St. Catharines, Ont. - The Carleton Ravens' fencing team are bringing home more hardware as the OUA Championship wrapped up today at Brock University.
Having already won gold in epee, Ava Zheng helped the Ravens capture silver in the women's epee team relay earning her the Dave O'Donnell Trophy as the most prolific women's fencer determined to be the most proficient in skill, style and sportswomanship as voted by the OUA coaches and officials.
Zheng is the first Raven to win the award since Miheala Jekic in 2005.
Ravens head coach Kyle Girard was named Women's Coach of the Year as the Ravens finished just off the podium in fourth place. Girard is the first Ravens' coach to win an OUA fencing award since 2010.
St. Catharines - The Toronto Varsity Blues swept the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships at Brock University on Sunday, Feb. 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 300 points as Western (233) and Waterloo (183) 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
2023 Major Award Winners
Team Relay OUA All-Stars
Women’s Foil Individual (Day 2)
Women’s Epee Individual (Day 1)
Women’s Sabre Individual (Day 1)
Men’s Epee Individual (Day 2)
Men’s Foil Individual (Day 1)
Men’s Sabre Individual (Day 1)
2023 Team Relay Results
Women’s Sabre Team Relay (Day 2)
Women’s Foil Team Relay (Day 3)
Women’s Epee Team Relay (Day 3)
Men’s Foil Team Relay (Day 2)
Men’s Epee Team Relay (Day 3)
Men’s Sabre Team Relay (Day 3)
Women’s Overall Standings (Day 3)
Men’s Overall Standings (Day 3)
