Zheng, Grametbauer, Kennedy named OUA athletes of the week
Burlington, Ont. – Ava Zheng, Mark Grametbauer, and Thomas Kennedy have been named OUA athletes of the week, fueled by Milk2Go Sport, for the period ending February 19, 2023.
Ava Zheng, Fencing, Carleton
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Ava Zheng was a prominent performer on the piste for Carleton this weekend, helping her side pick up a pair of medals as part of the OUA Fencing Championships at Brock University.
In her first banner season outing, Zheng was anything but outmatched among the field of épée specialists. After beginning with a bye on the individual circuit, the Vaughan, Ont. product would go on to defeat Charlotte Reed from Queen’s, Xinyu Lin from Waterloo, and Toronto’s Anna Maria Mucsi en route to the finals. In the gold medal match, Zheng bested another Varsity Blue, Nicole Su, to earn the Al English Trophy as the individual women’s épée champion – Carleton’s first such accolade since 2015.
From there, the first-year law student joined forces with three of her Ravens teammates – Meia Copeland, Hope Johnson, and Laurenne Tynski – to capture silver in the discipline’s team relay event.
For her impressive efforts over the weekend, Zheng was awarded the Dave O’Donnell Trophy as the women’s most prolific fencer, becoming the first student-athlete from Carleton to earn the honour since 2005.
Mark Grametbauer, Hockey, Carleton
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Mark Grametbauer was the headline and the story for the Carleton men’s hockey team last week in their opening round playoff matchup against Ontario Tech.
In what turned out to be a two-game sweep of the Ridgebacks in their best-of-three series, the Ravens netminder was unbeatable, and it was not for lack of trying from Carleton’s opponents. The business major from Halifax, N.S. started with a sparkling 47-save outing in Game 1, backstopping the black birds to the shutout win on the road and a crucial early series lead.
The Ridgebacks didn’t stop peppering Grametbauer in the encore, as their attempts to not only put a puck in the net, but tie the series, led them to another 40 shots on net in Game 2. Much like how it played out a few nights prior, however, Grametbauer shut the door at every turn, which included 14 stops in the final frame against the team’s pressing opposition. Grametbauer’s work between the pipes kept Ontario Tech off the scoresheet for his second consecutive shutout and the series win.
In total, the junior puck-stopper turned away all 87 shots that came his way to open up the team’s quest for the Queen’s Cup and help them advance to a quarterfinal matchup with defending champion UQTR.
Thomas Kennedy, Basketball, Windsor
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Thomas Kennedy capped off his regular season with another stat-stuffing weekend, not only producing lofty numbers therein for Windsor, but contributing to a pair of new program records on the hardwood.
In the Lancers’ penultimate game ahead of the postseason, the team played their way to their eighth straight win with a 19-point victory over Wilfrid Laurier. Like he has all season long, Kennedy was a force on both ends of the floor, racking up monster double-double with game-highs in points (31) and rebounds (16). He would also chip in with three blocks, three assists, and a steal.
While the team saw their winning streak snapped in their regular season finale against Guelph, Kennedy’s double-double streak pressed on with his seventh consecutive such result. The senior forward from Windsor, Ont. collected 16 points and a game-best 14 rebounds to close out the campaign, to go along with another three blocks. The impressive totals ensured he finished the season ranked among the top-five in the conference in points per game (5th), rebounds per game (1st), and blocks per game (3rd).
Not only was it a strong finish to Kennedy’s season, but the business major also put quite a stamp on his tenure with the Lancers as well. Kennedy added to his already lengthy list of Lancer accolades by becoming the program’s all-time leader in both career points (1,479) and blocks (117).
