THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS

Home Events – Thursday
Women’s Basketball – Canada West semifinal vs. Calgary, Game 1 (7:00 PM)


Home Events – Friday
Women’s Basketball – Canada West semifinal vs. Calgary, Game 2 (7:00 PM)


Home Events – Saturday
Women’s Basketball – Canada West semifinal vs. Calgary, Game 3 (7:00 PM) *if necessary


Away Events – Thursday
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 1 (Toronto, Ont.)


Away Events – Friday
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 2 (Toronto, Ont.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 1 (Winnipeg, Man.)
Wrestling – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 1 (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.)
Women’s Volleyball – Canada West quarterfinal at UBC, Match 1 (6:00 PM PST)


Away Events – Saturday
Swimming – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 3 (Toronto, Ont.)
Track & Field – at Canada West Championships, Day 2 (Winnipeg, Man.)
Wrestling – at U SPORTS Championships, Day 2 (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.)
Women’s Volleyball – Canada West quarterfinal at UBC, Match 2 (6:00 PM PST)


Away Events – Sunday
Women’s Volleyball – Canada West quarterfinal at UBC, Match 3 (4:00 PM PST) *if necessary

Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 2) – Kyanna Giles was named the Canada West First Star of the Week after leading the Cougars to a quarterfinal series win over UBC in two straight games. The sweep moves the U of R along to the Canada West semifinals, which will see them match up against No. 4-seeded Calgary at the CKHS in a series that begins Thursday night. Game 2 will go on Friday night, while Game 3 will be played on Saturday if it’s needed. All three games will start at 7:00 PM with the winner to advance to the conference championship game next weekend.

Swimming (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 7 / Men’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 9) – The Cougars will head east this weekend for the U SPORTS Championships, which will be hosted from Thursday to Saturday by the University of Toronto. The women’s team will be led by Lexy King and Georgia Kaluznick, who are ranked No. 4 in the nation in the 800-metre freestyle and the 200-metre butterfly, respectively. On the men’s side, look for the 4×200-metre relay team (ranked No. 3 in U SPORTS this season with its time of 7:25.15 at the conference meet in November) and Noah Choboter, a three-time U SPORTS medalist who’s ranked No. 4 in the country in the 200-metre backstroke.

Wrestling (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 5 / Men’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 7) – The Cougars close out their 2017-18 season at the U SPORTS Championships, set for Friday and Saturday at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Waylon Decoteau, Lucas Hoffert, and Nathen Schmidt lead the way for the men’s team after all three struck gold at the Canada West meet two weekends ago, while Inga Hammer, Jessica Rabet, Miki Rowbottom, and Amber Wiebe come into the national meet as conference silver medalists for the No. 5-ranked women’s team.


Track & Field – The Cougars will also head east this weekend as the University of Manitoba will host the Canada West Championships on Friday and Saturday. Rookie long jumper Shane Patmore enters the meet as one of the only two Canada West athletes to have gone over seven metres this season, while Reagan Fedak (weight throw) and Molly Yungmann (pentathlon) are also ranked No. 2 in their events on the women’s side.

Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars were idle last weekend after becoming the first team in the conference to finish its regular season schedule two Saturdays ago. They locked up a playoff berth on Friday thanks to a pair of favourable results on the out-of-town scoreboard, and ended up finishing in seventh place in the Canada West standings at 12-12. The Cougars will play No. 4-ranked UBC in the quarterfinals, a matchup that will feature two teams that battled to a weekend split last month in Regina. The best-of-three series starts Friday in Vancouver.

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars travelled to Lethbridge for a Canada West quarterfinal series against the Pronghorns, but their season came to a halt after the Pronghorns took it in two straight games. Lethbridge dominated in a 115-68 win in Game 1, but Friday’s game was a different story. The two teams went to overtime before Lethbridge closed out the U of R with a 105-98 win despite a 27-point, 13-rebound effort by Regina’s Alex Igual in his final U SPORTS game and a 24-point performance off the bench by Shaquille Harris. Igual, Brandon Tull, and Brian Ofori all played their final games as Cougars.

Women’s Hockey – Alberta put an end to the Cougars’ postseason hopes with two consecutive 2-1 wins in a Canada West quarterfinal series in Edmonton. Both games followed remarkably similar scripts, with Alberta scoring goals in both of the opening two periods before Regina came back with a late goal but not the equalizer. Friday’s late marker was scored with Jaycee Magwood, while Saturday’s third-period goal was notched by Sam Geekie. The loss puts an end to the U SPORTS careers of fifth-year players Bailey Braden, Kylee Kupper, and Nikki Watters-Matthes.

(Braden Konschuh/U of R Athletics)