Six conference standouts named OUA athletes of the week

Burlington, Ont. – Six conference standouts – Aleksa Gold, Gabe Mastromatteo, Katie Chomiak, Serena Di Benedetto, Treye Trotman, and Maddie O’Connor – have been named OUA athletes of the week, fueled by Milk2Go Sport, for the period ending February 12, 2023.

Aleksa Gold, Swimming, Toronto



Several of the usual suspects prevailed in the pool this weekend, and among the collective effort from the championship-winning Varsity Blues, Aleksa Gold shone brightest. The fourth-year global health and environmental studies major earned the OUA most valuable swimmer honours after wining four individual and two relay gold medals in London, Ont. this past weekend.

Gold swept the backstroke events, winning the 50m race in 28.40 seconds, the 100m edition in 59.85 seconds, and the 200m finale in a time of 2:09.70. The Toronto, Ont. native also won the women’s 200m freestyle in 1:58.54. Gold then led off in Toronto’s OUA record-breaking 400m freestyle relay, while also anchoring U of T’s 200m medley relay to victory on Day 3 of the OUA Swimming Championships. With the senior’s sensational medal haul in tow, the Blues women’s team was able to claim their ninth consecutive conference title, finishing 429.5 points ahead of the silver medal winning squad.

To round out her decorated weekend, Gold also took home the OUA’s community service award and award of distinction honours.

Gabe Mastromatteo, Swimming, Toronto



2020 Olympian Gabe Mastromatteo was masterful in the pool for the OUA-winning Toronto Varsity Blues, earning six medals to help lead his team to their 19th consecutive conference banner.

The second-year commerce major won the 50m breaststroke in an OUA-record time of 27.60 seconds, while also touching the wall first in his signature 100m breaststroke event, doing so in 1:01.05. Mastromatteo also helped the Blues collect gold-medal finishes in both the 200m freestyle and 400m medley relays to round out his four times atop the podium during the OUA Swimming Championships.

The native of Kenora, Ont. added to his already lofty weekend haul with individual silver in the 200m breaststroke, finishing in a time of 2:12.51, and a bronze in the 50m butterfly, thanks to his 24.81-second pace.

For his efforts, Mastromatteo was named the OUA male swimmer of the year.

Katie Chomiak, Hockey, Nipissing



It was all Katie Chomiak for the Nipissing Lakers this weekend, as the women’s hockey standout netted all of her team’s goals in a pair of overtime wins over the nation’s top-ranked team.

In a battle between two of the OUA’s – and U SPORTS’ – top teams, the Lakers were in tough against the streaking Blues. The two nationally-ranked squads dueled in a pair of low-scoring affairs in their weekend back-to-back, and it started with some late-game heroics from Chomiak. With just one second left on the clock and Toronto up by one on Friday night, the Sudbury, Ont. product found the back of the net to tie the game in the last possible moment. If that wasn’t enough, she would add the game-winner for Nipissing a few minutes into the overtime period to put an end to Toronto’s 16-game winning streak.

Just one night later, the two perennial powers faced off once again in what proved to be a very similar script. Once more, the Blues took a lead late into the third period, and while the second-year forward didn’t wait until the final second this time around, Chomiak once again found the equalizer with under three minutes to go. And just like the night before, the sophomore capped off the game with yet another overtime winner for the Lakers.

Chomiak’s four goals, which accounted for the entire Nipissing offence this week, catapults her into a four-way tie atop the conference’s goal-scoring leaderboard.

Serena Di Benedetto, Wrestling, McMaster

McMaster’s Serena Di Benedetto entered this weekend’s OUA championships undefeated after picking up four gold medals throughout the invitational season, and the rookie wrestler was nothing short of dominant in her inaugural banner season event.

The first-year humanities student was impressive on Saturday as she won both of her preliminary bouts against the Western Mustangs and Queen’s Gaels en route to the 53kg gold medal match. The Hamilton, Ont. local added another win, this one by fall over Daina Armstrong from Brock, to cap off her provincial campaign with an OUA title.

She earned double accolades following her dominant performance on the mats as well, taking home both the OUA’s female wrestler of the year and female rookie of the year awards, all en route to help her silver-medal winning Marauders team finish just two points back of the OUA champion Badgers.

Treye Trotman, Wrestling, Western

Western rookie Treye Trotman looked like anything but a first-timer at his debut OUA Wrestling Championships this past weekend, as he shone among his conference peers in more ways than one.

Trotman, a first-year King’s University College student, began his banner season foray with a pair of wins by fall, first over Guelph in Round 1 and then over TMU in Round 2. His two victories secured him a bye into the 57kg finale, where he would face McMaster’s Francesco Fortino, a match that he would ultimately prevail in by tech fall (11-0).

With his gold medal in tow, the London, Ont. local would add to his remarkable championship debut with even more conference recognition, taking home both the OUA men’s most outstanding wrestler and rookie of the year nods for the bronze-medal winning Mustangs.

Maddie O’Connor, Squash, Queen’s



Maddie O’Connor’s dominance on the court not only helped Queen’s extend their OUA women’s squash championship streak to eight, but also earned the Gaels No. 1 player MVP honours.

O’Connor, a school of medicine student, opened up the banner season festivities with a tidy 3-0 performance against Toronto’s all-star Amy Commisso, reeling off an 11-5, 11-3, 11-1 decision in the sweep. She would follow that up with a similarly impressive performance over Guelph’s No. 1 player, Sunshine Troup, who she defeated 11-2, 11-2, and 11-6 in their round robin matchup.

In the semifinals, Western’s Alessia Ferris put up a good fight in the opening game, dropping it by an 11-7 margin to the Tricolour’s all-star, but the Toronto, Ont. product would once again take over the match, surrendering just a single point in each of the next two games to complete the sweep. In the gold medal match, finally, O’Connor took down McMaster’s No. 1 player with another spotless 3-0 win, surrendering just 11 points in the weekend finale.