy for a third straight season.  If they are able to come away with the banner this weekend, it would be the fourth three-peat in program history.

2014 OUA Female Rower of the Year Jill Moffatt (Bethany, Ont.) returns, hoping to lead the purple and white to their 24^th title in program history.  The Mustangs dominated the championship last year, finishing with 532 points, 206 points clear of the second-place Queen's Gaels.  The host Brock Badgers took home bronze with a total of 167 points.  In addition to Moffatt, Western will look to fifth-year student-athlete Genevieve Favreau (Boucherville, QC) and newcomer Jennifer Trung (Maple, Ont.) to provide strong leadership and a veteran presence on the water.

Last year, the Mustang women won a total of six of the eight events; including the Lightweight 1x, Lightweight 2x, Lightweight 4, Lightweight 8, Heavyweight 4 and Heavyweight 8. They also captured silver in the Heavyweight 1x and Heavyweight 2x. 

When it hasn't been the Mustangs standing on the top step of the podium, it has been their rivals, the Queen's Gaels.  Between 2008-13, the Gaels and Mustangs alternated ownership of the Mrs. W. Lathrop Challenge Trophy and Queen's would like nothing more than to head home to Kingston, Ont. on Saturday with the hardware in hand.

The Gaels will be led this weekend by third-year standout Larkin Davenport Huyer (Caledon, Ont.).

Last season, Davenport Huyer competed for Canada at the Commonwealth Rowing Championship, finishing with a gold in the 500m double and bronze in the 1500m double.  She followed that up winning gold in the women's double and silver as part of the women's eight at the OUA Rowing Championship.  For her efforts, Davenport Huyer was recognized by Queen's with their Outstanding Performance of the Year (OPY) award.

Davenport Huyer shows no signs of slowing down this season as the kinesiology student-athlete set the overall fastest women's time in the Championship single event at the Head of the Trent Regatta.  Earlier in the season, Davenport Huyer won the varsity single at the Head of the Rideau regatta for the second consecutive season.

Queen's captured gold in the women's Heavyweight 2x at the OUA Rowing Championship last season.

The Brock Badgers hope to improve upon last season's third place finish on their home course and will look to Steph Mowder and Katherine Walker (Grimsby, Ont.) to help lead the charge.  Beaudette and Mowder, both fifth-year student-athletes, would like nothing more than to stand atop the podium. 

The pair walked away with a gold medal in the Women's 2x earlier this season at the Brock Invitational.  Walker then teamed up with Jen Beaudette(St. Andrews, Ont.) in the last race of the day to win gold the Lightweight women's 2-. 

At the Head of the Trent Regatta earlier in the season, Mowder and Walker picked up a silver medal in the women's Heavyweight double, finishing only one second behind the first place boat.

Earlier this season, Mowder finished 3^rd in the B final, 9^th place overall, in the Women's 1x at the National Rowing Championship.  The labour studies student-athlete, who finished 23^rd last year, was just three seconds behind the winner of the B final.

Another boat to keep an eye on this weekend for Brock is the Lightweight Coxed Four.  Laura Court (St. Catharines, Ont.), Sarah Mambella (St. Anns, Ont.), Olivia Bagshaw (St. Catharines, Ont.), Katie Ayres (Peterborough, Ont.) and Erin Corkery (Peterborough, Ont.) finished third behind the Mustangs and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees crew at the Head of the Trent.

Historically, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues are very strong at OUA rowing, but have not captured a women's championship since 2000. 

Coming off three podium finishes at the Brock Invitational, the Blues hope to put a halt to that streak this weekend. 

Toronto's women's Lightweight Eight of Emily Donaldson (Toronto, Ont.), Heather Noble (Richmond Hill, Ont.), Meg Lewicki (Bowen Island, BC), Rebekah Sibbald (Jackson's Point, Ont.), Jasmine Carter (Ottawa, Ont.), Nicola Plummer (Toronto, Ont.), Rachel Dick (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.), Agnes Soos (Calgary, AB) and Oksana Wankiewicz (Toronto, Ont.) placed second overall in the race.  The crew found success earlier in the season, picking up a gold medal at Head of Welland, and placed third at Head of the Trent in a time of 19:10.51. 

Wankiewicz and Noble hope to turn some heads this weekend in women's Lightweight Doubles, as the pair finished just off the podium in 4^th place at the Brock Invitational.

