THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS
Away Events – Thursday
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 1 (Victoria, B.C.)
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 1 (Victoria, B.C.)
Away Events – Friday
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 2 (Victoria, B.C.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 1 (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 2 (Victoria, B.C.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 1 (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Away Events – Saturday
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 3 (Victoria, B.C.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 2 (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 3 (Victoria, B.C.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 2 (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Swimming (Men’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 10) – The Cougars are off to the West Coast this weekend to compete in the U SPORTS Championships from Thursday through Saturday at the Saanich Commonwealth Place near Victoria. Brenan Alejado, Mitchell Brough, Bree Crookshanks, Brian Palaschuk, Etienne Paquin-Foisy, Kareem Tarek Mohammed, and Brendan Van Herk will all swim for the U of R this weekend at the national meet. Crookshanks has registered the second fastest time in the country in the 200-metre breaststroke this season (2:28.56), while Paquin-Foisy’s time of 1:59.91 in the 200-metre butterfly is the third fastest by a U SPORTS swimmer this year.
Track & Field (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 5) – The Cougars will make the short trip up to Saskatoon this weekend for the Canada West Championships hosted on Friday and Saturday. The women’s team enters the meet with the top seed in two events – Kaila Neigum in the 3000-metre run and Erika Stockhorst in the triple jump – while Joely Welburn is the No. 2 seed in the long jump, tied for the No. 2 seed in the high jump, and is the No. 3 seed in the 60-metre hurdles. Thomas Haidl (60-metre hurdles), Scott Joseph (long jump), and the 4×800 team are all top seeds on the men’s side.
Women’s Hockey – The Cougars headed to Calgary last weekend to meet Mount Royal in the Canada West quarterfinals, but were swept in two consecutive low-scoring affairs. MRU won the first game 1-0 on Friday afternoon in double overtime, then got a late empty-net goal on Saturday afternoon to seal a 2-0 win in Game 2.
Women’s Basketball – After ending up as the No. 10 seed in the Canada West playoffs, the Cougars flew out to Vancouver Island to square off with Victoria in a play-in game. But their season ended there, as the No. 7-seeded Vikes pulled away from the Cougars in the second and third quarters and took a 69-49 win on Friday night to move on to the second round of the postseason.
Men’s Basketball – The Cougars’ season came to an end in the Canada West play-in round at Lethbridge on Friday. The Pronghorns went on a 16-2 run to go up by double digits in the third quarter and led the rest of the way, ending up with a 98-86 win over the Cougars to advance to the conference quarterfinals.
Women’s Volleyball – Still missing starters Jessica Lerminiaux and Emma Matheson due to injury, the Cougars travelled up to Edmonton to close out their season but lost a pair of three-set matches to the No. 6-ranked Alberta Pandas.
(Braden Konschuh, Cougar Athletics)
