THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS

Rams Football – The Rams (2-5) collected a huge 56-41 victory over No. 9 Manitoba on Saturday to stay alive in the Canada West postseason race. Rookie running back Atlee Simon earned CIS Offensive Player of the Week honours after tying U of R records with four touchdowns scored and three touchdown runs and finishing with 243 all-purpose yards (154 rushing, 89 receiving) in the victory. The Rams finish the conference schedule at home this weekend against Alberta (3-4), needing a win and a little help from the out-of-town scoreboard to qualify for the postseason.

Men’s Hockey – After a weekend off, the Cougars (0-8-0) return to action with a pair of home games this Friday and Saturday against UBC (4-2-2) at The Co-operators Centre. Both games will face off at 7 p.m. The two games against the Thunderbirds mark the first of a stretch of five consecutive two-game weekend sets for the Cougars, who will also face Lethbridge, Saskatchewan, Mount Royal, and Lethbridge again before taking a break from the Canada West schedule during the month of December.

Women’s Basketball (CIS Ranking: No. 8) – The Cougars were rewarded for posting an 8-3 record against CIS competition in non-conference play with the No. 8 slot in this week’s CIS Top Ten, the first poll of the season. They’ll lift the lid on the conference schedule this Friday and Saturday with a road trip to Vancouver Island to take on the Victoria Vikes in a two-game weekend set. Both games will be webcast live at www.canadawest.tv.

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars closed out their non-conference schedule at Brock last weekend, losing a pair of two-point heartbreakers to both York and host Brock along with a Saturday setback to No. 5-ranked Windsor. The Canada West schedule begins this weekend for the Cougars, who will travel to the West Coast for a pair of games against the No. 10-ranked Victoria Vikes.

Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars (1-3) registered a weekend split with Winnipeg in their first home matches of the Canada West schedule, losing in five sets on Friday but recovering for a four-set victory on Saturday. Tori Glynn had a fine weekend for the U of R, leading the Cougars in both kills (32) and digs (33) while hitting a team-high .253 over the two matches. The team is back in action this weekend with two road matches against Thompson Rivers (2-4).

Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars (0-4) were defeated twice by Winnipeg last weekend in the U of R’s first conference matches of the season at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. Fifth-year middle Steve Carston had team highs in both kills (13) and hitting percentage (.429) over the weekend for the Cougars, who will now prepare for a pair of matches at Thompson Rivers (0-6) in Kamloops, B.C.

Wrestling – Jacob Luczak highlighted the University of Regina’s first competition of the season, placing first at 100 kg in last Saturday’s Dinos Invitational in Calgary. Sean Belisle also medalled for the Cougars, finishing third at 90 kg. The women’s team will split the squad this weekend, sending Iyanu Adetogun, Emily Foerster, and Sydney McIntyre to the Can-Am Open in Jamestown, N.D. and entering Vicki Busch, Dalynn McKay, and Dakoda Sinclair in the Clan International hosted by Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C.

Swimming – The Cougars have their first road meet of the 2014-15 schedule this weekend, as they’ll travel with a full squad to compete in the Odlum Brown Colleges Cup hosted by the University of British Columbia on Saturday and Sunday. It’ll serve as a major tune-up for the Canada West Championships for the Cougars, which will be held Nov. 22 and Nov. 23 in Lethbridge, Alta.

Women’s Hockey – Another weekend, another split for the Cougars as they move to 1-3-3-1 on the season with a 3-2 overtime win over UBC on Friday and a 2-0 loss to the Thunderbirds on Saturday. Brooklyn Moskowy scored the game-winning goal on Friday for the Cougars, who now sit in sixth place in the Canada West standings with 10 points. The U of R will have this weekend off before returning to the conference schedule on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 at home against Lethbridge.

Cross Country – Matt Johnson again provided the highlight for the cross country teams at the Stewart Cup in Calgary on Saturday, finishing in first place to win his fourth race in as many starts this year for the Cougars. Both the men’s team and the women’s team finished in third place in the overall standings, and the Cougars will now prepare for the CIS Championships hosted by Memorial University on Nov. 8.

(Courtesy Braden Konschuh)