On campus: Brock men win OUA rowing title
The Brock men’s rowing team started thinking about capturing an Ontario University Athletics rowing championship after hosting the Brock Invitational Oct. 14.
“We knew that winning a men’s championship was in reach even though Western was ahead of us there,” Brock head coach Peter Somerwil said. “The coaches came up with a few boating lineup changes that helped us get some speed and the athletes knew they had to find some speed and step it up internally to get the job done.”
The athletes did just that capturing four gold, one silver, and one bronze medal to win the OUA men’s crown in St. Catharines this past weekend and end Western’s two-year reign as provincial champs.
The race for the men’s team title came down to the final race of the day with Brandan Andrews and James Potts competing for Brock in the lightweight pair.
“We won the pair going away to give my heart a little rest,” Somerwil said.
Brock’s Taylor Ashwood was named co-winner of the male athlete of the year award and the Badgers’ lightweight coaches Scott Anderson and Tom Kent were named the men’s coaches of the year.
On the women’s side, Western won the title and Western lightweight coach Sara Matovic, a St. Catharines native, was named the women’s coach of the year.”
Brock’s women came second for the first time since 2009.
“Overall, our women’s team is slowly coming around and getting better, and on the lightweight women’s side we have a lot of experience,” Somerwil said.
Reached while driving a boat trailer with coach Swede Burak through a snowstorm in North Dakota, Somerwil was on his way to the Canadian University Rowing Championships which start Saturday in Burnaby, B.C.
“I think we have a shot on the men’s side but it will be tough,” he said. “UVic has a really good group of heavyweight guys and UBC has a really good group of lightweight guys.
“We have a pretty good group of both.”
Placing in the top three for the Brock men at the OUA championships were: Owen Voelkner, Ashwood, Jacob Martens, Zach Whiteley, Noah Van Helvert, Buchanan, Potts, Dylan Vanderloos and Aurora Gordon, gold in lightweight eight; Alex Roger, Matthew Finley, Nicholas Heffernan, Ryan Malcowski and Mackenzie Boyes, gold in heavyweight coxed four; Voelkner, Ashwood, Mackenzie Berkhout, Whiteley and Gordon, first in lightweight coxed four; Andrews and Potts, gold in lightweight pair; Finley, Heffernan, Ian Pierce, Zach Koroll, Erik Hohnstein, Roger, Malcowski, Noah McDonald and Boyes, silver in heavyweight eight; and, Koroll and Pierce, bronze in the heavyweight pair.
Recording podium finishes for the Brock women were: Sarah Mambella, Andrea Jansen, Alicia Piazza, Olivia Bagshaw, Marina Rose, Nicole Samuelson, Olivia Jose, Serena Weaver and Laura Court, silver in the lightweight eight; Erin Cookery, Jansen, Piazza, Katie Ayres and Court, silver in the lightweight coxed four; and, Amanda Martin and Anna Maloney, bronze in heavyweight pair.
A number of other local athletes performed well on enemy boats.
Guelph’s Carly Zanatta, a Fort Erie native who has rowed for E.L. Crossley and the St. Catharines Rowing Club, won gold in the heavyweight double and took silver in the lightweight double.
Western’s Reid Vassallo, who rowed for St. Francis and the St. Catharines Rowing Club, took silver in the lightweight eight and coxed four. Saint Michael grad Alexander Powell was also in the Western eight and also took home silver in the lightweight pair.
Rowing for the University of Toronto, Fenwick’s Jacob Koudys, an E.L. Crossley grad, pulled to third in the lightweight eight.
Competing for Carleton, Niagara Falls native Owen Powell was on a boat that placed third in the lightweight eight.
OUA FOOTBALL
Johnny Augustine had 21 carries for 151 yards to lead the Guelph Gryphons football team to a 30-8 victory over Ottawa in the OUA quarter-finals.
Also for Guelph, Saint Paul product Jordan Terrio had two catches for 41 yards, including a 10-yard TD grab; and, Notre Dame alumnus Sandor Mod had a solo tackle and an assisted tackle.
OUA BASKETBALL
Centennial grad Sarah Holmes had 13 points and three rebounds as Guelph fell 89-67 in Windsor in OUA women’s basketball play. Eden grad Jenneke Pilling netted three points for Windsor while teammate Erin Kenny made her first OUA start.
St. Francis grad Jelena Mamic started for McMaster in a 70-51 victory over Guelph and had four points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes of playing time. Holmes had 11 points and five boards for Guelph and A.N. Myer product Ally Peek added a point and a rebound.
In York’s 69-63 loss to Lakehead, Saint Paul alumnus Megan MacLeod had 12 points and three rebounds.
BROCK BASKETBALL
The Brock men’s and women’s basketball teams will both take 2-0 league records into a five-game road swing starting Friday at York.
Brock’s women defeated Western 62-53 (Ana Caldeira Rua, 16 points and 10 assists; Courtney McPherson, six points and 14 rebounds; Stephanie Findlay, 16 points) and Laurier 65-50 (Brooke Murdoch, 19 points, McPherson 14 points and 15 rebounds).
Brock’s men thumped Western 83-58 (Cassidy Ryan, 22 points; Dani Elgadi, 14 points and 10 rebounds) and defeated Laurier 80-70 (Tyler Brown, 17 points and nine steals; Elgadi, 15 points and nine boards).
