Gryphons lead the way with eight awards winners from track and field championships

Burlington, Ont. – The best of the best showcased their abilities at the 2023 OUA Track & Field Championships last weekend, and amidst their double banner win overall, the Guelph Gryphons came away with numerous individual accolades as well, including the top women’s and men’s performers from the banner season stage.

Mark Bujnowski, the Hec Phillips outstanding performer and men’s field MVP has shone on the conference stage throughout his OUA tenure and this latest Track & Field Championships was no different. The imposing Guelph thrower added to his legacy with another double-gold outing in Windsor. To open up his weekend, the agriculture student tossed a sensational 19.43m in the men’s weight throw, which put him 1.44m clear of the next closest competitor in the event. The gold medal therein marked his third straight OUA title in the discipline, but he wasn’t done there.

The native of Mount Brydges, Ont. added to his haul with a conference record in the men’s shot put. With an OUA meet best of 18.59m, good for 2.25m more than the next closest thrower, the fifth-year senior won his fifth straight gold medal in the event.

Another of Guelph’s all-time greats and decorated varsity participants added to her hardware haul as well, with Zoe Sherar capping of her fifth OUA Championships with the Wendy Jerome outstanding women’s performer accolade.

Sherar secured her initial gold medal of the event with a first-place showing in the women’s 300m race, besting her fellow competitors with a time of 37.71. The former Top 8 academic all-Canadian also joined forces with her Gryphons teammates for a pair of relay triumphs, including one in the 4x200m women’s race, in a time of 1:37.02, and another in the 4x400m competition. In the latter, Sherar ran the anchor leg and drove the Gryphons to the line with an OUA record-setting time of 3:41.31.

Sherar wasn’t the only one to shine on the track, and it was another Guelph runner – Cameron Ormond – who claimed the women’s MVP nod therein.

The third-year runner began her weekend on the right foot, capturing gold in the opening race of the event. She topped the women’s 1000m field with a time of 2:44.30, edging her teammate and reigning OUA athlete of the year Sadie-Jane Hickson, but 0.01 seconds. She also joined in on the 4x800m relay to close out the day, and ran the fastest leg of any of the event’s participants en route to her second gold medal of the event. Ormond would round out her OUA performance with a third gold medal, collecting a time of 4:27.26 in the women’s 1500m, eclipsing her next closest competitor by more than a second.

Jude Wheeler-Dee saw similar success in the distance races on the men’s side, which helped him take home the men’s MVP on the track.

Wheeler-Dee, a second-year standout for the Gaels, finished the OUA Track & Field Championships with two gold medals, winning the men's 1000m and men’s 1500m events. It wasn’t just a memorable performance at the event for the award-winning education student, but also in the school record books. Wheeler-Dee set the Queen's school record in the 1000m race with a time of 2:23.41 and he was just off the Queen's mark in the 1500m event as well with a finishing time of 3:47.03.

A pair of potent performers who combined efforts on the track and in the field via the pentathlon, also produced award-winning efforts, conquering the grueling five-event competition with medals from the event and conference accolades thereafter.

Waterloo’s Hannah Blair dominated the field with her gold-medal winning outing. The OUA women’s field MVP began the festivities with an 8.73s time in the 60m hurdles, before soaring to a 1.70m height in the high jump. The fourth-year kinesiology major threw 11.81m in the shot put to extend her lead, out throwing the rest of the field by more than a metre, before topping the group in the long jump as well. Blair brought her pentathlon to a fine finish with the fastest time in the 800m race (2:20.48), capping off the event with 4,014 points and the OUA gold medal.

While Blair is a veteran of the event, newcomer Audrey Goddard got her varsity tenure underway with a bronze medal in the pentathlon. The third-place finisher earned women’s rookie of the year as a result. The first-year Western performer placed second in the 60m hurdle to kick off the event, while finishing third in the high jump, long jump, and 800m events, respectively.

Goddard would finish with 3564 points in the event, a successful start to her OUA career.

Fellow rookie Michael Ivanov also brought his A-game to his initial banner season outing. The first-year multi-event athlete captured the bronze medal in the men's pole vault with a leap of 4.71m, marking a new program best result for the Brock men at the provincial showcase and improving on Ivanov's previous Brock record jump. Along with his outing in the pole vault, the rookie sensation also picked up a fifth-place result in the men's high jump, registering a mark of 1.96m to crack the top five.

