Banner Season: Blues claim eighth consecutive men’s title to close championship slate

Ottawa, Ont. (via Ottawa Gee-Gees) – The Toronto Varsity Blues men’s fencing team captured their eighth-consecutive OUA title on Sunday at the EY Centre in Ottawa on Sunday.

Despite their normally dominant nature, the Varsity Blues narrowly edged out second-placed Waterloo by only four points. On Day 2, the Warriors brought in a serious points haul by earning golds in two of the three team relay disciplines, earning their first team gold medal wins since 1978.

In the men’s foil relay, defending champion Toronto was unseated by Western in the semifinals, while Waterloo punched their ticket to the final by defeating an upstart Ottawa group. In the final, the Warriors logged a dominant 45-20 win to claim gold.

In a thrilling bronze battle, the host Gee-Gees were down five heading into the final stretch before Sacha Vasiliev checked back in, flipped the script and willed Ottawa to a medal on home turf.

It was more magic for the Warriors in the sabre as they took down two-time defending sabre champions Toronto in the final by a 45-42 final tally. In the bronze, the Western Mustangs nabbed a medal in a tight bout with Queen’s.

The eventual champions would not be shut out from the top step of the podium on the final day, as Toronto was golden in the team epée relay. Surviving a scare from the TMU Bold in the semis, the Varsity Blues closed out the medal win with a 45-33 victory over the Warriors. In the epée bronze, McMaster clinched their sole medal of the weekend with a decisive win over TMU.

Toronto and Waterloo lead the way in the overall medal haul tally, each team earning five apiece.

The Varsity Blues’ overall title represents their 38th men’s fencing championship dating back to 1938.

Major Award Winners

George Tully Trophy – Gavin Crowder, Ottawa
Coach of the Year – Paul Godin, Waterloo

Individual Results (Day 1)

Foil Individual:
Gold (Charles Walters Trophy) – Mike Howard, Toronto
Silver – Ethan Haines, TMU
Bronze - Steven Zhang, Western

Sabre Individual:
Gold (Schwende Trophy) – Richard Yang, Waterloo
Silver – Cameron Haigh, Toronto
Bronze - Leo Chen, Toronto

Epée Individual:
Gold (Desjarlais Trophy) – Seraphim Jarov, Waterloo
Silver – Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia, Brock
Bronze – Gavin Crowder, Ottawa

Team Relay Results (Day 2)

Foil Team
Gold – Waterloo (Koerts, Li, White-Roy, Li)
Silver - Western (Zhang, Cui, Wang, Yu)
Bronze – Ottawa (Vasiliev, Turk, Oroszlan, Fosterdelmundo)

Sabre Team
Gold - Waterloo (Cho, Li, Miyake, Yang)
Silver – Toronto (Chen, Haigh, Ng, Zhao)
Bronze – Western (Brooks, Li, Wong Won, Yamaguchi)

Epée Team
Gold – Toronto (Kanaan, McCurdy, Shi, Xiao)
Silver – Waterloo (Hong, Jarov, Shahzadeh, Zheng)
Bronze – McMaster (Celejewski, Hand, Kriemadis, Mefreh)

Final Team Standings

Toronto 333
Waterloo 329
Western 168
TMU 149
McMaster 109
Ottawa 93
Queen’s 92
RMC 79
Brock 62
York 39
Carleton 29
Guelph 15
Trent 0