THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS

Wrestling (Women’s U Sports Ranking: No. 5 / Men’s U Sports Ranking: No. 6) – The Cougars have their only home events of 2016-17 season this weekend, as the men’s team will host the Calgary Dinos for a dual on Friday afternoon (4:00) and both teams will wrestle in the Cougar Invitational on Saturday. The women’s tournament starts at 9 a.m. with the men’s side to follow. Both competitions will be held in the main gym at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Track & Field – The Cougars open up their 2016-17 schedule with an intrasquad meet this Saturday. The 60-metre, 300-metre, 600-metre, and 1200-metre events along with the triple jump, long jump, and high jump will be held at the CKHS from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The weight throw and the shot put will take place at the Regina Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 and 4:30, respectively.

Men’s Hockey – Regina suffered two losses on the road last weekend, falling 7-0 and 6-2 to No. 7-ranked Mount Royal University. The Cougars will return to home ice this weekend, playing host to the 4-6-0 UBC Thunderbirds for 7 p.m. games at The Co-operators Centre on both Friday and Saturday.

Women’s Volleyball – Coming off their bye week, the Cougars (0-4) will now have two consecutive weekends at home beginning this Friday night (6:00) and Saturday night (5:00) against Saskatchewan at the CKHS. The U of R is also at home against UBC Okanagan on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26 before finishing off the first half of the Canada West schedule on the road against Alberta the following weekend.

Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars (0-4) return to Canada West play at home this weekend following a weekend off. They’ll host provincial rival Saskatchewan at the CKHS, with the U of R set to battle the Huskies on Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) following the conclusion of the women’s match both nights. The Cougars are at home again the following weekend against UBC Okanagan (Nov. 25/26) and close out the first half of the conference schedule at Alberta (Dec. 2/3).

Women’s Hockey – The Cougars (5-4-1-0) have a tough test coming off their bye week, travelling to Vancouver for a matchup with the No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds. The Cougars split with the Alberta Pandas in their last action, winning 3-0 on Nov. 4 before the hometown Pandas replied with a 4-2 win the following afternoon. UBC sits at 7-1-2-0 and is riding an eight-game winning streak.

Women’s Basketball (U Sports Ranking: No. 3) – Though the Cougars started out the weekend with a 75-52 win over MacEwan in Edmonton, their 15-game winning streak came to an end after being edged 73-72 by the Griffins on Saturday. Now 3-1 in Canada West play, the Cougars will have this weekend off before returning to the conference schedule at Trinity Western on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars (2-2) registered their second consecutive weekend split, losing 88-84 to MacEwan on Friday but winning by an almost identical 88-85 score on Saturday night. Alex Igual was named the Canada West Third Star of the Week after shooting 50% from beyond the arc and leading the Cougars in scoring with 45 points over the two games, while Aaron McGowan also piled up 27 points in the team’s Saturday victory. The Cougars are back in action on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26 against Trinity Western in Langley, B.C.

Cross Country – Adam Strueby led the Cougars with a 13th overall finish at the U Sports Championships, earning second-team All-Canadian and Canada West first-team all-star honours in the process. Strueby had a 10K time of 31:22 at the meet, which was held at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. Marc Turmel (72nd, 33:02) and Matthew Johnson (90th, 33:29) also ran for the men’s team, while Kaytlyn Criddle had a time of 23:53 in the 6K women’s race and placed 60th.

(Courtesy Braden Konschuh)