Mustangs’ Girardi, Marauders’ Turek earn OUA Athlete of the Week honours
Burlington, Ont. – Megan Girardi and Max Turek have been named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Athletes of the Week for the period ending September 29, 2019.
Female Athlete of the Week – Megan Girardi, Western Mustangs, Soccer
Megan Girardi has been a brick wall between the pipes for the Western Mustangs through her first 10 games, with the stingy play continuing into this past weekend’s outings.
It was business as usual for Girardi in her team’s four-point weekend, as the fourth-year keeper turned away every shot she faced to secure another pair of clean sheets on the year. The weekend started with a tilt against the Marauders on Friday, and the ‘Stangs needed Girardi to be every bit as sharp as she was, as the offence wasn’t able to muster anything against the opposition. The goalkeeper’s shutout secured the point for the purple ponies in the scoreless draw. On Sunday, Girardi kept up her spotless 2019 campaign with another clean sheet against the Windsor Lancers, helping to keep her team knotted at 0-0 at the half before Western exploded for three goals in the second.
With the back-to-back shutouts this weekend, Girardi has now kept the ball out in all 10 matches she has suited up for, maintaining her league-leading 1.000 save percentage in turning away all 29 shots against.
Male Athlete of the Week – Max Turek, McMaster Marauders, Cross Country
The Marauders burst through in a big way a year ago on the trails, with the McMaster men’s cross country squad turning plenty of heads en route to their provincial banner, and Max Turek is off to a strong start in maintaining his team’s championship status.
Turek led his top-ranked U SPORTS squad into the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago over the weekend and put in a big performance for the maroon machine. The All-Canadian led his team to their second title in as many weeks after crossing the line in second spot. The third-year runner fell just three tenths of a second behind Marquette’s All-Big East runner Daniel Pedersen to lose out marginally on individual gold, but his 24:56.69 time was still good enough to score him the silver.
Overall, Turek was the leader of the three-man McMaster pack that finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, and anchored the team’s 45-point performance overall; 20 clear of the second-place Wisconsin Badgers.
