Banner Season: Continued team relay success helps lead Toronto to banner sweep
St. Catharines, Ont. (via Brock Badgers) – The Toronto Varsity Blues swept the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Fencing Championships at Brock University on Sunday, February 19.
The Varsity Blues women’s team won their fifth consecutive championship banner and have claimed the Kay Aoyama Trophy as overall champions a total of 15 times in program history; the Toronto men’s team secured their seventh straight title and have hoisted the Charles Walter Trophy a total of 37 times.
“Every single banner we’ve won has come with its own challenges. Not only do we have different groups of student-athletes changing over from year to year, but the overall team dynamics are unique,” said Toronto head coach Thomas Nguyen. “Both are men’s and women’s teams support each other, and that’s the key. This wouldn’t be possible without the essential teamwork.”
The Varsity Blues women’s team completed the championships with a total of 402 points followed by the Western Mustangs (310) and the Queen’s Gaels (182). The men’s team captured first overall with 332 points as Waterloo (244) and Western (197) finished second and third, respectively.
Ava Zheng of the Carleton Ravens earned the Dave O’Donnell Trophy and Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia of the Brock Badgers was awarded the George Tully Trophy. These awards are presented to a women’s and men’s fencer who are most proficient in skill, style and sportsmanship as determined by a panel of judges.
Paul Godin of the Waterloo Warriors was awarded the OUA Women’s Fencing Coach of the Year Trophy as Women’s Fencing Coach of the Year; Kyle Girard was named Men’s Fencing Coach of the Year with the Christian Vidosa Trophy.
The final day of competition featured Toronto winning gold in the remaining team relay events of women’s epee, women’s foil, men’s epee and men’s sabre.
In the women’s foil team relay final, Toronto narrowly defeated Western 43-41 as the team of Catherine Wu, Angela Feng, Zoey Xie and Tianxi Hu claimed gold. The silver-medal Western is made up of Serena Fang, Jessica Jia, Lydia Tzianas and Robin Wang.
The Waterloo Warriors won bronze with a 45-34 victory over the Queen’s Gaels. Waterloo consists of Ruo Xuan An, Vivian Dai, Evangelina Dryburgh and Angelina Zheng.
The women’s epee final came down to Toronto versus the Carleton Raven. The Varsity Blues team of Jackie Lau, Leanna Lui, Anna Maria Mucsi and Nicole Su defeated the Ravens’ side of Meia Copeland, Hope Johnson, Laurenne Tynski and Ava Zheng by a score of 45-33.
In the bronze-medal match, the Western team of Felicity Mei, Stephanie Ng, Tara Shahzadeh and Yiling Yang overcome the Queen’s Gaels 45-36.
The Varsity Blues won the men’s epee team relay competition with a 45-32 win over the York Lions. Toronto’s team consists of Tin Hong Tsun, Dimitri Ukolov, Leon Xiao and Johnathan Zimmermann. The Lions are made up of Kevin De-tai Wang, Elliott Rae and Kai Ung.
The host Brock Badgers team of Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia, Nathaniel McDonnell, Karl Stang and Kendel Hutchinson-Cotoc captured bronze with a 45-42 win over the Western Mustangs.
In the men’s sabre gold-medal match, the Varsity Blues outlasted the Waterloo Warriors 45-37 as Toronto’s lineup of Cameron Haigh, Brendan He, Liam Sinclair-Thompson and Oscar Zhao claimed gold. The Warriors include Richard Yang, Ryoto Miyake, Simon Li and Young-Vin Cho.
