Brock and Niagara College sports report
Niagara College’s women’s volleyball team won a silver medal at the OCAA championships. Photo special to BPSN.
It was business as usual for the Brock men’s and women’s wrestling teams this past weekend at the U SPORTS wrestling championships in Sault Ste. Marie.
Brock’s women won their seventh straight national title and eighth overall crown, Brock’s men won their fifth straight crown and 18th overall, and Brock notched its fifth straight combined team title. Individually, the Badgers won 10 gold medals and 18 medals overall.
“I love winning and so does my team,” Brock head coach Marty Calder said. “We put a lot of work in over the season. We knew we were going to be tested this weekend, but we had this goal in our minds to win both titles and I think our team was unbelievable.”
Including its first championship in 1992, Brock has won 37 Ontario University Athletics crowns and 26 national titles.
Performing well on the women’s side were: Jessica Brouillette, who won her fourth national title at 63 kilograms; Kristina McLaren (51 kilograms) and Emily Schaefer (55 kilograms), winning their third national titles; Hannah Taylor (59 kilograms) and Sklar Grote (72 kilograms), capturing their first national titles; Samantha Romano (48 kilograms) and Indira Moores (67 kilograms), earning silver; and, Darrion Sterling (82 kilograms), garnering bronze.
“These past five years at Brock have been some of the most memorable of my life,” Brouillette said. “I have grown as a wrestler and as a person. I am very fortunate to get to share this experience with such an incredible team.”
On the men’s side: Sam Jagas (57 kilograms) and Tyler Rowe (57 kilograms) ended their Brock careers with gold medals; Ligrit Sadiku (61 kilograms), Cruiz Manning (72 kilograms) and Clayton Pye (90 kilograms) struck gold; Matt Jagas (68 kilograms), Ty Bridgewater (82 kilograms) and Richard DesChatelets (120 kilograms) mined silver; and, Mizam Tamaradze (65 kilograms) and Ignatius Pitt (110 kilograms), mined bronze.
“It has been an amazing five years and I can’t believe it is over,” Rowe said. “My team has worked so hard and to finish off on a high note like this is unbelievable.”
BROCK HOCKEY
A pair of overtime victories has the Brock men’s hockey team one series away from advancing to the national championships.
The Badgers defeated the first-place Guelph Gryphons 4-3 and 5-4 in overtime to sweep the best-of-three series.
Brock will be gunning for its third OUA West title against the second-seeded York Lions.
Cosimo Fontana scored twice for Brock in the 4-3 win while Chris Maniccia and Ayden MacDonald (OT winner) added singles. Clint Windsor made 39 saves to record the win in goal.
Matt McLeod netted a pair in the 5-4 triumph and single tallies were potted by Josh Timpano, Connor Brown and Mitch Nardi (OT winner). Windsor made 46 saves.
The series begins Wednesday at York. Game 2 is Friday at the Seymour-Hannah Complex at 7:15 p.m.
Brock’s women’s squad saw its season come to an end with a 2-0 series loss the seventh-ranked Guelph Gryphons.
Brock fell 2-1 and 3-2 to Guelph. Scoring for the Badgers were Kat Whiteye, Annie Berg and Rachel Rochat.
BROCK BASKETBALL
Brock men’s basketball team is one win away from a berth in the national championships following a 91-73 victory over Laurier Saturday.
Brock roared out to a 53-14 halftime lead before coasting home to victory.
The third-ranked Badgers host eighth-ranked Ryerson Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. with a spot in the OUA finals and the national championships on the line.
Leading the way for Brock versus Laurier were Cassidy Ryan, 23 points; Johneil Simpson, 21 points; Dani Elgadi, 15 points to move into fourth place on Brock’s career scoring list; and, Tyler Brown, 14 points.
Brock defeated Ryerson 80-75 in overtime during the regular season and 97-86 in pre-season play.
BROCK SWIMMING
Brock had two athletes competing at the university swimming nationals at the University of Toronto.
Gokhan Bozyigit was 16th in the 400-metre freestyle, 24th in the 200-metre flystroke and 25th in the 1,500-metre freestyle.
Maggie Smith, making her debut at nationals, was 30th in the 50-metre backstroke, 42nd in the 50-metre flystroke and 100-metre freestyle and 43rd in the 100-metre flystroke.
