BURNABY, B.C. - This past weekend (November 11 & 12), a total of 18 student-athletes from the Guelph Gryphons rowing program made their way to Burnaby Lake in Burnaby, British Columbia to compete in the 2023 Canadian University Rowing Championships. This year's national championship event saw nearly 300 athletes from 20 universities across Canada converge on Burnaby Lake to compete in the 26th annual Canadian University Rowing Championships, hosted by the UBC Thunderbirds. On the women's side, the Gryphons finished 6th (out of 20 schools) in the overall team standings, their best result since 2018, while the Gryphon men finished 10th (out of 20 schools).
The Gryphons sent a women's team of 10 student-athletes plus 2 coxswains, while the Gryphon men sent six student-athletes.
Under partly sunny skies on Saturday the Gryphons had three crews (Women's Lightweight 2x, Women's Lightweight 4+, Women's Open 2x) and two individuals (
Sarah Ribey - Women's Lightweight 1x,
James Rourke - Men's Lightweight 1x) qualify for 'A' finals. On Sunday,
Sarah Ribey and
James Rourke each completed the 'A' finals with 6th-place finishes along with the women's lightweight 4+ made up of Ribey,
Natalie Miners,
Kaitlyn O'Donnell,
Lia Snucins, and
Kiera Hickie-Bentzen. The third-year and second-year student-athletes, Ribey and Snucins, also competed in the women's lightweight 2x where they achieved a 5th-place finish. The highlight of the weekend however came from the duo of
Kaylea Bray and
Mayva Hergel who captured a bronze medal in the women's open 2x, completing the race with a time of 7:57.732. Bray, a rookie, and Hergel, a second-year athlete, finished :07 seconds ahead of the StFX X-Women to claim the lone Gryphon national medal.
The Victoria Vikes women's rowing team captured it's second consecutive national championship finishing eight points (108) ahead of second-place UBC (100). On the men's side, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds men's rowing team claimed its seventh banner in nine years with a total of 123 points, matching their total from a season ago. The Brock Badgers finished second (100) and the Victoria Vikes were third (90) to complete the same podium as the 2022 Canadian University Rowing Championships.
RESULTS
Individual Major Awards
Women's Athlete of the Year – Kennedy Burrows (Ottawa)
Men's Athlete of the Year – Stephen Harris (Brock)
Women's Team Coach of the Year – Jane Gumley (Victoria)
Men's Team Coach of the Year –
Mike Pearce (UBC)
President's Award – Dan Bechard (Western)
Above and Beyond Athlete of the Year – Jack Harding (StFX)
Coach Builder of the Year – Courtney Amilee (Calgary)
Women's Final Point Standings
Victoria – 108
UBC – 100
Queen's – 91
Western – 81
Brock – 45
Guelph – 44
Toronto – 42
Ottawa – 29
Dalhousie – 30
Calgary – 29
McGill – 24
Carleton – 22
McMaster – 21
SFU - 15
Ontario Tech – 9
UFV – 6
U Sask – 4
St FX – 0
U de Montreal – 0
Waterloo – 0
Men's Final Point Standings
UBC – 123
Brock – 100
Victoria – 90
Western – 83
Queen's – 54
Calgary – 38
McGill – 38
Toronto – 36
Ottawa – 35
Guelph – 26
St FX – 25
McMaster – 13
UFV - 9
Dalhousie – 9
U de Montreal – 8
U Sask – 6
Ontario Tech – 6
Waterloo – 4
SFU – 1
Carleton – 0
Women's Medal Races
Women's Lightweight Pair
1 Brock - 7:38.870; 2 UBC - 7:39.718; 3 Victoria - 7:53.629
Women's Pair
1 UBC - 7:34.495; 2 Victoria - 7:37.308; 3 Queen's 7:40.760
Women's Lightweight Four
1 Queen's - 7:27.220; 2 Victoria - 7:30.491; 3 Western - 7:35.901
Women's Single
1 Western - 8:10.320; 2 Victoria - 8:14.163; 3 UBC - 8:17.761
Women's Lightweight Single
1 Ottawa - 8:05.025; 2 Dalhousie - 8:08.043; 3 Queen's - 8:08.392
Women's Eight
1 Victoria - 6:31.062; 2 UBC - 6:34.109; 3 Western - 6:34.434
Men's Medal Races
Men's Single
1 UBC - 7:21.660; 2 Brock - 7:29.013; 3 Western - 7:36.538
Men's Lightweight Single
1 Victoria - 7:21.756; 2 UBC - 7:24.784; 3 Brock - 7:27.225
Men's Eight
1 UBC - 5:45.198; 2 Victoria 5:48.914; 3 Western 5:52.590
Men's Lightweight Pair
1 Brock - 6:41.263; 2 UBC - 6:43.543; Queen's - 6:46.483
Men's Pair
1 UBC - 6:43.808; 2 Western - 6:48.227; 3 Queen's - 6:51.645
Men's Lightweight Four
1 Brock - 6:32.997; 2 UBC - 6:34.921; 3 Queen's - 6:41.542
