THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS
Home Events – Friday
Women’s Basketball – Canada West final vs. Saskatchewan, 7:00 PM (CKHS)
Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 2) – After last week’s sweep over Calgary in the conference semifinals which saw the Cougars defeat the Dinos by scores of 61-58 and 66-60, the U of R will play for a Canada West championship against Saskatchewan on home court. Now 31-3 on the season, the Cougars will play the Huskies in the Canada West final for the third consecutive season. The championship game will tip off at 7:00 on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
Swimming – The Cougars capped a historic season by finishing sixth on the women’s side and eighth in the men’s standings at the 2018 U SPORTS Championships in Toronto. The highlight over the three-day meet was the men’s 4×200-metre freestyle team, which earned the first relay medal in school history – in either gender – after winning bronze in the final event of the meet. Noah Choboter finished as the men’s team’s leading individual scorer with 74 points, while Lexy King led the women’s team with 86 points. The Cougars expect to return all 10 swimmers that qualified for the U SPORTS meet to next year’s roster.
Track & Field – The Cougars finished with five medals at the 2018 Canada West Championships in Winnipeg, including rookie Shane Patmore’s gold in the long jump. Alex Eiswerth and Greg Hetterley won silver and bronze, respectively, in the 1000-metre run, while Reagan Fedak won silver in the weight throw and Michaela Allen earned bronze in the 600-metre run. Allen, Eiswerth, Fedak, Patmore, Paige Jeannot, Brooke Shatkowski, Molly Yungmann, and four relay teams have all qualified for the U SPORTS Championships two weekends from now in Windsor, Ont.
Wrestling – Inga Hammer (72 kg) won bronze at the U SPORTS Championships in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. last weekend to help lift the U of R’s women’s team to a fifth-place finish in the overall standings. The men’s team finished in eighth place thanks to silver medals by both Lucas Hoffert (65 kg) and Waylon Decoteau (100 kg) and a fourth-place finish by Jordan Tholl (120 kg).
Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars’ season came to an end after losing in the quarterfinals to No. 4-ranked UBC over the weekend in Vancouver. The Thunderbirds won in four sets on Friday night after Regina came out of the gates with a big 25-16 win in the first to open the series, then won in three straight sets on Saturday night to earn a spot in the conference semifinals and an automatic berth to the U SPORTS Championship. With no fifth-year players on the roster, head coach Melanie Sanford will expect to return the entire roster to the 2018-19 team including second-team all-star Satomi Togawa and all-rookie honouree Jessica Lerminiaux.