BROCK TRACK AND FIELD
Brock’s track and field squad performed well at the OUA championships at the
Highlights included: Jovan Griffiths, Emmanuel Harawa, Paul Bisnauth and Kwaku Bonsu, seventh in the 4X200-metre relay; Bonsu, eighth in long jump; Anna Wojtis, 10th in 60-metre hurdles in Brock record and personal best time of 9.06 seconds; and, Jeremy Mol, 15th in the 1000 metres.
Brock’s men were ninth in the team event.
BROCK VOLLEYBALL
Brock’s women’s volleyball team (6-13) concluded its season with 3-0 and 3-1 road losses to Lakehead.
In the 3-0 loss, Jennifer Todd and Tori Carroll led Brock in kills with Carroll going without an error.
In the 3-1 loss, Laura Condotta had nine kills and Todd recorded eight.
BROCK FENCING
Competing at the OUA men’s fencing championships in Kingston: Eastern Canadian university foil individual champion Malcolm McLeod of Beamsville was seventh overall; the men’s foil team (McLeod, Steve Yang, Blake LaRiviere and Davin Cyr) was sixth, led by McLeod who was named an OUA all-star for recording the highest scored hits while having the lowest hits against; Logan Wilford was 18th and Kendal Hutchinson-Cotoc was 20th in men’s epee; the men were eighth in the team event; and, Aaron Olmstead had a 10/12 record in the preliminary rounds before losing to a former national champion in the second round.
At the OUA women’s championships in Ottawa: Elena Testina was 13th and Rebecca Trotman 20th in the foil; Brock was seventh in the foil team event; Magda Nejman was 15th in epee; Brock was ninth in team epee; and, Wynne Reichheld was 13th in the sabre.
NIAGARA VOLLEYBALL
Niagara College’s women’s volleyball team made it to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship match before falling 3-0 to the Humber Hawks.
The silver was the fourth straight provincial medal for the Knights.
On the way to the final, Niagara defeated second-ranked Fanshawe 3-2 (18-25, 17-25, 26-24, 26-24, and 15-11) and swept Sheridan 3-0 (25-23, 25-11 and 25-16).
By defeating Niagara 25-22, 25-7 and 25-20, Humber extended its winning streak in league and playoff games to 152.
Rookie standout Natasha Desjardins was named the Knights’ player of the match in the gold medal game, while outside hitters Rachel Rivers and Jordan Koslowski were named OCAA championship all-stars.
For their efforts, Koslowski and Rivers were named Niagara’s athlete of the week.
Koslowski led Niagara in kills through all three OCAA matches, including a 15-kill performance versus Fanshawe. The veteran outside hitter was named an OCAA first team all-star after finishing third in the OCAA in kills (192) and overall points (236) during the regular season.
Rivers’ tournament play was highlighted by her 15-point performance against the Sheridan Bruins. During the regular season, Rivers led Niagara with 3.6 points per set.
At the OCAA men’s championships, Niagara went 0-2, losing 3-0 to Georgian and 3-1 to Conestoga.
Against Conestoga, Ben Fillmore was named Niagara’s player of the game after recording 37 assists, six kills and a block.
NIAGARA BASKETBALL
Niagara’s women’s basketball team advanced to the OCAA championships at Humber College with a 61-52 triumph over the Loyalist Lancers.
Niagara was led by Governor Simcoe product Mary Ingribelli with a game-high 22 points, 13 rebounds and four steals. Fonthill’s Hannah Baker and Brooke Cesar each contributed 10 points..
Niagara opens the OCAA championships Friday against George Brown.
Niagara’s men will be hosting the OCAA championships March 1-3 at the Welland Campus Athletic Centre.
The field is made up of the Redeemer Royals (19-1, first in West), Seneca Sting (19-1, first in East), Sheridan Bruins (16-4, second in West), George Brown Huskies (18-2, second in East), Humber Hawks (15-5, third in West), Lambton Lions (13-7, fifth in West), Fanshawe Falcons (11-9, sixth in West), and Niagara (13-7, fourth in West).
Niagara enters the tournament after a one-week bye. Niagara ended the regular season with two straight wins and will open the OCAA playoffs against top-ranked Seneca Thursday at 6 p.m.
Quarter-final games will be played Thursday at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. Championship semifinals are scheduled for 6 and 8 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, the bronze-medal game will be contested at 5 p.m. and the championship will be played at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $5 on March 1 and 2 and $10 on March 3.. Tournament passes can be purchased for $15. Admission is free for all Niagara College students and anyone under the age of 15.
More details can be found at www.ocaa.com/mbb
