By: Graham West
Hard work, toughness and focus are the key elements that have led to Hilary Hanaka’s outstanding success at the university level. After recently achieving the milestone of 1000 career points, Hanaka is looking forward to a season filled with promise.
Hitting 1000 career points is a huge career landmark and it meant a lot to Hanaka, although she stressed the importance the team has had in contributing to her being able to achieve it.
“It’s a pretty big milestone to hit and it means a lot to hit that point,” Hanaka said. “But, of course it’s a team sport overall, so I think I’m more excited to figure out where our team will end up this season… it's obviously nice to hit that point, but I obviously wouldn’t have gotten to this point without the help of my teammates and my coach.”
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It has not always been easy on the path to greatness for Hanaka as there have been challenges with balancing academics and being a varsity athlete.
“There are positives and negatives. Coming into first year, that was when the big adjustment hit,” Hanaka said. “Obviously, it’s a much bigger time commitment being on a varsity team and having classes every single day, practices every day and you’re away on weekends and just making sure you find the right balance to do everything.”
“With that being said, you’re surrounded by an incredible group of girls, coaching staffs,” Hanaka added. “We have so much support through the athletic department, so whenever things were going downhill, you always had someone to pick you back up.”
Hanaka’s experience with the difficulties athletes can face and her expertise on the court are some of the things that make her a great leader. Being there for her teammates on and off the court is instrumental to the success of the team and something that is incredibly important to her as well.
“Off the court is just as important as on the court when it comes to varsity sports,” Hanaka said.
“Being a veteran player, I’ve been around for five years so I’ve been through most of the things that bring you down and that go on. So just being able to be there for the girls is something that I really strive to do.”
“Just knowing that I’ve been in the position of a first-year, second-year, third-year and even a fourth-year player and things aren't always fun and games there’s always going to be those lows,” Hanaka added. "Being able to make sure the girls are aware that I’m always there for them, whether it’s something basketball-related, life-related, school-related, whatever it might be, that just because I’m a leader on the court, doesn’t mean I can’t be the leader off the court. ”
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Whenever Hanaka’s career as a player ends, it will most certainly not be the end to her basketball career. When you have a particularly knowledgeable player who is a natural leader, coaching is always on the horizon. It is something Hanaka is interested in, and given her success as a player, seems very possible.
“I would love to be a coach. Growing up I’ve always been surrounded by basketball and it’s been a huge part of my life,” Hanaka said. “Being a player has been incredible, but I think I’m kinda ready to hang up the shoes and move forward. Hopefully down the road, coaching is something that I’ll be put into.”
Always one of the first people in the gym, Hanaka has had an outstanding career so far in the maroon and grey and looks to only improve. The team is one to watch as they continue to play their way to a return to nationals, with their eyes clearly set on taking home gold.
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This weekend, the McMaster wrestling team headed to the York University Open, and two Marauders came home with one more medal than they came with.
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Rookie Ligaya Stinellis took home her second divisional gold of the season and second-year Simi Jayeoba took home silver. We caught up with the two Marauders after their victorious weekend below:
Ligaya: First year, general social science
Simi: Second year, level one engineering
L: Instead of psyching myself up as I have in the past, I went into this tournament calmer and not as nervous. I just try to be as competitive as possible, and go to the mat and to do what I practice.
S: It was good to compete, and just over the last few weeks we’ve been going to different tournaments, so it’s nice to see actual progress.
L: I went on Facebook, and I was being tagged in a bunch of stuff, but I didn’t realize it was the McMaster Athletics account that I was getting the notifications from. When I checked, I was in shock, but I was super ecstatic. Right away, I told my mom and she too was so excited.
L: I’m actually from Hamilton, and I absolutely adore it. But school wise, I’ve heard a lot of good things about the human behaviour program here at Mac, so academically it checked the boxes. Wrestling wise, I’ve been practicing with the Mac team since high school, so coming somewhere where I was already comfortable was a really big selling point for me too.