Another crew with gold medal aspirations this weekend is the Women's Lightweight Fours of Donaldson, Lewicki, Soos, Carter and Plummer, who have finished around the podium all season long.

The Guelph Gryphons head to Henley this weekend looking to win their first OUA Rowing Championship in program history.

One Gryphon in particular to watch for out on the water this weekend is Olivia Shotyk (London, Ont.).  At the Head of the Trent earlier this year, Shotyk finished 3^rd in a very competitive Heavyweight Women's Single race. Over the 5km race, the third-year standout finished just one minute behind the lead boat and 15 seconds off of the second place finisher. Shotyk is also a member of Team Ontario and rowed in the U23W1x event at the National Rowing Championships over Thanksgiving weekend.

Another Gryphons crew to keep an eye on this weekend is the Lightweight Women's 2x of Kaitlyn Dennis (Kenora, Ont.) and rookie Sarah Vantfoort (London, Ont.), as the pair finished 2^nd in the event at the Head of the Trent.  Like her teammate Shotyk, Vantfoort, a member of the JrW1x crew, was also competing for Team Ontario at the National Rowing Championships.

Like the Gryphons, the UOIT Ridgebacks will also be looking to leave the OUA championship this weekend with the banner for the first time in program history.

Leading the way for the Ridgebacks on the women's side is Daria Ruginis (Burlington, Ont.), who finished with a silver medal from both the Head of the Welland and Western Invitational events. Ruginis teamed up with Rhiannon Dearman (Belleville, Ont.) at the Western Invitational, posting a 18:43.7 headrace time and a 2:35.2 dash time to capture second place.  A second Ridgebacks boat in the race, crewed by Joanna Toonders (Williamsburg, Ont.) and Megan Connolly (Whitby, Ont.) finished in fourth place.

Among the Marauders taking to the water this weekend is fourth-year rower D'Arcy Arends.  At the Head of the Trent, Arends held strong just a few seconds off of Guelph's women's single medal finish in a time of 23:08.5. 

Another boat to keep an eye on this weekend for McMaster is the Women's Lightweight Coxed Four of Kristen Power, Brynley Hanson-Wright, Myma Okuda-Rayfuse, Sarah Zhou and Alina Barnett who made it to the Head of the Trent finals, beating crews from Guelph, Trent and Brock.

Leading the way this weekend for the Laurentian Voyageurs will be fifth-year standout, Emily Jago (Sudbury, Ont.).

The 2014-15 OUA champion, CURC silver medalist and Laurentian Female Athlete of the Year will once again have gold on her mind at the OUA championship. The Sudbury native had a busy summer as she competed in the women's double for Team Canada in the FISU games in Gwangju, South Korea.

Along with Jago, three first-year student-athletes join the rowing squad and along with some key returners, will look to put together a competitive team boat for the Voyageurs.

On the men's side, the Brock Badgers will take to the water on Saturday once again as the team to beat. The Badgers have alternated titles with Mustangs, winning the championship regatta in 2010, 2012 and most recently in 2014.  History would tell you that it is Western's turn to hoist the P.C. Fitz-James Trophy, but don't tell that to Brock. 

Last year, the Brock men (410) finished 38 points ahead of second place Western (372) and third place Queens (201), capturing their 10^th OUA banner in school history.

The Badgers dominated their hometown Brock Invitational last week and appear poised for another strong home showing on their home course this weekend.  Matt Finley (St. Catharines, Ont.) and Dave De Groot (St. Catharines, Ont.) got Brock off to a good start, capturing gold in the Men's 2-.  The Men's 4+ consisting of Zak Lewis (Ottawa, Ont.), Scott Murphy (Markham, Ont.), Luke Gadson (Hamilton, Ont.), Zachory Koroll (St. Catharines) and Jamie Germond kept the momentum going with gold of their own, while the Men's 8+, Lightweight 4+ and Lightweight 8+ all secured second place finishes.

Earlier this year, Gadson teamed up with fellow Badger Brandan Andrews (Thorold, Ont.) to win gold in the Junior Men's 2- race at the National Rowing Championships.  In the u23 Men's 2-, the crew of Finley and de Groot won silver, while Grayson Gray (Thorold, Ont.) and Taylor Ashwood (Fort Erie, Ont.) finished third.

