ANCASTER, Ont. – The University of Guelph has never had a women's individual champion at the OUA golf championships.
Sarah Dunning came within one stroke of becoming the first Gryphon to earn that title.
On Tuesday (October 16) in cold, windy conditions at Heron Point Golf Links near Ancaster, the U of G accounting major earned an individual silver medal at the 2018 OUA golf championships after firing a 2nd-round 82 to finish the two-day tournament with an overall score of 161. That number left Dunning just one stroke back of her former University of Toronto teammate Laura Upenieks (78-82-160). Dunning, the OUA's individual champion in 2014, spent five seasons competing with the Varsity Blues before transferring to Guelph in January of 2018.
The University of Toronto captured their seventh consecutive women's team title, while the Ottawa Gee-Gees captured the men's team title, their first since 2009. The men's individual champion was Western's Mackenzie Carter.
Men's Individual
Men's Team Standings
Women's Individual
Women's Team Standings
* Note: the Gryphons women's golf team do not have enough competitors to officially qualify in the team standings *
"Sarah played a lot of really good golf these past two days despite some brutal conditions," said Gryphons head golf coach,
Tim O'Connor.
Sarah Dunning at 2018 OUA Golf Championships
"With the weather we were dealing with, everyone was making some big numbers, but Sarah did a nice job making some solid pars to go along with a pair of birdies in her final round. She was one ball-in-the-fescue away from winning her second OUA's."
Aside from Dunning's impressive 2nd-place performance on the women's side was a T29 finish from Gryphon rookie
Rachel Bauer.
On the men's side, the Gryphon team of
Nick Striker,
Josiah Dixon,
Justin Allen,
Matthew Vihant and
Taylor Cosburn combined to finish 5th out of 16 schools in the overall men's team standings.
Nick Striker at 2018 OUA Golf Championships
The Gryphons were just two strokes back of a podium spot in what was a crowded team leaderboard.
Making the podium became almost second nature for the Gryphons men's golf team in 2018, who six podium finishes eight competitions in 2018, including wins in back-to-back events leading up to the conference championships.
"There was a lot of good learning that took place out there today for our men's team," adds O'Connor.
"We're such a young group. For several of our athletes, team golf was a brand new experience. We're still learning how to win. Alhough it was a disappointing result today, we know there are so many positives for our team to build. The future is bright for our Gryphon golf teams."
