Weekend Wrap: Brock and Western Take Home OUA Banners
The Western Mustangs women and Brock Badgers men successfully defended their OUA titles on Saturday and stood atop the final standings at the 2022 OUA Rowing Championships.
Taking place from the Henley Course in St. Catharines, the OUA Rowing Championships featured fourteen OUA university rowing programs from across the province. The weather disrupted the regatta preceding’s as thick fog caused a delay in the start of the action on Saturday. An 8:45am start time was pushed to 10:45am as the fog began to lift just after 10am. The regatta schedule needed to be modified due to the delay and medalists were awarded straight from the heats rather than qualifying for finals.
For the Western women, it was a dominant performance throughout the day, with the Mustangs finishing with 486 points (with Queen’s the next closest school at 258 points). The Western women reached the OUA podium on seven occasions (3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze). The victory for the Mustangs marked their 9th consecutive OUA title in women’s rowing, and 30th in program history.
The Brock men meanwhile earned back-to-back OUA titles, finishing 86 points ahead of second-place Western on the men’s side for the 13th OUA title in program history for the Badgers men’s rowing program. The Badger men were represented on the OUA podium six times (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze). Leading the way for Brock was Stephen Harris, a third-year economics major who was named the OUA Male Rower of the Year after capturing a pair of gold medals in the men’s lightweight 2x and lightweight 8+. The OUA Women’s Rower of the Year went to Trent’s Grace Vandenbroek, who took home an OUA gold medal in the women’s 1x, to go along with an OUA silver in the women’s 2-.
OUA Award Winners
Rower of the Year (W) – Grace Vandenbroek, Trent
Rower of the Year (M) – Stephen Harris, Brock
Coach of the Year (W) – Mary Rao, Brock
Coach of the Year (M) – Tom Kent, Brock
Men’s Standings
1. Brock – 488
2. Western – 402
3. Queen’s – 266
4. McGill – 151
5. Carleton – 98
6. Trent – 80
7. Guelph – 79
8. Toronto – 66
9. McMaster – 61
10. Ottawa – 55
11. Waterloo – 47
12. Ontario Tech – 14
13. Nipissing – 8
Women’s Standings
1. Western – 486
2. Queen’s – 258
3. Brock – 254
4. Toronto – 180
5. Trent – 151
6. Ottawa – 146
7. Guelph – 137
8. McMaster – 132
9. Carleton – 62
10. McGill – 28
11. Waterloo – 17
12. Ontario Tech – 9
On Friday, the Brock Badgers hosted the 2022 Development Regatta which also took place from the Henley Course. The regatta featured novice and junior varsity rowers from across the OUA gaining valuable experience as their university rowing seasons drew to a close. The Development Regatta featured 65 entries from 13 university rowing programs competing in eights, doubles and fours.
On Sunday, the Argonaut Rowing Club also hosted the Martha Coffey Frostbite Sprints in Toronto on the Western Beaches Dragon Boat Course. The regatta featured 750m sprint races for youth, women’s, and men’s in fours, quads, and eights and in addition to the Argo’s rowers was attended by the Hanlan Boat Club, Kingston Rowing Club and Orillia Rowing Club.
For full results from the OUA Rowing Championships, visit RegattaCentral.
For full results from the 2022 Development Regatta, visit RegattaCentral.
For full results from the Martha Coffey Frostbite Sprints, visit RegattaCentral.
