Mustangs claim first OUA Women's Fencing Championship title since 1992-93

KINGSTON, Ont. (February 12, 2017) - The Western Mustangs claimed the OUA Women's Fencing banner on Sunday afternoon at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC) at Queen's University finishing with 259 points just three ahead of the silver medalist RMC Paladins.

The banner is the 10th overall for the Mustangs which moves them into a tie with Toronto for the most of any OUA women's fencing school. They also ended the Gaels streak of three straight championship wins; Queen's finished with 233 points and took OUA bronze after leading heading into the final day.

After sitting in second place and trailing Queen's by 26 points heading into Sunday, the Mustangs finished strong medaling in all three events on the final day and finding the top of the podium in the Team Sabre.

The Mustangs Victoria Edwards added to her medal collection after claiming a bronze Saturday by teaming up with Jenny Du, Daphne Huang and Kathryn Ordzuk in the Team Sabre to defeat the McMaster Marauders and take gold. Roxanna Beloussoff also claimed a second medal on Sunday as the Mustangs Epee Team finished with bronze, while their Team Foil defeated the Ryerson Rams to also find a spot on the podium with a bronze medal.

The RMC Paladins narrowly missed out on the OUA banner falling just three points behind Western. The RMC Foil Team of Marilyne Lafortune, Belanna McLean, Erica Park and Chelsea St-Amand took down the Toronto Varsity Blues 45-44 in the match for gold. The Paladins had a chance for another gold medal but lost in the Team Epee final to Carleton and settled for OUA silver. The Ravens trio of Emese Dukai-Branscombe, Madelyn Krasnay and Sharon Schuppe were gold medalists in the Team Epee.

The bronze medalist Queen's Gaels were only able to medal once on Sunday after a strong start in the individual events. The Gaels Sabre quartet of Kori Speck-Altenpohl, Lily Jiang, Karen Zeng and Tina Zhang fended off a strong RMC side to claim the OUA bronze.

RMC's Patricia Howes was awarded the OUA's Christian Vidosa Trophy as Coach of the Year.

Day 1
The reigning champion and host Queen's Gaels picked up a pair of medals on the opening day of the OUA Women's Fencing Championship at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC) and sit with a comfortable 26 point lead heading into Sunday.

The Queen's Gaels find themselves in front after the opening day of action at the OUA Women's Fencing Championship. Queen's had two student-athletes competing for Gold medals late in the afternoon on Saturday, and Lily Jiang was able to capture gold in the Sabre while Jessie Pollett finished with silver in the Foil.

The Ryerson Rams took gold in the Foil as Marcena Lau took down Pollett in a tightly contested 15-12 win. As a team, the Rams sit with 53 points in sixth place thanks to the gold from Lau.

In the Epee the Ottawa Gee-Gees Isabelle Gauthier defeated the RMC Paladins Cecily McDonnell for gold. Despite just one medal on the day RMC finds themselves comfortably in third place with 83 points, just four shy of second place Western.

The Mustangs picked up a pair of OUA bronze medals as Roxanna Belaoussoff took the medal in the Epee and Victoria Edwards in the Sabre by defeating McMaster Marauder Katelyn Chan.

Ottawa sits at 75 points and Toronto at 69 and are both within striking distance of the podium heading into Sunday's team relay portion of the championship.
 
TEAM RELAY RESULTS

Women's Epee Team Event
Bronze: Western
Silver: RMC
Gold: Carleton
OUA All-Star: Emese Dukai-Branscombe, Carleton

Women's Sabre Team Event
Bronze: Queen's
Silver: McMaster
Gold: Western
OUA All-Star: Kathryn Orydzuk, Western

Women's Foil Team Event
Bronze: Western
Silver: Toronto
Gold: RMC
OUA All-Star: Vivian Poon, Western

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Women's Epee Individual Event
Bronze: Roxanna Belaoussoff, Western
Silver: Cecily McDonnell, RMC
Gold (Dr. Al English Trophy recipient): Isabelle Gauthier, Ottawa

Women's Sabre Individual Event
Bronze: Victoria Edwards, Western
Silver: Rebecca Jeffrey, Toronto
Gold (Fred Wach Trophy recipient): Lily Jiang, Queen's

Women's Foil Individual Event
Bronze: Sharon Schuppe, Carleton
Silver: Jessie Pollett, Queen's
Gold (Maitre Ken Wood Trophy recipient): Marcena Lau, Ryerson

OVERALL TEAM STANDINGS (FINAL)
Western - 259
RMC - 256
Queen's - 233
Toronto - 190
Carleton - 131
McMaster - 128
Ryerson - 118
Ottawa - 100
York - 37
Brock - 30
Trent - 15
Guelph - 0

OVERALL TEAM STANDINGS (DAY 1)
Queen's - 113
Western -  87
RMC - 83
Ottawa - 75
Toronto - 69
Ryerson - 53
Carleton - 39
McMaster - 27
York - 12
Brock - 0
Guelph - 0
Trent - 0