BROCK HOCKEY
The Brock women’s hockey team sits in fourth place in OUA women’s hockey after defeating ninth-ranked Western 2-1 in a shootout and quadrupling Windsor 4-1.
Against Western, Kimberly Brown scored in regulation on an assist from Beamsville’s Annie Berg and Maggie Spratt-Malick potted the shootout winner. Jensen Murphy made 42 saves to pick up the win in net.
Scoring versus Windsor were Paige Cahoon with a pair and singles to Amanda Ieradi and Brown. Brock has two regulation wins, an overtime win and a loss in regulation.
Brock men’s hockey squad sits in fifth spot in the OUA West Division after recording its first two wins of the season.
Clint Windsor made 33 saves to lead the Badgers to a 4-0 victory over Windsor. Scoring for Brock were Matt MacLeod, Ayden MacDonald, Brandon O’Quinn and Connor Brown.
In a 5-2 victory over Western, former Niagara IceDog Mack Lemmon scored twice and singles were notched by Jeff Corbett, MacLeod and Brayden Stortz.
Brock has two wins, three losses and an overtime loss.
BROCK FIELD LACROSSE
A 17-3 over Laurier has advanced the Brock men’s field lacrosse team to the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association Baggataway Cup semifinals next Saturday in Kingston.
Leading the offence for Brock were: Brandon Slate, goal and six assists; Connor Brown, hat trick and assist; Kurtis Woodland and Jake Nyhuus, hat tricks; Nicholas Rybka and Connor Hamm, two goals; and, Grayson Houghton, Jordan Gillis and Latrell Harris, single goals.
Josh Wood picked up the win in goal.
BROCK CROSS COUNTRY
Brock’s men were 10th and its women were 11th at the OUA cross country championships in Windsor.
The top five Brock men were: Jelmer Van Den Hadelkamp, 20th; Jeremy Mol, 67th; Aric Emiry, 70th; Owen Grabell, 74th; and Lucas Salazar-Reid, 77th.
The top Brock women were: Paulina Sergnese, 46th; Erin Laughlin, 57th; Joanna Francolini, 69th; Annelise Martin, 72nd; and Cassandra Hinz, 80th.
NIAGARA HOOPS
Governor Simcoe grad Mary Ingribelli was named Niagara College’s female athlete of the week. The St. Catharines native is averaging 20.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and three assists per game as the Niagara women are off to a 1-1 start in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association play.
“Mary is off to the best start of her career,” Niagara coach Mike Beccaria said. “She is a skilled and veteran player who is also giving us strong leadership this season.”
Ingribelli had 18 points and seven rebounds helping Niagara defeat University of Toronto at Mississauga 77-57. Also contributing to the victory were: Pelham’s Courtney Kilyk, 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists; Thorold’s Hannah Baker, six points four rebounds and five assists; Hope Brown, 10 points; and, Tianna Stys, eight points.
Niagara’s men improved to 2-0 with an 81-58 road victory over the University of Toronto-Mississauga Eagles led by fourth-year guard Levi Mukuna with 21 points and eight rebounds. Mukuna is averaging 19 points a game. Also contributing to the win were: Danny Lokole, 15 points and seven boards; and, Jordon McDonald, 14 points and 13 rebounds.
NIAGARA SOCCER
Welland Notre Dame grad Jake Therrien was named Niagara’s male athlete of the week.
Therrien helped Niagara place fourth at the OCAA soccer championship in Peterborough.
Therrien helped the Knights advance to the medal round with a goal in a 3-2 victory over the George Brown Huskies.
“Over three games, Jake gave us the quick first step, that surge to get the attack going,” Niagara coach Frank DeChellis said. “I’ve had very few players who attack open space the way Jake does. He is an exciting player who likes to challenge defenders at full speed.”
At the championships, Niagara: beat George Brown 3-2 on goals by Connor Diacur of St. Catharines, Jordi Amores of Niagara Falls and Therrien; lost 1-0 to the Durham Lords; and, lost 1-0 to the Humber Hawks in the bronze-medal game. The player of the game for Niagara in the last game was rookie defender Anu Makinwa.
NIAGARA VOLLEYBALL
Niagara’s women’s volleyball program opened the season with a pair of victories.
In a 3-2 win over the Cambrian Golden Shield (29-27, 21-25, 27-29, 25-13 and 15-10), Niagara was sparked by Jordan Koslowski with 17 kills. In a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-8, 25-15) of the Boreal, Niagara was led by St. Catharines native Roberta Dunlap with 12 kills.
Niagara’s men also stated the season at 2-0.
In a 3-1 win (25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 25-19) over the Cambrian Golden Shield, Jaydon Milne recorded seven aces.
In the other match, Niagara recorded a 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-16) sweep of the Boreal Vipers.
NIAGARA CROSS COUNTRY
Competing at a distance of eight kilometres, Niagara top male runners at the OCAA cross country championships were Gavin Martin of Beamsville (30:00.8), Josh Turner of Grimsby (30:10:6), Zachary Vanderkolk (31:59.1), Bram Greczkowski of Welland (32:36.8), Nicholas Goffredo (33:57.2) and Adam Martynek of St. Catharines (34:56.5).
Niagara’s top females in the six-kilometre race were: Dania Alijeilani(28:15), Jennifer Winger of Stevensville, (28:30.7), Leah Hosack (30:44.6) and Abegale Rodrigues of Welland (31:34.8).
