Curling and wrestling take the stage as the U-Sports championship season begins

With February in full swing, various U Sports athletes across the country are finishing regular season games and looking forward to the playoffs at the end of the month and the national championships in March.

In curling, the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men’s championship is played Friday through Sunday in Peterborough, while the women’s championship just ended with the crowning of the McMaster Marauders in Oshawa over the weekend.

The Marauders picked up victories over the Toronto Varsity Blues, Brock Badgers and defending champion Laurentian Voyageurs to finish the group game with a 3-1 record.

After beating Western University 7-3 in the quarterfinals, the Marauders reciprocated their loss to Queen’s with an 8-1 win in the semifinals and set up a rematch with Laurentian.

The last game was much closer than the 8-2 result in the group game, with the teams going into the final with a three-three draw. McMaster stole a point to earn the 4-3 win while Toronto Metropolitan University defeated Queen’s in the bronze medal game.

This is the first OUA Championship for the McMaster women’s team since 2020 when they finished fourth in the National U-Sports Championship.

Finishing second, Evelyn Robert secured a spot on the first All-Star team, while Skip Madelyn Warriner and runner-up Grace Lloyd secured spots on the second team.

The Dalhousie Tigers’ men’s and women’s curling teams clinched the Atlantic University Sports (AUS) curling title for the third straight year on Sunday.

The men’s team, led by Skip Adam McEachren of Truro, NS, defeated the University of New Brunswick and St. Mary’s University 2-1 in a round robin game.

The Tigers retaliated with a narrow 4-3 win for Memorial in the semifinals before beating St. Mary’s 7-3 in the final.

In the women’s, Skip Marin Callaghan led the Tigers to a 3-2 record in their six-team group followed by a 7-2 win over St Mary’s in the semi-finals before scoring a thrilling 5-win against UPEI. 4 in extra endings in the championship game.

The Canada West (CW) Curling Championships will be held February 24-25 in Victoria, BC.

The National Curling Canada College Championships will be held March 15-19 in Sudbury, Ontario, with Laurentian as the host guaranteed places on both the men’s and women’s sides.

OUA, CW Wrestling Championships are coming up

The OUA Wrestling Championships are scheduled for Saturday in Hamilton, with 11 schools participating.

Brock will line up at the weekend as the team to beat in the men’s competition after taking first place nationally on January 30.

The six-time OUA champions finished runners-up at the Western Open in London on January 28 and will no doubt win the national title for a seventh consecutive year (first straight) at the end of February. since 2020, last year U Sports wrestling championship was held.)

Toronto rookie Carlos Vargas is the name to watch for the Badgers as the No. 1 wrestler in the 68kg division, capping a great season with a dominant gold medal run in London without conceding a single point of his three games.

Brock will be joined on Saturday by other top 10 schools in Western (third), host McMaster (sixth), Lakehead, Guelph and York (eighth through tenth respectively).

Western and McMaster have two #1 wrestlers in their respective weight classes.

Treye Trotman of London (57 kg) and Lukas Geske of Hamilton (82 kg) lead the Mustangs, while Gregor McNeil of North York (61 kg) and Karan Mahil of Surrey, BC (125 kg) are the top male athletes bum.

The women’s competition numbers are incredibly competitive, with OUA schools occupying every place from fifth to 13th in U Sports’ national rankings.

Nine-time U-Sports champion Brock is tied for fifth with McMaster.

This rivalry will perhaps be most competitive in the 59kg class as Marauder Amy Bellavia – the No. 1 wrestler – defeated No. 2 Mia Friesen of the Badgers at the Western Open in late January, a week after Friesen won the Guelph Open had won .

Serena Di Benedetto leads the 53kg category for McMaster while Shauna Kuebek is second in the 76kg category for Brock.

The 7th ranked western has no wrestlers in the top 3 in any weight class, but they show tremendous depth with five wrestlers ranked in the top 5 in their respective weight classes.

No. 8 Guelph’s Keyln Young and No. 9 Algoma’s Emily Duchesne are second and third in the 50kg weight class, leading to a possible clash in Hamilton.

The 2023 CW Championships also begin this Friday in Edmonton, with the competition pool much more clearly defined.

For both women and men, the University of Alberta leads the way.

The Golden Bears are in first place for women and second for men.

The University of Calgary and the University of Saskatchewan are fourth in the men’s standings, and the Dinos and Huskies are second and third, respectively, in the women’s standings.

Robbie Ann Pingal (56 kg), Andrea Franko (72 kg) and Vianne Rouleau (76 kg) – all from Edmonton – lead the Golden Bear rankings.

Saskatchewan’s Sierra Mullin is the Huskies’ lone highest-ranked wrestler in the 50kg category, while Erin Geddie of Calgary is ahead of No. 2 Myah Phillips of Saskatchewan and No. 3 Deanna Eastman of Alberta – the only one – in the 82kg category – tops category in which three CW wrestlers are at the top.

Geddie won gold at the Golden Bear Open on Jan. 14, the last CW event before Friday’s championship.

Elias Wile is the only male CW wrestler to top a men’s weight division (72 kg).

The Huskies and Dinos both have six wrestlers ranked in the top five in the 10 different weight classes, while the Golden Bears have seven.

Source: www.cbc.ca