After an impressive race season, the Marauders cross-country team earns podium finishes at the OUA championships
The McMaster Marauders cross-country teams capped off a strong season with third-place finishes at the Ontario University Athletics championships on Oct. 26 in North Bay.
Before competing at the OUA championships, the Marauders tested their endurance at three invitational races.
The season began at the Vigars & Salter Western Invitational on Sept. 21, where both the men’s and women’s teams delivered promising performances. Alexander Purnell led the men’s team with a fifth-place finish in the eight-kilometre race, clocking in at 25:40. On the women’s side, Ana Morariu was the Marauders’ top finisher, placing 11th overall with a time of 31:05.
A week later, the Marauders competed at the Don Mills Open on Sept. 28. The men’s team secured a second-place finish, while the women’s team placed fourth.
Their final regular-season race took place at the 8-Kay Marauder Invitational on Oct. 11. The women’s team earned a third-place finish, with Morariu again leading the pack, placing eighth overall. The men’s team finished fourth, with Purnell securing fifth place individually.
The OUA championships in North Bay marked the culmination of the Marauders’ season, and both teams delivered consistent performances.
The OUA championships in North Bay marked the culmination of the Marauders’ season, and both teams delivered consistent performances.
The men’s team earned a third-place podium finish, with Purnell once again leading the way, finishing sixth overall. On the women’s team, Morariu place ninth, helping secure another third-place team finish.
Following their OUA success, the Marauders will now compete at the U Sports championships on Nov. 9 in Kelowna, B.C. With momentum on their side, the team looks to finish their season on a high note.
Following their OUA success, the Marauders will now compete at the U Sports championships on Nov. 9 in Kelowna, B.C. With momentum on their side, the team looks to finish their season on a high note.
The Marauders earn 13 medals and the top spot at the McMaster invitational in a dominant start to their season
The McMaster wrestling team took on their first season meet of the year at the McMaster University invitational held on Oct. 30. Hosted at the university’s own Burridge gymnasium, the Marauders came away with multiple medals across different weight classes from both the men and women’s divisions. Overall, the team pulled away with a first place victory, scoring 85 points to edge past the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas who managed 84 points in the contest.
Following their home opening dual meet against Alberta on Oct. 29, the Marauders entered their regular season high off of last year’s silver medal performances at the Ontario University Athletic Championships. Featuring rosters packed with youth and talent, both the men and women teams dominated the McMaster invitational with outstanding matches on the mats.
On the women’s side, athletes Ligaya Stinellis, Serena Di Benedetto and Macy Malysiak secured gold medals for the 50kg, 53kg and 56kg events respectively. A three-time competitor for Team Canada and a new recruit for the team this year, Di Benedetto won by technical fall over Taylor Mcpherson for an impressive start to the season. Stinellis and Malysiak, who landed podium placements at their individual events during last year’s championships, also delivered strong performances for the Marauders.
Individual success at the meet aside, it was very important for members, such as Malysiak, to take advantage of the regular season for the team’s growth, development and playoff preparation. They managed to do just that, making the most of the meet.
“Like our coaches say, everybody wants to win, but you sometimes want to put yourself in uncomfortable positions and situations so that you can learn from them. All these tournaments are just a learning block before the big ones,” said Malysiak.
“Like our coaches say, everybody wants to win, but you sometimes want to put yourself in uncomfortable positions and situations so that you can learn from them. All these tournaments are just a learning block before the big ones.”
Macy Malysiak, women's wrestling team
Rounding out the other medalists, Betty Huang, Similoluwa Jayeoba and Tehani Blais captured three more silver medals for the women’s team. Vanessa Fonrose also added a bronze medal for her performance in the 76kg matches.
Leading the charge for the men’s team, Gregor McNeil took home the team’s lone gold, winning by injury default against Mahir Sabat from York University in the first place 61kg match. Francesco Fortino, Irman Kang and Jonathan Vecchio also earned three silver medals for the maroon and grey team. Finally, both Gianluca Fortino and Howard Moffatt ended with third place finishes in the 65kg and 90kg matches respectively.
Along with Di Benedetto, McNeil is also a first year recruit for the McMaster wrestling program with past experience on Team Canada. Of the 13 total medals won by the Marauders, six were won by athletes in their debut season with the wrestling program. Such achievements speak volumes to the team’s future potential.
