THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS
Cross Country – The Cougars conclude their season on Saturday afternoon at the U Sports Championships in Quebec City. The men’s team will be represented by Adam Strueby, Marc Turmel, and Matthew Johnson, while Kaytlyn Criddle will compete in the women’s race. The six-kilometre women’s race starts at 1 p.m. (EST) with the 10K men’s race scheduled to start at 1:40.
Women’s Basketball (U Sports Ranking: No. 1) – The Cougars (2-0) started out the Canada West schedule with a pair of home wins over No. 10 Victoria, winning 61-47 on Friday and following that up with a 69-53 victory on Saturday. The Cougars will continue conference play in Edmonton this weekend with games against MacEwan on Friday night (6:00 MST) and Saturday night (5:00 MST). Both games will be webcast live at canadawest.tv.
Men’s Basketball – The Cougars (1-1) registered a season-opening home split with Victoria last weekend – perhaps not surprising, considering they allowed almost 40 fewer points in Saturday’s game than on Friday. After the Vikes rolled to a 95-77 win in the first game, the Cougars were full value for a 77-57 win the following night to earn a big league victory. They’ll play MacEwan (0-2) this weekend in Edmonton, with the Griffins coming off a pair of road losses at Lethbridge.
Men’s Hockey – The Cougars dropped two games to the Alberta Golden Bears on home ice last weekend, falling to 1-7-0 on the season. Alberta earned a 5-2 win on Friday before completing the sweep with a 4-0 result on Saturday at The Co-operators Centre. This weekend brings another tough test, as Regina travels to Calgary to take on No. 7 Mount Royal for a pair of games.
Women’s Hockey – The Cougars (5-4-1-0) played the hometown Alberta Pandas to a split last weekend, taking a 3-0 win on Friday before falling 4-2 the following afternoon. Kylee Kupper, Alexis Larson and Jaycee Magwood scored on Friday, moving Magwood into fourth place in the conference scoring race with 10 points in as many games. The Cougars have their bye week this week before returning to action at home against first-place UBC on Nov. 18 and 19.
Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars (0-4) were defeated twice on the road by Manitoba last weekend, losing in three sets on Friday and pushing the Bisons to four sets on Saturday. The U of R was close to extending Saturday’s match to a fifth and deciding set, but Manitoba closed out the set – and the match – with a thrilling 30-28 win. The team will have this weekend off before returning to the Canada West schedule with two consecutive home weekends. The Cougars host Saskatchewan on Nov. 18/19 and UBC Okanagan on Nov. 25/26.
Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars (0-4) were swept on both Friday and Saturday at Manitoba. The team has a weekend off from the conference schedule before closing out the first half with three consecutive weekends – first at home against Saskatchewan (Nov. 18/19) and UBC Okanagan (Nov. 25/26), then on the road at Alberta (Dec. 2/3).
Swimming – The Cougars travelled to the West Coast for their first major meet of the season at the Odlum Brown Colleges Cup hosted by UBC. Noah Choboter, Georgia Kaluznick, Lexy King, Jong Hoon Lee, and Brian Palaschuk became the first five U of R swimmers to qualify for nationals, while six school records were shattered at the event – most notably by Lee, who took out records in the 400-metre and 1500-metre freestyles that had stood since 2004. The Cougars will compete next at the Canada West Championships later this month in Edmonton.
Wrestling (Women’s U Sports Ranking: No. 5 / Men’s U Sports Ranking: No. 10) – The women’s team was in action on the weekend, defeating Midland University 21-18 in a dual on Friday before wrestling at the Can Am Open in Jamestown, N.D. on Saturday. Five Cougars earned medals on Friday, as Inga Hammer won gold while Sena Debia and Amber Wiebe captured silvers. Maeghan Wild and Alexis Sigda won bronze medals. Both Cougar teams will be in action on Nov. 18 and 19, as the Cougars host the University of Calgary for a dual on Friday and the annual Cougar Invitational falls on the Saturday.
Rams Football – The Rams’ season came to an end with a 40-34 loss to the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in the Hardy Cup semifinals. The U of R put together a furious rally late in the game, but weren’t able to overcome a deficit that reached 26 points early in the fourth. The Rams graduate eight fifth-year players from this year’s team, which finished in first place in the Canada West standings with a 6-2 record just a year removed from a winless season in 2015.
(Courtesy Braden Konschuh/Cougar Athletics)
