2011-12 NEWS RELEASES

UOIT Athletics Media Release
Saturday, September 24, 2011
 

UOIT Rowers win silver and bronze in Welland
 

UOIT wins a silver and bronze medal at the Head of the Welland Regatta
Women’s Varsity 8+ - Silver Medal
Men’s Novice 8+: Bronze Medal

HEAD OF THE WELLAND

The Ridgebacks had another strong showing at the Head of the Welland Five Bridges Classic Regatta as the women’s varsity 8+ team picked up a silver medal while the men’s novice 8+ team earned bronze.
 
The women’s varsity 8+ team finished in second place for the second consecutive week as they navigated the course with a quick time of 20:54.07. This was two minutes faster than their time one season ago. Christie Attwood, Gillian Beckette, Angela Dares, Allison Demaiter, Meaghan Jones, Sheila King, Allison Ng, Kelsey Sargent and coxswain Monica Mak made up the crew that won the silver medal.
 
Mak, Dares, Demaiter, Ng and Jones also raced in the women’s varsity 4+ division, where they had a time of 21:45.95 to finish in fourth place overall. This crew also shaved two minutes off their time from one season ago.
 
The men’s varsity 8+ also had similar results as Jeff Bonnalie, Patrick Bradley, Mark Henein, Znak Ovenden, Colm Shannon, Justin Vanden Bosch, Nik Vantfoort, Scott Wilson and coxswain Catharina Cheng finished their race in fourth place with a blazing time of 18:46.70.
 
Ovenden also raced in the singles competition where he had a time of 22:19.25, ending up in the top ten of a very competitive field.
 
The men’s lightweight team was divided into pairs for the doubles race. The team of Keith Kling and Rob Forderer finished in sixth place (22:47.44) while Pat Bradley and Jeff Bonnalie were right behind them in seventh place (23:08.86).
 
The UOIT men’s and women’s open doubles teams had comparable results as they each finished in seventh place. Carley Valchef and Ashley Tompsett of the women’s team had a time of 25:12.86 while Steve Fontana and William Hodgins had a time of 223:08.60.
 
The UOIT novice team also had a good showing at the regatta as they hit the water for the first time in competition.
 
The men’s novice 8+ crew of Matthew Militante, Giacarlo Sgandurra, Bevan Rudanycz, Ryan Lisowski, Justin Hillier, Matthew Weeks, Andrew Bacchus, Allison Spencer and coxswain Ray Mutiger had a third place time of 22:07.86, earning a bronze medal.
 
The women’s novice 8+ crew finished in fifth place with a time of 25:28.01. Kalai Krishnamurthy, Ana Robalino, Katelyn Hathaway, Angela Michalecki, Drance Carly, Anna Atanowski, Emily Simpson, Shelby Cohen and coxswain Shea Brown made up the crew.
 
The men’s novice 4+ crews finished in fourth place with a time of 25:28.01 as Ananth Goundar, Drew Eidt, Chris Bagshaw, Mackenzie Korb and coxswain Ray Mutiger making up the crew.
 
HEAD OF THE WELLAND RESULTS
Women’s Varsity 8+ - 2nd place *silver medal
Women’s Varsity 4+ - 4th place
Men’s Varsity 8+ - 4th place
Men’s Varsity 1+ - 10th place
Men’s Lightweight 2+ - 6th & 7th place
Men’s Varsity 2+ - 7th place
Women’s Varsity 2+ - 7th place
Men’s Novice 8+ - 3rd place *bronze medal
Women’s Novice 8+ - 5th place
Men’s Novice 4+ - 4th place
-Races must have at least four entries to win a medal



WESTERN INVITATIONAL

The UOIT Ridgebacks rowing team started the 2011 season off strong at the Western Invitational Regatta held in London, Ont., finishing with their best results to date on Lake Fanshawe’s “Big L” course.
 
The women’s varsity 8+ consisting of Christie Attwood, Gillian Beckette, Angela Dares, Allison Demaiter, Meaghan Jones, Sheila King, Allison Ng, Kelsey Sargent and coxswain Monica Mak finished in first place in the 400 metre sprint. Combined with a fourth place finish in the head race with a time of 16:13, the Ridgebacks finished in second place overall and as the top Canadian University team in the field.
 
The men’s varsity 8+ team of Jeff Bonnalie, Patrick Bradley, Mark Henein, Znak Ovenden, Colm Shannon, Justin Vanden Bosch, Nik Vantfoort, Scott Wilson, and coxswain Catharina Cheng also finished the day in good standing after completing the head race in a time of 14:38.2 and placing second in the 400m sprint that left them in fourth place overall.
 
The junior varsity men’s heavyweight double of Will Hodgins and Steve Fontana, as well as the junior varsity men’s lightweight double of Rob Forderer and Keith Kling, completed the head race with times of 18:41.8 and 17:45.7 respectively. The junior varsity women’s double of Carly Valcheff and Ashley Tompsett placed third in their race with a time of 20:49.6.
 
This was the Ridgebacks best showing to date at the Western Invitational in the six year history of the program.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics

905.721.2000 Ext. 2784 (P)
905.259.2825 (C)
905.721.3117 (F)

scott.dennis@dc-uoit.ca