THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS
Wrestling (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 4 / Men’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 7) – The Cougars will send 19 wrestlers to the Canada West Championships in Saskatoon this Friday and Saturday, as 11 men and nine women will compete. Gaelan Malloy is the lone returning Canada West gold medalist for the Cougars, as the fifth-year wrestler will compete in the 90-kilogram class this weekend. The meet will be webcast live at canadawest.tv with action scheduled from 9 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 4) – The Cougars (15-3) settled for a weekend split at Winnipeg, winning 83-67 on Friday but falling 62-58 on Saturday to a Wesmen team that’s now 16-2 on the season. The U of R will close out the Canada West schedule this weekend with home games against Thompson Rivers (2-16) at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. Game times are set for 6 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
Men’s Basketball – The Cougars (7-11) entered the fourth quarter with leads on both Friday and Saturday at Winnipeg, but the Wesmen put together late rallies in both games to finish with a weekend sweep over the U of R. The Cougars will host Thompson Rivers (8-10) this Friday and Saturday in a battle featuring two of the seven teams battling for the five remaining Canada West playoff berths. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. both nights.
Men’s Hockey – The Cougars will close their Canada West schedule this weekend on home ice, as the Calgary Dinos visit The Co-operators Centre for Friday night and Saturday afternoon contests. Regina (3-21-2) dropped road games to UBC last weekend, falling 5-2 and 4-1 against the Thunderbirds. Tristan Frei scored on Friday while Tyson Predinchuk and Zach McPhee found the net on Saturday.
Track & Field – The Cougars put up nine first-place finishes and set new school records in the 4×800-metre relay on both the men’s and the women’s sides over the weekend at the Bison Classic. Joy Becker had two of those firsts, winning both the 60-metre dash and the long jump. The Cougars will split the squad this weekend, sending a team up to Edmonton to compete in the Golden Bear Challenge with the remainder staying behind to participate in the Regina Indoor Games at the Regina Fieldhouse.
Women’s Hockey – The Cougars (10-12-3-1) came within minutes of knocking off the No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds at home on both Friday and Saturday night, but UBC was able to escape with 4-3 and 3-1 wins. Regina enters the weekend just a point back of fourth place and a home playoff weekend, but will need to take care of business at Calgary and hope for some help from Lethbridge, which visits Saskatchewan.
Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars lost twice to MacEwan in their final home weekend of the season and the last matches at the CKHS for fifth-year players Jenna Krahn and Molly Wade-Cummings. Krahn celebrated Senior Night with one of her finest matches in a U of R uniform, finishing with 14 kills, 14 digs, and a .464 hitting percentage for the Cougars. Regina (3-17) travels to the West Coast to take on No. 4 UBC (14-4) this weekend.
Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars were swept at home by MacEwan last weekend, with Saturday’s match taking the full five sets and well over two hours to settle. Cody Caldwell (17 kills), Michael Corrigan (53 assists), and Brennan Goski (21 kills) all had career nights on Saturday, but MacEwan pulled out a 15-11 win in the fifth set after the Cougars had battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the match. The Cougars (1-19) will take on No. 7-ranked UBC (12-6) on Friday and Saturday in Vancouver.
Swimming (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 10) – Eva Madar led the Cougars at the Colleges Cup in Calgary, securing a first-place finish in the 100-metre butterfly to go along with a second in the 50 fly and a third in the 100-metre freestyle. The meet was the last major tune-up competition for the Cougars before they head to Sherbrooke, Que. for the U SPORTS Championships in late February.
