Varsity Blues Gold, Golden Hawks Sow earn OUA Athlete of the Week honours
Burlington, Ont. – Aleksa Gold and Ali Sow have been named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Athletes of the Week for the period ending February 23, 2020.
Female Athlete of the Week – Aleksa Gold, Toronto Varsity Blues, Swimming
Second-year standout Aleksa Gold reached the podium seven times in leading the Toronto Varsity Blues women’s swimming team to a silver-medal finish at the 2020 U SPORTS championships in Victoria this past weekend.
Gold won her first career individual national title on Day 3, clocking a time of 2:13.62 to garner the gold medal in the women’s 200m backstroke event. The life science major from Toronto, who will be vying for a spot on Estonia’s Olympic team this summer, also earned four silver medals, finishing second in the 100m freestyle (56.35), 100m backstroke (1:02.21) and helping the Blues to second-place finishes in the 400m freestyle and 400m medley relays.
A U SPORTS first team all-Canadian, Gold rounded out her podium finishes with a bronze-medal placing in the 200m freestyle (2:01.34) and helping the Blues to a third-place finish in the 800m freestyle relay.
Male Athlete of the Week – Ali Sow, Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, Basketball
The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s basketball team entered postseason play as the 10th-ranked team in the field of 12, but Ali Sow helped the underdog squad soar to lofty heights with some on-court mastery this week.
Sow led the Golden Hawks in two massive playoff wins, both of which came on the road. Round one of the OUA playoffs began in Kingston on Wednesday, and the Ottawa, Ont. native took little time to get himself re-acclimatized to the quest for the Wilson Cup. Sow filled the stat sheet with 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block to take down the No. 7 Queen’s Gaels, 91-81.
The third-year guard continued his dominance in Thunder Bay on Saturday in quarterfinal play. In front of a packed house against the U SPORTS No. 8 Lakehead Thunderwolves, Sow once again gave a stellar performance, dropping 27 points, three rebounds, and four steals, while shooting 50% from three (6-12 3FG), nearly single-handedly helping his squad successfully complete a fourth-quarter comeback and secure the 68-64 win.
Sow was second in U SPORTS scoring in the regular season (23.7) and has shown no signs of slowing down heading into this week’s semifinals, ranking third this far in the playoffs with an average of 26.5 PPG.
