The McMaster badminton team concludes their official season with a three-day tournament hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University
Every year the McMaster University badminton team trains for one major competition — the Ontario University Athletics badminton championships. Months of training are put to the test at the OUA championships, which mark the end of McMaster’s official season.
This year, the Marauders finished in fifth place at the 2023 OUA championships hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19. The tournament featured nine Ontario universities, with powerhouse schools such as the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.
The teams were split into two pools. McMaster was placed in Pool B with York University, University of Waterloo, Toronto Metropolitan University and Ontario Tech University. The tournament kicked off Friday morning round-robin style, meaning McMaster would play all Pool B teams to receive rankings for the final day.
In the tournament a face-off between two teams consists of ten matches — two women’s singles, two men’s singles, two women’s doubles, two men’s doubles and two mixed doubles. Each match is played to the best of three sets.
“Badminton is a pretty individual sport, because it’s either single’s or double’s [matches], but since this is more of a team tournament [and] it's whichever team reaches a certain number of wins first, I think it really grows a team and makes the team grow stronger — because not only are you rooting for yourself, but you're rooting for your teammates,” explained Davina Lee, McMaster women’s badminton player.
“Badminton is a pretty individual sport, because it’s either single’s or double’s [matches], but since this is more of a team tournament [and] it's whichever team reaches a certain number of wins first, I think it really grows a team and makes the team grow stronger — because not only are you rooting for yourself, but you're rooting for your teammates.”
Davina Lee, McMaster women's badminton
McMaster concluded the round-robin with a seven to three victory against TMU, a close four to six loss against the University of Waterloo, a strong ten to zero victory against Ontario Tech University and a tough one to nine loss against York University. Overall, McMaster’s two wins and two losses earned the team a chance to play in the OUA quarter-finals Saturday afternoon.
The quarter-final game was against the University of Toronto, the 2022 OUA champions. The Marauders fell with a narrow four to six loss against Toronto.
On Sunday, McMaster geared up for a final game against the University of Ottawa, as both teams fought for fifth place. The match-up stirred some feelings of deja vu from last year’s tournament, where McMaster and Ottawa played each other for a top five finish. Ultimately, Ottawa came out on top last year, finishing in fifth place while McMaster finished in sixth.
This year, McMaster led the contest against Ottawa five to four, though, the final outcome came down to the final set of the final match. After an exciting and nail-biting display of talent, McMaster won six to four and claimed fifth place.
“It was really nice, because only one or two games are going on at a time. So everyone on the team is watching the one or two games, and the one or two people who are playing, and we’re just cheering for our teammates. We sit beside the court and [show support] after every rally,” said Lee.
“It was really nice, because only one or two games are going on at a time. So everyone on the team is watching the one or two games, and the one or two people who are playing, and we’re just cheering for our teammates. We sit beside the court and [show support] after every rally.”
Davina Lee, McMaster women's badminton
At the end of this year’s championships, two McMaster badminton players received recognition at the school and OUA level. First year player Natalie Yee was co-winner of the OUA Women’s Rookie of the Year and was named as one of two Marauders of the Week on Feb 21. Second year player Jeslyn Chow was named OUA Women’s All-Star.
After the departure of McMaster’s former badminton all-stars, this year’s show of talent brings promise to McMaster’s badminton program. And while the season is officially over, McMaster badminton players can be found at various independently hosted tournaments, such as the Laurier Winter Open Tournament on Mar. 11.
McMaster wins four straight meets in preparation for their upcoming playoff stretch
The McMaster University wrestling team remains undefeated after consecutive team victories at four meets to open their season. Displaying the deep depth of talent across their roster, the Marauders picked up 16 gold medals to rank nationally as the third and sixth best men and women’s teams respectively.
At the McMaster Invitational in November, their first meet of the year, the Marauders placed first overall. Combining for 13 medals and 85 points, both the men and women’s teams put forward dominant efforts to defend home territory and started the year off strong.