“I honestly am just consistently excited because this is the best recruitment class that we’ve had for a long time . . . I do think that we are achieving more than we have in the past and so I think that this is going to continue on in the long run,” said Stinellis.
“I honestly am just consistently excited because this is the best recruitment class that we’ve had for a long time . . . I do think that we are achieving more than we have in the past and so I think that this is going to continue on in the long run.”
Ligaya Stinellis, women's wrestling team
After the meets, both the men and women’s teams rank high atop the U Sports wrestling power rankings. On the leaderboards, the women came second place in the country while the men finished in third.
The Marauders will soon travel to Toronto, taking the mats at the Toronto Metropolitan University invitational on Nov. 13. Later in the winter, they will take on the OUA wrestling championships on Feb. 11 and the U Sports championship held from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26.
With seven more meets still on their schedule, both teams will have plenty of time to prepare for the postseason title run in 2023.
Brian Decker
Executive Editor
Bright spots have been hard to come by in 2011 for the McMaster men’s golf team.
With exactly zero team medals and only a few individual top-10s to show for in 2011, a season that began with hope was quickly becoming a struggle.
For fourth-year senior Mark Young, one day at his team’s home tournament changed that all.
Young shot a two-under par 68 to win the McMaster Invitational on Oct. 13, his first victory and the first win by a McMaster player in two years. His performance led the squad to a team-best 294 on the day and a silver medal, just one shot behind the winners from Guelph.
“It was nice to end up with some hardware for a change. We’ve been working hard all year to get results and they finally showed up,” said Young, who won by two shots over Guelph’s Eric Pattenaude and Chris Hemmerich and Toronto’s Richard Persaud.
Young hit all 18 greens in regulation on the day and could have walked even further away from the field if not for a sloppy four-putt on the par-3 7th hole.
“I was able to manage my nerves well and make some putts. I’ve never been in a position like that for Mac before. It felt great to play like I did down the stretch,” said Young, who birdied his second-last hole of the day
“[The four-putt] was hard to get over, but I composed myself well enough to finish one-under on my last seven holes. I’m hitting it as well as I ever have.”
It was far and away the highlight of what’s been a trying season for the Marauders. With just one team medal on the year, coach Alf Callowhill said the team would have hoped for some better results.
“We haven’t putted well in most of our tournaments. If we’d made a few more putts here and there we could have done some damage,” said the fourth-year coach.
The opportunity to do that damage presented itself this week at the OUA Championships at Cataraqui Golf and Country Club in Kingston.
Unfortunately for Mac, the putts didn’t seem to want to fall, and the Marauders finished in seventh place, 22 shots behind the victorious Waterloo Warriors.
Brutal winds of 45 km/h and up as well as biting cold – expected conditions for Ontario golf in October – made conditions tough for the whole field.
“The conditions were the real story. The wind made pretty much any score in the 70s respectable,” said Young. “If you weren’t careful, you could run off a few bogeys or worse really quickly.”
Patrick Thornley and Greg Gabel led Mac with identical 75s on the first day, while rookies Jonathan Lam and Darryl McClure posted an 80 and an 81, respectively, giving Mac a total of 311. Young wasn’t able to carry over the momentum from the previous week, posting an uncharacteristic 84.
While the second day saw more benign conditions and lower scores, Mac wasn’t able to make up enough ground on the leaders. Gabel’s 74 – good enough to net a top-10 and a tournament All-Star spot – led Mac to second day of 305 and a total of 616.
“We were in a bit too much of a hole after the first day. Credit the guys for improving by six shots from day one. It just wasn’t enough this week,” said Callowhill.
Waterloo ran away with the team title, shooting a tournament-best 289 in the second round to win the Ruttan Cup. Fifth-year senior Garrett Rank shot a second-round 68 to win the Len Shore Trophy as OUA Champion for the second straight year.
“[Waterloo] really capitalized on the better conditions. We didn’t keep up with them the way we needed to,” said Young, who earned a spot on the season-long All-Star team.
On the women’s side, the Marauders struggled to an eighth-place finish at the Loyalist Country Club. Michaela DiMarcantonio led the Maroon and Grey with a two-day total of 169 to finish tied for ninth in the 32-player field.
Windsor’s Meaghan Pototschnik won the individual title at 159 while Waterloo ran away with the team title, finishing 18 shots ahead of second-place Western.