The Badgers captured three gold in total at last year's championship, winning the Lightweight 4, Lightweight 8 and Heavyweight 4. Brock also captured silver medals in the Lightweight 1x, Heavyweight 2x and Heavyweight 8.

Like their counterparts, the Western Mustang men are a constant threat to find the top step of the podium. After relinquishing the trophy to the rival Badgers last season, the Mustangs will head to Henley this weekend looking to hoist the P.C. Fitz-James Trophy for the 27^th time in school history.

Western will look to a trio of graduate student-athletes, Ian Connell (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.), Brent Duncan (St. Catharines, Ont.) and Adam Rabalksi (Guelph, Ont.) for a veteran presence and leadership out on the water this weekend.

Last year, the Western men finished the OUA championship with two gold medals, winning the Heavyweight 8 and Heavyweight 2x. The Mustangs also finished with silver medals in the Lightweight 4, Lightweight 8 and Heavyweight 4. 

After finishing third last season, the Queen's Gaels will hope to take a couple steps up this weekend at the OUA championship.  Should the Gaels be able to pull off the upset over the rival Mustangs and Badgers, it would be the seventh title in program history and their first since 2008.

Queen's got off to a great start once again this season capturing the overall team points Kandahar trophy at the Head of the Rideau, with the men taking home gold in the Lightweight men's coxed 4+ and the Junior Varsity men's 2x.

The Gaels followed that up at Head of the Trent, where the Junior Varsity men's 4+ won a silver medal.

At the National Rowing Championship the following week, the Gaels got another strong showing from Stephen Holloway (Calgary, AB) and Mark Bonar (Delta, BC), as the men's pair finished first in the B Final, good for seventh overall in the event.

Another Gael rower to keep an eye on this weekend is Jordan Rendall (Vineland, Ont.).  While the rest of his Gaels teammates were competing at the Brock Invitational, Rendall was representing his country at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA.  Rendall, a member of the National Training Centre Lightweight Men's 8+ edged out Princeton to win the three mile race by seven seconds.  

Queen's won the Men's Heavyweight 1x at the OUA championship last season.

With 14 OUA men's rowing titles in program history, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues are no stranger to the podium.

The Varsity Blues will look to men's Lightweight Fours of Jessie MacAlpine, Matthew Brander (Strathroy, Ont.), Andrei Vovk (Richmond Hill, Ont.), Jacob Giesbrecht (Wainfleet, Ont.) and Jack Ren (Loughborough, England) to leave St. Catharines with some hardware.  At Head of the Trent, the crew finished third in a time of 19:01.66 and followed that up with a silver medal in the event at the Brock Invitational last week.

Giebrecht and Vovk form a formidable pairing in the Lightweight Double as they finished second in the event at both the Brock Invitational and Head of the Welland.

One of the best chances the Guelph Gryphons have to podium this weekend is in the Lightweight Men's 2x event.  Earlier this year, Gregory Hanta (Oakville, Ont.) and Myles Cameron (Burlington, Ont.) finished third in the race at the Head of the Trent.  Hanta, a fourth-year student-athlete, also represented Team Ontario at the National Rowing Championships last week.

The UOIT Ridgebacks couldn't have asked for a better performance heading into the OUA championship.  At Head of the Welland the men's novice 4 crew made their racing debut and turned in a gold medal performance, and appears poised to have a strong showing this weekend. The crew of Bilal Bhatti (Mississauga, Ont.), Jamie Barletta (Toronto, Ont.), Christian Langevin (Cornwall, Ont.), Frobisher Moses (Ottawa, Ont.) and Khalil Sidawi  (Cambridge, Ont.) posted a time of 23:02.737, well ahead of the second place crew from the Argonaut Rowing Club.

Mike Juzkow (Cannington, Ont.) and Bradley Semenick (Thunder Bay, Ont.) finished third in the men's Doubles Heavyweight event at the Western Invitational and will look to pull off an upset this weekend in St. Catharines.

Other schools participating in races this weekend are: Carleton Ravens, McGill Redmen/Martlets, Nipissing Lakers, Ottawa Gee-Gees, Trent Excalibur, Waterloo Warriors and York Lions.

OUA gold, silver, bronze will be presented to all crew members and coxswains.  Team championship banners and coach of the year awards will be presented at the boathouse at the conclusion of the regatta.

Visit OUA.ca or follow @OUAsport on Twitter for updates throughout the championship.