Banner Season: Blues step up in individual and relay events to capture second straight women's banner

St. Catharines, Ont. – The University of Toronto Varsity Blues hoisted the Kay Aoyama Trophy to claim the OUA Women's Fencing Championship for a second consecutive season at Brock University on Sunday.

"It's great to see the culmination of several months of hard work translate into some great performances," said Varsity Blues head coach Thomas Nguyen. "Hard work paying off is always a nice reward."

Toronto recorded a boatload of individual medals and team relay medals to put a definitive stamp on their second straight provincial banner.

"We were confident of our team's capabilities and potential heading into the championships. From the start of the season, the training was taken seriously, with focus and commitment, having several team members working towards national level aspirations," added Nguyen. "Moving through the season, the progress and consolidation of skills were noticeable at various lead up competitions. Our strong edge became clear with the culmination of fighting spirit, mental determination, and team camaraderie. We are extremely proud of their solid achievement for a second consecutive banner."

Varsity Blues' second-year fencer Emily Principe brought home a gold medal in the individual epee. Ryerson's Natasha Kis-Toth (silver) and Western's Olga Nova (bronze) also secured a medal.

Toronto's Karina Li (silver) and Siobhan Drysdale (bronze) each earned medals in the individual foil event. Ottawa's Naomi Moindrot-Zilliox captured gold.

Rebecca Jeffrey took silver in the sabre while Kayla Lambie of Western triumphed for gold and Ying Jia Chen of McMaster took bronze.

The Western Mustangs captured gold in both the sabre and epee team relay events.

The Mustangs' epee team of Nicole Cheng, Jennifer Kaminker, Joanna Kasprzak, and Olga Nova overcame Toronto 41-38, while Ryerson slipped by Carleton 45-44 for the epee bronze medal.

In the sabre relay team, Western's Kristin Dosen, Victoria Edwards, Kayla Lambie and Shalini Perugu defeated Toronto 45-24 for gold. The RMC Paladins captured bronze with a 45-36 win over Carleton.

Toronto's foil relay squad of Siobhan Drysdale, Margaret Ho, Karina Li and Yuefan Lu claimed a gold medal with a 45-35 victory over Ottawa. Western edged RMC 43-42 in the bronze-medal match.

OVERALL STANDINGS

1 Toronto, 361
2 Western, 317
3 RMC, 141
4 Carleton, 126
5 Ryerson, 126
6 Ottawa, 113
7 Queen's, 109
8 McMaster, 78
9 York, 43
10 Trent, 28
11 Waterloo, 25
12 Brock, 15
13 Guelph, 0

TEAM RELAY RESULTS

Foil Team
Gold: Toronto
Silver: Ottawa
Bronze: Western 

Epee Team
Gold: Western
Silver: Toronto
Bronze: Ryerson 

Sabre Team
Gold: Western
Silver: Toronto
Bronze: RMC & Carleton

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Epee Individual
Gold (Al English Trophy): Emily Principe (Toronto)
Silver: Natasha Kis-Toth (Ryerson)
Bronze: Olga Nova (Western) 

Sabre Individual
Gold (Fred Wach Trophy): Kayla Lambie (Western)
Silver: Rebecca Jeffrey (Toronto)
Bronze: Ying Jia Chen (McMaster) 

Foil Individual
Gold (Maitre Ken Wood Trophy): Naomi Moindrot-Zilliox (Ottawa)
Silver: Karina Li (Toronto)
Bronze: Siobhan Drysdale (Toronto) 

MAJOR AWARD WINNERS

Coach of the Year: Courtney McDonnell (Trent)
Dave O'Donnell Trophy (Sportsmanship): Kayla Lambie (Western)
Epee All-Star – Sharon Schuppe (Carleton)
Foil All-Star – Danilla Xing (Western)
Sabre All-Star – Victoria Edwards (Western)