Gryphons Excel at OUA Championships, Make History
October 29, 2012 - Campus Bulletin
The University of Guelph’s varsity athletic teams have made the record books. For the first time in U of G sports history, all of the varsity teams made the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs.
“It is unusual and quite exceptional that one school would have every one of its teams compete at a level where every team has made a conference playoff,” said Tom Kendall, director of athletics.
“It just doesn’t happen — until now — and it’s a testament to the commitment of our athletes and to our coaches.”
This past weekend, the women’s and men’s cross-country running teams and the women's rugby team captured gold at the OUA championships. U of G’s field hockey team and the women’s lacrosse team won OUA silver medals, and a member of the rowing team won individual gold and bronze OUA medals.
Still to come, the football team will play in an OUA semi-final game at home on Saturday against Queen’s University. The game begins at 1 p.m. In addition, the men’s rugby team and men’s lacrosse team have playoff games this week and weekend.
Guelph captured its ninth straight OUA women’s cross-country running title — a record for consecutive provincial titles — and its eighth straight on the men’s side. The championships took place in King City Oct. 27.
Guelph runners also won five individual medals: two gold, one silver and two bronze.
In the women’s five-kilometre race, Gryphon Genevieve Lalonde won the individual gold medal with a time of 17:45.96, which also earned her the title of OUA MVP. Madeline Yungblut won the bronze medal in 18:04.51 and was named Rookie of the Year.
Guelph swept the men’s 10-km race, with Ross Proudfoot winning gold (32:06.17); Yves Sikubwabo, silver (32:22.74); and Andrew Nixon, bronze (32:23.16). Proudfoot was also named OUA MVP, and Sikubwabo, Rookie of the Year. Guelph now moves on to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships Nov. 10.
The women’s rugby team won its fifth straight OUA championship Oct. 27, beating Queen’s University 10 to 6. It’s the 13th time U of G has won the OUA title since it was first contested in 1994.
In rowing, Mark Henry led the Gryphons at the OUA championship regatta held in St. Catharines this past weekend. He won a gold medal in the lightweight men’s single and bronze in the heavyweight men’s single. On the women’s side, Emily Jago finished fourth. Overall the Gryphon men’s team finished seventh, and the Gryphon women were ninth.
The field hockey team won OUA silver Oct. 28 after facing the University of Toronto in the championship match; Toronto won 5 to 2. Erin Houle was named Guelph’s player of the game. Having claimed its second straight OUA silver medal, the team will advance to the CIS championships Nov. 1 to 4.
The women’s lacrosse team battled the University of Western Ontario for the Patterson Cup Oct. 28 in Kingston. The Gryphons were awarded the silver medal after the Mustangs won 12 to 7.
Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams made it to OUA quarter-final games that were played last weekend but did not advance. The varsity baseball team finished second in the regular season and advanced to the OUA quarter finals.
