GUELPH, Ont. – Throughout the 2021-22 season, the University of Guelph Department of Athletics will be highlighting various members from our Gryphon varsity programs as part of our "BioSteel Gryphon Athletes of the Week" series. This week's edition features
Justin Allen (men's golf) and
Venessa Mazur (women's soccer) for their impressive performances during the week of Oct. 4-10, 2021.
Justin Allen (Men's Golf)
The Guelph Gryphons men's golf team will be heading to the 2021 OUA Golf Championships later this week (Friday, Oct. 15).
Justin Allen is a big reason why. Last week, Allen and his Gryphon golf teammates made their way to Grey Silo Golf Club in Waterloo for their OUA Regional Qualifier. The two-day tournament took place Sunday, October 3 and Monday, October 4, with Allen impressing on both days to finish T-1 in the overall individual standings.
The fourth-year marketing management major posted a blistering 66 on the Sunday, and followed that up with another impressive round of 71 on the Monday to finished tied atop the leaderboard with Windsor Lancers golfers Thomas Demarco and Jarrod Smith. Allen's performance for the Gryphons was also important in the final team standings, with the Gryphons finishing 4th in the overall team standings (with the top 4 teams in a field of 8 schools earning a spot in the 2021 OUA Golf Championships on Oct. 15 at Cherry Downs in Pickering).
For Allen, the impressive performance last weekend was the latest result in yet another strong season for the team captain of the Gryphons men's golf team. Back on Sept. 16 at the St. Thomas Golf & Country Club, the Toronto native started his 2021 OUA golf season off with a T1 finish at the Western Invitational. Prior to the cancelled 2020 OUA golf season due to the pandemic, Allen had already established himself as one of the top men's golfers in the province during the 2019 season, where he was named an OUA First Team All-Star following his second-place finish at the 2019 OUA Golf Championships. Allen and his Gryphon teammates will look to end their 2021 OUA golf season in style this Friday as they head to Cherry Downs in Pickering for the conference championship event, which this year, will adopt a single-day, 18-hole format to determine both OUA individual and team champions.
Venessa Mazur (Women's Soccer)
Fifth-year forward
Venessa Mazur takes home Gryphon Athlete of the Week honours after helping the Gryphons women's soccer team take four out of a possible six points in their home-and-home matchup last week with the Waterloo Warriors.
Mazur, a Mississauga native and marketing management major, was a factor in both games for the Gryphons, starting with a Wednesday night (Oct. 6) trip to Warrior Field in Waterloo, where Mazur was at the heart of several Gryphon scoring chances, registering a team-high three shots on net in Guelph's 1-1 draw with the Warriors. Two nights later, the Gryphons returned home and earned a 1-0 victory over Waterloo, with Mazur scoring the match-winner in the 31st minute, her first of the season for the Gryphons, who currently sit atop the
OUA West Division standings with a record of 3-1-2 (wins-losses-draws).
Mazur's solid start to the 2021 campaign comes on the heels of a strong 2019 season with the Gryphons, when the Mississauga native impressed in her third year with the team, finishing the 2019 regular season with 6 goals, ranking her second on the team in goals scored behind only All-Canadian
Victoria Hinchliffe. The Gryphons women's soccer team is idle this week, but will return to action next week with a home-and-home matchup versus the Brock Badgers (Friday night, Oct. 22, in St. Catharines, Sunday afternoon, Oct. 24 in Guelph).
"Gryphon Athletes of the Week" for 2021-22
