Western looks to make history at Henley Rowing Course on championship weekend
BURLINGTON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs women’s rowing team is poised to make history on Friday and Saturday, vying for their fifth consecutive provincial championship banner. The Mustang men, meanwhile, are looking to three-peat as provincial champions when the 2017 OUA Rowing Championships hit the water at the Royal Canadian Henley Rowing Course in St. Catharines, Ont. this Friday October 27th and Saturday October 28th.
Building on a partnership started in 2016, the OUA Rowing Championships will again be jointly hosted by ROWONTARIO and Ontario University Athletics (OUA), with more details on the event being in the 2017 Rowing Championship Fan Guide.
At the 2016 OUA Rowing Championships, unforgiving weather conditions forced organizers to condense the two-day schedule into one long day of heats, development races, and finals. At that regatta, the Mustang women dominated the field, winning seven of ten events for a total of 607 points (the second-place Queen’s Gaels earned 273 points, and no wins). The men won three of ten events, tying with Brock University for the most events won, but earned 464 points to the Badgers’ 383 to secure the championship.
Looking ahead to this year’s festivities, however, and Western may have their work cut out for them, with preliminary 2017 results showing a more competitive field overall.
On the women’s side, a lack of entries from Queen’s in the big boat categories (coxed fours and eights) – which are significant contributors to the overall points tally – may open the door for other teams to challenge the Mustangs, but may spread that challenge thin. Trent University finished on the podium in the Heavyweight Women’s Eight event at both Head of the Trent and the Brock Invitational Regatta – a seeding regatta held on October 14th also on the Henley course – and the Brock Badgers heavyweight women also rowed to podium finishes in the pair, double and coxed four at the same event. Laurentian’s Hayley Chase is a rower to watch in the Heavyweight Women’s Single.
Leading the way for Carleton’s women’s team is junior Mikayla Arends, who has two top-three heavyweight women’s singles finishes under her belt, including a first-place showing at the Head of the Rideau Regatta followed by a third-place result at the Head of the Trent Regatta. Sophomore Mary-Jo Weis Weiss has been a revelation this season as well, racing to two second-place finishes in the lightweight women’s single category at Head of the Rideau Regatta and Brock Invitational Regatta.
While the Brock University lightweight women will challenge Western in the coxed four and eight events, fans can expect tight racing in the lightweight small boats thanks to an experienced and deep field of competitors. 2016 Rower of the Year Carly Zanatta from the Guelph Gryphons looks to defend her title in the single against 2014 Rower of the Year, Western’s Jill Moffatt. Moffatt is fresh off winning the Championship Lightweight Women’s Double event at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston just this past weekend.
Joining the already impressive is Myma Okuda-Rayfuse from McMaster, who is expected to challenge for a medal as well after winning the U23 Lightweight Women’s Single event at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta on this course in August. The lightweight pair and double from the University of Toronto (featuring Megan Lewicki and Rachel Dick in both crews) will also be hard to beat.
Winners of the Women’s Rowing Championship will receive the Mrs. W. Lathrop Challenge Trophy, which was donated in 1976 by Mrs. W. Lathrop through Brock University.
Competition in men’s university rowing thus far in 2017, meanwhile, has been fierce across the board, as the Brock Badgers, Trent Excalibur, Carleton Ravens, and Toronto Varsity Blues have all exposed cracks in Western’s dominance.
2016 Rower of the Year Matthew Finley is back for a final season with Brock University, but a last-minute change means he will not be lining up in the Heavyweight Men’s Single against the reigning U23 World Champion Trevor Jones from Trent University, or his U23 National Team teammate Gavin Stone from Queen’s University. He will, however, be leading the charge to defend Brock’s OUA title in the Heavyweight Men’s Eight and reclaim the title in the Heavyweight Men’s Coxed Four, against strong entries from the likes of Western, Carleton and the University of Toronto.
Carleton’s best shot at a medal in the men’s competition will likely be in the heavyweight four category. Third-year team member and recent Canada Summer Games gold medalist Hunter Amesbury, along with crew members Luc Baudouin, Matt Lazurek, Vincent O’Shaughnessey and coxswain Cody Shilliday, should be in contention for a podium spot, as the group recently placed 5th out of 40 boats at the 2017 Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston on October 21.
UOIT, meanwhile, will turn to the Heavyweight Men’s Doubles division for their best chance at a medal (their first since 2012), as Nik Vantfoort and Braden Reid have teamed up for a number of strong finishes this year, including placing third at the Head of the Trent, third at the Brock Invitational, and first at the Western Invitational.
Looking to the lightweight men’s events, fans will be privy to an intriguing battle between Western (who dominated the field in 2016), Brock (who dominated the sweep events at the Brock Invitational Regatta, including finishing 1-2-3 in the Lightweight Men’s Pair), and Queen’s (whose lightweight duo of Alex Bernst and Nick Grubic will race in both the Lightweight and Heavyweight Double events).
Winners of the Men’s Rowing Championship will receive the P.C. Fitz-James Trophy.
The OUA Rowing Championship regatta will be preceded by the OUA Development Regatta, an opportunity for Novice and up-and-coming Junior Varsity athletes to hit the water. The Development Regatta is an effort to increase participation and competition in rowing, which is currently offered at a limited number of Ontario universities. Novice rowing is a particularly exciting field of competition, because rowing is a late entry sport and it is not uncommon for athletes who discover rowing at university to go on to provincial and/or national team success.
On Friday afternoon, varsity athletes will compete in the events that require heats (meaning there are more than seven entries), and crews are awarded extra points toward their final tally if they win their heat. On Saturday, beginning at 9:00 am, the twenty varsity events will race for gold, silver and bronze, and the Championship banners will be presented to the men’s and women’s team with the most points overall.
OUA gold, silver, and bronze will be presented to all crew members and coxswains, while gold medal winners will also be presented with OUA All-Star certificates. Team championship banners and major awards will be presented at the boathouse after the regatta.
ROWONTARIO is recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion as the not-for-profit governing body for rowing in the Province of Ontario. At its inception, the Ontario Rowing Association (whose trade name became ROWONTARIO in 2001) had nine member clubs and some 500 active rowers. However, today there are over 8,000 active rowers in Ontario.