Queen’s team of Alex Sun, Filbert Yung, Luke Steverango and Timothy Wood captured a bronze medal with a 45-25 decision over the TMU Bold
MAJOR AWARD WINNERS
Dave O’Donnell Trophy - Ava Zheng, Carleton
George Tully Trophy - Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia, Brock
Women’s Coach of the Year - Kyle Girard, Carleton
Christian Vidosa Trophy (Men’s Coach of the Year) - Paul Godin, Waterloo
ALL-STARS
Women’s Foil - Jessica Jia, Western
Women’s Epee - Leanna Lui, Toronto
Women’s Sabre - Esther Isadora, Toronto
Men’s Foil - Gerald Wang, Toronto
Men’s Epee - Leon Xiao, Toronto
Men’s Sabre - Oscar Zhao, Toronto
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Women’s Foil Individual (Day 2)
Gold (Maitre Ken Wood Trophy): Catherine Wu, Toronto
Silver: Erika Dominguez, TMU
Bronze: Serena Fang, Western
Women’s Epee Individual (Day 1)
Gold (Al English Trophy): Ava Zheng, Carleton
Silver: Nicole Su, Toronto
Bronze: Anna Maria Mucsi, Toronto
Women’s Sabre Individual (Day 1)
Gold (Fred Wach Trophy): Janna Elshakankiri, Toronto
Silver: Lily Liu, Western
Bronze: Caroline Whitehead, Queen’s
Men’s Epee Individual (Day 2)
Gold: Colin McCurdy, Toronto
Silver: Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia, Brock
Bronze: Kevin De-tai Wang, York
Men’s Foil Individual (Day 1)
Gold (Charles Walters Trophy): Jiaan Li, Waterloo
Silver: Steven Zhang, Western
Bronze: Sacha Vasiliev, Ottawa
Men’s Sabre Individual (Day 1)
Gold (Schwende Trophy): Richard Yang, Waterloo
Silver: Daniel Manyoki, Carleton
Bronze: Ryoto Miyake, Waterloo
TEAM RELAY RESULTS
Women’s Sabre Team Relay (Day 2)
Gold: Toronto Varsity Blues (Chandler, Elshakankiri, Falkson, Haji-Mahmoodzadeh)
Silver: Western Mustangs (Lewicki, Liu, O’Donnell, Tang)
Bronze: Queen’s Gaels (Whitehead, Lang, Yao, Naguib)
Women’s Foil Team Relay (Day 3)
Gold: Toronto Varsity Blues (Feng, Hu, Wu, Xie)
Silver: Western Mustangs (Fang, Wang, Jia, Tzianas)
Bronze: Waterloo Warriors (Dryburgh, An, Dai, Zheng)
Women’s Epee Team Relay (Day 3)
Gold: Toronto Varsity Blues (Lau, Lui, Mucsi, Su)
Silver: Carleton Ravens (Copeland, Johnson, Tynski, Zheng)
Bronze: Western Mustangs (Yang, Ng, Mei, Shahzadeh)
Men’s Foil Team Relay (Day 2)
Gold: Toronto Varsity Blues (Chen-Li, Lum-Debono, Teece-Soter, Wang)
Silver: Waterloo Warriors (Li, White-Roy, Koerts, Hiebert)
Bronze: Western Mustangs (Zhang, Cui, Qi, Wang)
Men’s Epee Team Relay (Day 3)
Gold: Toronto Varsity Blues (Tsun, Ukolov, Ziao, Zimmermann)
Silver: York Lions (Wang, Rae, Ung)
Bronze: Brock Badgers (Gutierrez-Sarabia, McDonnell, Stang, Hutchinson-Cotoc)
Men’s Sabre Team Relay (Day 3)
Gold: Toronto Varsity Blues (Haigh, He, Sinclair-Thompson, Zhao)
Silver: Waterloo Warriors (Yang, Miyake, Li, Cho)
Bronze: Queen’s Gaels (Sun, Yung, Steverango, Wood)
WOMEN'S STANDINGS (OVERALL)
Toronto 402
Western 310
Queen’s 182
Carleton 133
RMC 128
McMaster 83
Waterloo 78
Brock 76
Trent 43
TMU 27
Ottawa 20
Guelph 15
MEN'S STANDINGS (OVERALL)
Toronto 300
Waterloo 233
Western 183
York 123
Queen’s 111
Ottawa 92
RMC 89
TMU 89
Brock 77
Trent 72
Carleton 69
McMaster 60
Guelph 0