The team went on to top their meets at the Toronto Metropolitan University Invitational and the York Open, both of which took place in November. Of their 22 medals from both events, 10 came from members of this year’s recruitment class, who have quickly impressed thus far with their ability to compete with university talent.
First year sensation Gregor McNeil earned the title of U Sports men’s wrestling athlete of the week on Nov. 16 following a three match sweep at TMU. In the 61kg finals, McNeil earned the win 10 to zero against Brock veteran Garette Saunders, a former U Sports silver medalist in the 54kg and 57kg events.
A similar standout on the women’s side, rookie Serena Di Benedetto collected three gold medals in her matches at McMaster, TMU and York. Having gone undefeated at these invitationals, Di Bennedetto was awarded the U Sports women’s wrestling athlete of the week on Nov. 23.
In their last event of 2022, the team also competed at the Hamilton Wrestling Club for the Ontario Senior Open at Brock University. Wrestling at Canada Games Park, the Marauders were outstanding, finishing 18 points above the silver medaling London-Western WC in a dazzling collective performance.
“Although wrestling is an individual sport, there’s also a really big team aspect because you have to keep each other accountable . . . I think our team is just extremely strong this year, better than any team we’ve had previous,” said Di Bennedetto.
Gold medalists for the meet include Di Bennedetto (53kg), Olivia Lichti (59kg) and Karanveer Mahil (125kg), all of whom are newly recruited to McMaster’s flourishing wrestling program this year.
Following their showing at the Ontario Senior Open, the maroon and grey team continued their stretch of appearances inside the U Sports power rankings. The men’s team is currently placed third with 40 points behind the Alberta Golden Bears and Brock Badgers. The women’s team is ranked sixth in the country with 26 points.
“All the other athletes are very inviting. That’s the main [reason] why I chose this school over the other ones. The family that they have going on is really good . . . Just this first year’s been fun so far,” said Mahil.
Individually, Di Bennedetto, McNeil and Mahil are ranked first in the women’s 53kg and men’s 61kg and 125kg weight classes respectively. Other notable Marauders include third place ranking athletes Macy Malysiak (59kg), Similoluwa Jayeoba (72kg), Howard Moffatt (90kg) and Omogbai Asekomhe (100kg).
Up next, the team will travel to St. Catharines to compete at the Brock Invitational on Jan. 14. The Marauders will then take the mats at the Guelph Open on Jan. 22 before finishing the campaign in London for the Junior Provincials and the Western Open on Jan. 28 and 29.
Their success so far this season sets McMaster up to improve upon last year’s silver medal finish at the Ontario University Athletics playoffs on Feb. 11.
In a tense faceoff against Toronto Metropolitan University, McMaster won by one goal to be crowned champions
The final game of the Ontario University Athletics season saw the McMaster men’s soccer team take on Toronto Metropolitan University. In Saturday night's game at Downsview Park, the team looked to win it all.
Toronto Metropolitan looked to be a menacing side. Their team contained four OUA All Stars, with two players earning first team honors, and two winning second team honors. The team finished in identical place with McMaster, finishing the regular season in second place in OUA East Division.
McMaster had four of their own players named OUA All Stars. One player was named to the OUA first team, and three players were named to OUA’s second team. With both teams almost equally matched, the game would come down to a very small margin.
The match began with a slow tempo, without either side creating many opportunities. Within just the first half of play, TMU received a red card. The player given a red card was OUA First Team All Star, Luca Di Marco.
Despite the Marauders being up a player, they struggled to capitalize. It was not until the 79th minute of play that McMaster was able to score. A goal by Amir Shirazi gave the game to the Marauders.
McMaster held onto this lead firmly for the remainder of the match. It paved way for their first OUA Championship win since 2012.
Impressively, rookie head coach Chris Markou would take his first ever title while coaching the team. It is quite an accomplishment under any circumstances, never mind in a coaches first season.
This win puts the Marauders into fourth seed in the U Sport National Championship, hosted in Kamloops, B.C. The team will look to challenge for this years National title, with their first game against the host, Thompson Rivers University.