When it comes to contributions beyond the track as well, Waterloo’s Aaron Thompson has been a valuable member of the community. During his undergraduate and graduate studies, he has held a number of volunteer positions across many disciplines and in many locations. Wherever it may be, Thompson has made an effort to make a difference.

Coming out for the Warriors track and field team as a first year masters student, after having been at Waterloo for his undergraduate degree, Thompson has been nothing but outstanding since joining the group. He is a beacon of positivity and willing to do anything for his teammates. As an example, on the team’s last chance weekend and with the 4x200m men’s team was on the bubble for U SPORTS qualification, Thompson had previously mentioned he had a flight to a medical school interview in B.C. early on the Saturday morning, but was willing to go anywhere needed on the Friday. In the end, Thompson drove himself to the nation’s capital from Waterloo, helped the 4x200 team qualify for nationals, then drove himself back to Toronto for his flight all within 24 hours. Incredibly few athletes show that level of team commitment and care for their teammates.

Along with varsity track, volunteer roles, part-time work, and a full course load, Thomspon is an assistant with cardiorespiratory research in the lab of Dr. Paolo Dominelli in the Kinesiology Department which focuses on furthering knowledge of cardiorespiratory physiology and respiratory-related diseases. He is currently in the process of starting up and running my own cardiorespiratory research study, with the goal of testing participants in April/May 2023.

On the women’s side, Tyra Boug had an exceptional showing on the track in addition to phenomenal involvement beyond it as a member of the Guelph community.

Boug is a lead with MealCare Guelph Community Fridge, an organization that aims to decrease food waste and help eliminate food insecurity at the university of Guelph. This is done through weekly donations to local organizations (such as the student food bank) and also through the Community Fridge. Boug started the Community Fridge initiative on campus, with the initiative allowing community members to take what they need and leave what they can from the campus fridge free of charge with no questions asked.

The academic all-Canadian, who had a cumulative average of 85.7% in human kinetics science, also volunteers with various classes at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School in Cambridge, teaching lessons and assisting students with course content. In the spring, the recent OUA athlete of the week assists with coaching track and field for the students as well. Her coaching efforts extend to additional young athletes at United Proactive Performance, wherein she helps individuals with speed and injury prevention work that is transferrable to their other sporting activities.

On the coaching side, finally, in leading his crew to a pair of provincial banners, Jason Kerr picked up both top coaching nods, claiming the Sue Wise and Bob Vigars coaching awards for the third straight year. Kerr helped guide his teams to a sixth-straight sweep at the 2023 finale, with the women’s 225 points dominating the team standings and the men comfortably leading the way with 185 points overall. Aside from four events on day two of the competition, the Gryphons captured medals in every event over the weekend, contributing to their well-rounded championship efforts overall.

Guelph’s assistant coach in the pole vault, James Sniatenchuk, also took home a conference honour as the women’s assistant coach of the year, while Toronto’s Paul Johnson, captured the accolade on the men’s side, as the Blues assistant coach in the jumps.

The complete list of 2023 OUA track and field award winners is as follows:

Wendy Jerome Outstanding Performer (Women’s) – Zoe Sherar, Guelph
Hec Phillips Outstanding Performer (Men’s) – Mark Bujnowski, Guelph
Women’s Track MVP – Cameron Ormond, Guelph
Men’s Track MVP – Jude Wheeler-Dee, Queen’s
Women’s Field MVP – Hannah Blair, Waterloo
Men’s Field MVP – Mark Bujnowski, Guelph
Women’s Rookie of the Year – Audrey Goddard, Western
Men’s Rookie of the Year – Michael Ivanov, Brock
Sue Wise Women’s Coach of the Year – Jason Kerr, Guelph
Bob Vigars Men’s Coach of the Year – Jason Kerr, Guelph
Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year – James Sniatenchuk, Guelph
Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year – Paul Johnson, Toronto
Women’s Student-Athlete Community Service Award – Tyra Boug, Guelph
Men’s Student-Athlete Community Service Award – Aaron Thompson, Waterloo