Guelph student-athletes, Western coaches rack up track and field accolades
Burlington, Ont. – From standout efforts in the lead up to the banner season finale to podium-worthy performances at the conference festivities, there were accolades abound as part of the 2024 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Track & Field season.
Thanks to their efforts at the 2024 OUA finale, the top performers therein were a pair of Guelph Gryphons, with Julia Agostinelli earning the Dr. Wendy Jerome Trophy and teammate Max Davies bringing home the Hec Phillips Trophy.
The former did so on the heels of a four-medal outing, wherein she raced her way to gold in the 1000m and 4x400m, while also claiming silver in the 1500m and 4x800m relay, respectively. Davies, meanwhile, was the only championship participant to collect three gold medals across the two days of competition, and did so in the 1000m, 1500m, and as the anchor in the 4x800m relay. He also broke a pair of OUA records for his efforts.
Davies was also named the year’s most valuable performer in track, as the dynamic and well-decorated runner had a successful all-around campaign for the Gryphons. Another highlight for the management student from Toronto, Ont. came in early January at the Penn State National Open, where he become the 75th Canadian man to run a sub-four-minute mile.
Another relentless racer on the track, fellow Gryphon Cameron Ormond was named the women’s most valuable performer on the track. The biomedical engineering major took home three medals – gold in the 1500m, silver in the 1000m, and silver in the 4x800m relay. Beyond the conference finale, the fourth-year standout, who to this day remains the only individual to ever win four OFSAA cross country titles while attending Aurora High School, is also the Guelph record-holder in the women’s 1500m and one mile.
Moving over to the field, it is Jen Elizarov was named the most valuable performer therein, along with Windsor A.J. Stanat. Elizarov, a Waterloo, Ont. native in her third year, joined her teammates with a podium-topping weekend, claiming gold in the pole vault. Not only did she win the event, but she did so in record-setting fashion with an OUA-high mark of 4.22m. The defending U SPORTS gold medalist in the same event also owns the U18 national pole vault record that she set in high school.
Stanat, meanwhile, had a breakthrough season for the Windsor Lancers and joins a long list of Lancers to receive the award.
Currently ranked No. 1 across the country in the shot put and fifth in the weight throw, the third-year kinetics major put in two strong performances at the conference finale. He captured gold in both events, starting with a 17.11m throw in the shot put and then a 16.97m toss in the weight throw. He has also been consistently moving up the Lancers all-time top-10 list throughout the season, and his gold medal performances on the banner season stage moved him into the top-three at both events.
It wasn’t just veterans of the sport making waves this season; however, as a pair of newcomers wowed in their varsity debuts as well.
Arwin Mathivathanan, a jumper in both the long jump and triple jump, collected multiple medals across his rookie season en route to becoming York’s fifth rookie of the year winner. His lone gold medal, to go along with four silvers, came in the triple jump competition at the McGill Team Challenge in January. There, he set his personal best with a jump of 15.12m, automatically qualifying him for the U SPORTS Championships. He also won four triple jump silvers, including at the OUA Championships last month, with a leap of 14.92m. Mathivathanan’s only long jump medal was at McGill, where he soared to silver with a jump of 6.89m. He personal best in long jump came at Vanderbilt’s Commodore Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee, where he slotted eighth with a 7.07m effort.
His fellow rookie of the year made her mark on the track, meanwhile, and is another member of the talent-laden Gryphons squad. Ruby Radovich racked up a silver medal in the women’s 600m at the OUA Championships in Windsor, while churning out a gold-medal winning effort as the anchor leg in the 4x400m relay.
As a senior athlete at the 2023 OFSAA Championships, the biological science student from LaSalle, Ont. placed second in the 400m hurdles and fifth in the 400m. A member of the 4x100m Canadian interscholastic record-setting team, Radovich was quick to turn her past successes into varsity triumphs in her first year, and becomes the sixth Gryphon to win the award.
Contributions for this year’s standouts don’t just pertain to the track, as Waterloo’s Celia Markovinovic and Toronto’s Brandon Tang extend their impact well beyond it.
The former has a deep passion for making a positive impact wherever she goes. Outside of her team, Markovinovic spends a significant among of time volunteering and engaging in community work. Her career in health and helping others is top of mind and evident in her extensive volunteer work. The three-time academic all-Canadian serves as the student-athlete representative on the OUA Women in Sport Committee, while also volunteering as an exercise assistant at the Centre for Community Clinical & Applied Research. Therein, she helps cancer and cancer remission patients with aerobic and resistance exercise.
An OUA medalist three years in a row, who set a gold-medal winning personal best jump of 1.69m in the long jump in 2024, Markovinovic is also a dedicated events coordinator for the Make-A-Wish University of Waterloo chapter, successfully raising $1,500 for the foundation. She has also worked with the Halton Youth Overcoming Depression & Anxiety program at Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services.
Tang was also a medalist at the 2024 OUA Championships, taking home bronze in the 60m and silver in the 4x200m relay, but like Markovinovic, the true impact of the Richmond Hill, Ont. local comes beyond his racing acumen.
The third-year sprinter, who is also captain of the varsity team, involved himself in numerous capacities off the track. On the University of Toronto campus, he serves as a team with U of T AI, while also serving as a committee members with the BIPOV Varsity Association (BVA). Tang also works as an on-ice instructor with the Ivy Hockey School.
The computer science major also utilized his expertise to lead the development of an app aimed at optimizing training schedules for varsity athletes across the country. With the optimization, athletes are aided in injury prevention and athletic performance. His app development also made him a winner of the U of T Engineering NEST Hatchery start-up pitch, in which he presented a prototype app to real investors aimed at improving public safety with machine learning.
Continuing the trend beyond the track, the Western Mustangs coaches were also well-recognized for their efforts at the 2024 OUA Track & Field Championships.
The Western squads captured an OUA banner sweep, including a total of 14 medals on Day 1 of competition and another 17 on Day 2. The women’s side edged the Gryphons by 10 points for their first banner in over 20 years (2002-03), while the men’s nearly 20 point edge on Guelph helped them hoist the conference title for the first time since 1997-98.
In leading her teams to victory, Mustangs head coach Vickie Croley swept the coaching awards, named both the Sue Wise and Bob Vigars Coach of the Year, respectively. Fellow coaches Caroline Ehrhardt, Assistant Coach – Horizontal Jumps, Track & Field, and Taylor Ehrhardt, Assistant Coach – Sprints and Strength, Track & Field, joined Croley as award-winners, earning assistant coach of the year honours.
The complete list of 2023-24 OUA track and field award winners is as follows:
Dr. Wendy Jerome Trophy – Julia Agostinelli, Guelph
Hec Phillips Trophy – Max Davies, Guelph
Most Valuable Performer (Track) – Cameron Ormond, Guelph; Max Davies, Guelph
Most Valuable Performer (Field) – Jen Elizarov, Guelph; A.J. Stanat, Windsor
Rookie of the Year – Ruby Radovich, Guelph; Arwin Mathivathanan, York
Sue Wise Coach of the Year – Vickie Croley, Western
Bob Vigars Coach of the Year – Vickie Croley, Western
Assistant Coach of the Year – Caroline Ehrhardt, Western; Taylor Ehrhardt, Western
Community Service Award – Celia Markovinovic, Waterloo; Brandon Tang, Toronto