October 26, 2018
Banner Season: Mustangs claim double gold for third time in four years on the water
St. Catharines, Ont. - The OUA Rowing Championships were held in St. Catharines, ON at the Canadian Henley Rowing Course. Building on a partnership started in 2016, the OUA Championships was jointly hosted by ROWONTARIO and Ontario University Athletics.
Typically a two-day event, forecasted high winds forced regatta organizers to condense the racing schedule to one-day, with preliminary heats and championship finals on the same day separated by the Development (Novice and Junior Varsity) events. Despite the intense schedule – 69 races in one day – cool yet calm conditions provided the perfect environment for many close finishes.
The Western University Mustangs continued their 'purple reign' this year, capturing both the Women's and Men's team championship banners for the third time in four years, winning an impressive 13 medals – 7 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze, including 3 golds and a silver won in the Eights categories, catapulting the Mustangs ahead of their competition in the team points total.
The battle for the Men's Championship banner was highlighted by a gold medal sweep in the Open sweep events, taking told in the Pair, Coxed Four, and Eight, while Brock's Lightweight men continued their successful season in the Lightweight Eight. However, the list of overall Men's event medallists includes 8 sets of school colours, many two-time medallists, and several athletes who competed internationally this past summer. The depth of talent across the OUA prevented any one team from dominating. The overall points tally was: Western (462), Brock (339), Queens (299), Trent (182), Carleton (153), McGill (133), McMaster (109), Toronto (104), Ottawa (69), Guelph (68), UOIT (35) and Laurentian (29).
Gavin Stone of Queen's University was recognized as Male Athlete of the Year. Stone won gold medals in the single and double events.
The Women's Championship banner was ultimately decided in the last three events of the regatta, as Queen's University appeared to be dominating for most of the day. Queen's won a gold medal in five of ten women's events but did not have an entry in the final events of the day, which included the Eight (worth 100 points).
That race was an exciting nail-biter, in one of the closest Women's Eight finals in recent OUA memory. Western, Brock and Carleton finished within five seconds of each other, but ultimately those points secured Western's 6th consecutive Women's Championship banner. The overall points tally was: Western (458), Queens (332), Brock (320), Guelph (267), Trent (146), Carlton (96), Toronto (80), Ottawa (36), McGill (30), Laurentian (16), McMaster (15), Nipissing (15), and UOIT (5).
Coaches unanimously nominated Laura Court from Brock University as Female Athlete of the Year. Court is the coxswain for Brock's Lightweight Eight and Coxed Four. This past summer, she won a gold medal at the U23 World Championships as cox of the Women's Eight and coxed the PR3 Coxed Four at the Senior World Championships.
The Queen's University coaching staff were recognized by their peers with awards of distinction for their impressive results this season. Coaches Michael Davidson and Rami Maassarani were named Male and Female team coaches of the year, respectively.
Trent University's Julianna Stonehouse, Mark Moyer and Christie Smith were named Novice Men Coach of the Year. The Novice Women Coach of the Year award was co-awarded to Andrew Johnston from the University of Toronto and Jordan Rendell from Western University.
Men's Rowing medalists (by school)
Western University
1st = Pair (Ames, Clegg); Coxed Four (Kozak, Nicolson, Layton, Carmel, Doyle); Eight (Nicolson, Ames, Clegg, Pamenter, Kozak, Davenport, Layton, Griffiths, Lawrence); Men's Lightweight Pair (Masciangelo, Pohl)
2nd – Lightweight Eight (Enno, Stevenson, Gogan, Brandt, Cinquina, Hamilton, Pohl, Masciangelo, Lawrence); Lightweight Coxed Four (Enno, Brandt, Cinquina, Gogan, Doyle)
Brock University
1st – Lightweight Eight (Giesbrecht, Martens, Voelkner, Markewich, Walsh, Whiteley, Van Helvert, Vanderloos, Wong)
2nd – Lightweight Single (Keith); Eight (Andrews, Roger, Hohnstein, Koroll, Stewart, Campbell, McDonald, Long, Vanderloos)
3rd – Pair (Stewart, Hohnstein); Coxed Four (Andrews, Roger, Koroll, Long, Vanderloos); Lightweight Coxed Four (Giesbrecht, Martins, Voelkner, Whiteley, Wong); Lightweight Pair (Walsh, Keith)
Queen's University
1st –Double (Stone, Bryenton); Lightweight Double (Grubic, Bernst); Single (Stone); Lightweight Coxed Four (Grubic, Notley, Bernst, Stret, Wightman)
2nd – Lightweight Pair (Stret, Notley)
Trent University
1st – Lightweight Single (Keilar)
2nd – Coxed Four (Bullock, Holmquist, Willis, Penney, Guertin); Lightweight Double (Kelly, Kielar)
3rd – Eight (Kelly, Penney, Holmquist, Bullock, Willis, Hamilton, Coletto, Dupuis, Guertin)
Carleton University
2nd – Pair (Lazrek, Amesbury)
3rd – Lightweight Eight (Brockbank, Parkhouse, Clover, Gordon, Burbridge, Ciccateri, Bagozzi, Powell, Sugars-Keen)
McGill University
2nd –Double (Basiren, McCullogh)
3rd – Single (McCullogh)
University of Toronto
3rd –Lightweight Single (Sati); Double (Hill, Been); Lightweight Double (Sati, Vovk)
Laurentian University
2nd – Single (Alexandar)
Women's Rowing medalists (by school)
Western University
1st – Lightweight Eight (Urabe, Boehmer, Cuoci, Knight, Carmichael, Scaletta, Vanderzwet, Morris, Alizadeh); Lightweight Coxed Four (Boehmer, Cuoci, Morris, Carmichael, Alizadeh); Eight (Drew, Perkucin, Baranowski, Gadsdon, Clarke, Blunt, Arthur, Wilson, Low)
2nd – Pair (Drew, Perkucin); Coxed Four (Gadsdon, Clarke, Blunt, Arthur, Ward); Lightweight Pair (Scaletta, Soares)
3rd – Lightweight Double (Urabe, Soares)
Queen's University
1st – Pair (Adams, Deane); Double (Munro, Walker); Coxed Four (Deane, Adams, Deacon, Walker, Stellato); Lightweight Double (Carlton, Chase); Single (Munro)
2nd – Lightweight Single (Chase)
Brock University
2nd – Double (Wilkins, Isnor); Lightweight Eight (Corkery, Jose, Bagshaw, Hingston, Reynolds, Weaver, Sclater, Jansen, Court); Lightweight Coxed Four (Beaudette, Corkery, Piazza, Jose, Court); Eight (Maloney, Mazzarolo, Toffolo, Martin, Spanics, Tigwell, Osborne, Krasnor, Buzzell)
3rd – Pair (Mazzarolo, Spanics); Lightweight Single (Beaudette); Lightweight Pair (Piazza, Jansen)
University of Guelph
1st – Lightweight Single (Zanatta); Lightweight Pair (Benwood, De Wit)
2nd – Lightweight Double (Zanatta, Dennis)
3rd – Double (Boulton, Drzewicki); Lightweight Eight (Dennis, De Wit, Benwood, East, Krelove, Desormeaux, Pollock, Flaherty, O'Niell); Lightweight Coxed Four (Pollock, East, Krelove, Flaherty, Desormeaux)
Trent University
2nd – Single (Vandenbroek)
Carleton University
3rd – Coxed Four (McKay, Lockhart, Jolley, Allair, Staples); Eight (McKay, Lockhart, Jolley, Allair, Evans, Wise, Zebarth, MacMillan, Staples)
Laurentian University
3rd – Single (Chase)