S: It’s a great school academically, and the environment here is very welcoming. That was something very important to me, to go to a place where I could feel like it’s another home. The wrestling team was made up of good people and good training, so it seemed like the right opportunity.
L: One thing that always surprises people is that I’ve been doing karate since I was about four years old.
S: I just started knitting. One day last year, I walked into the library in Westdale, and a lady showed me how to knit. I never really started doing it, but I needed some Christmas gifts so I picked it up again.
L: I am hoping to make it to nationals. So, qualifying at the Ontario University Athletics Championships and then making it to nationals.
S: I want to constantly challenge myself to make sure whatever I’m doing, despite the outcome, I put my whole heart into it. And to just grow, not only physically but mentally as a wrestler.
Stinellis and Jayeoba performance this weekend has helped the Marauders women’s team secure the No. 9 national spot in the U Sports rankings this week. Up next, they host the Ontario Senior Provincials this weekend on Nov. 24.
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By Graham West
At their most recent cross-country meet, the Western Invitational, Josh McGillivray led the team to a second-overall finish, placing third individually. McGillivray, who led the field for McMaster for the first time in his career, said he treated this race differently than his past competitions, going in with a mindset to start at the front of the pack and staying there.
Top 10 Tuesday -- The Marauders men's cross country team strengthened its hold on the no. 2 spot, while @MacRugby fell to 10 in the @USPORTSca rankings. #GoMacGohttps://t.co/qwikz6mgIy
— McMaster Marauders (@McMasterSports) October 2, 2018
Clearly it worked as he had a career day, enough to get him named Pita Pit Athlete of the Week. He finished the 8 km course in an astonishing 24:20, and McGillivray thinks he will keep this week’s new strategy going forward to see if it will continue to work, but he will not change everything in his race-day preparations.
Cross-country is more of a mental sport than most people would realize, far more than most would consider it to be at first glance. There are so many people you are directly competing with that it can certainly take a toll mentally on a runner, constantly checking what place you are in, al the while to continuing to push yourself.
McGillivray highlighted the fact that with lengthy races, you are constantly pushing yourself to keep running as hard as you can, and this is where a lot of strength and grit comes in. The third-year runner also noted that preparation for cross-country meets is always very thorough. He said that making sure to get a good sleep, not only the night before but two nights before, can be instrumental to his success in addition to eating properly.
Even though you run individually, McGillivray emphasized that cross-country really is a team sport. Although you run by yourself during the races the sense of community really prevails, and that traditional sense of team chemistry is still very present.
For example, several Mac runners who were not even participating in the track meet because they had already run in a previous race came to cheer on their teammates who were competing. McGillivray said this is one of the tightest groups of guys he can remember, which allows them to be their best selves athletically as they continue to push each other.
“I’m surrounded by an incredible group of guys every single day and we kind of suffer through together,” said McGillivray. “We work hard, we all do the workouts. I think it was me on that given day that was leading the team, but I think our team is strong enough and deep enough that on any given day, anyone of us could be at the head of the group”
McGillivray highlighted the importance of staying cool and not overworking oneself, something he credits his coach, Paula Schnurr, for being very good at. He also stressed the importance that even though it can be really easy to go too hard, cross-country nationals is still a month and a half a way so it’s important for the athletes to pace themselves throughout the season.
“I think that the depth of this team, although we have had really deep teams the past few years, we’ve come fourth consecutively in the past five years now at nationals, but this year and the depth of this team is pretty insane,” McGillivray explained.
McGillivray believes that this could be the year the team breaks recent tradition and places on the podium at nationals.
“On any given day, because you have your top five scorers and then your top seven are considered your team because you have two alternates, I don’t think we'll have the same top seven in a consecutive race all season,” McGillivray said.
While there is still a long time before the team transitions to the indoor track season, the start to this year looks promising. With a roster that looks better than ever, a very clear drive and determination to succeed, the men’s cross-country team has nationals in sight and look poised to buck the trend of placing fourth for the past five years.
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