Gryphon Weekend Wrap (Jan. 12-14, 2024)

GUELPH, Ont. – A total of eight Gryphon varsity teams are featured in the latest edition of the ‘Gryphon Weekend Wrap’ for the period covering January 12 to 14, 2024.
 

One of the eight U of G varsity teams in action this past weekend was the Gryphon track & field team who sent several student-athletes to meets on both sides of the border. At the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse in Windsor the Gryphons had a strong day on the track at the Windsor Can-Am Classic. The U of G women’s performance was highlighted by several 1st-place finishes, including the reigning OUA Cross Country champion, Julia Agostinelli, taking top spot in the women’s 1000m race with a time of 2:47.46. In the women’s 600m, a trio of Gryphons completed top-5 finishes with Ruby Radovich crossing the finish line in 2nd-place, Kayla Sanderson-Kirby taking 3rd-place, and Jaya Boucher earning 4th-place. In the relay events, the U of G women took first in the 4x400m relay race (Julia Agostinelli, Ruby Radovich, Kayla Sanderson-Kirby, Jaya Boucher) and 2nd-place in the 4x800m relay (Julia Agostinelli, Kayla Sanderson-Kirby, Jardine Lam-Colling, Brooke Spina). On the men’s side, Max Davies set a new meet record in the men’s 1000m race with a time of 2:22.59, followed closely by teammate Dylan Ferri who brought home 2nd-place. The Gryphons also captured a 1-2 finish in the one mile race, with OUA cross country champion Nicholas Bannon taking top spot followed by Gaetano Pocchi in second. Bannon captured another 1st-place finish in the 3000m race, finishing with a time of 8:20.03, 11 seconds faster than the field. in the men’s 60m hurdles, incoming transfer Zaid Al-Awamleh earned second with a time of 8.22. The final Gryphon podium place of the day came in the men’s 4x800m relay which featured a team Mason Basson, Dylan Ferri, Alanzo Ryan, and Max Davies, who earned 1st-place over the U of T Varsity Blues. 

South of the border, several Gryphon student-athletes were in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Wolverine Invitational. Third-year long jumper Milenne Habash led the way for the Gryphon women, capturing first in the women’s long jump with a jump for 6.07m, which broke a U of G school record that had stood for 11 years. Habash’s jump also marked a new meet record for the Wolverine Invitational. On the men’s side the Gryphon performance was highlighted by a 1st-place finish from Marcus Penaloza-Abankwah in the men’s 300m dash. The fourth-year sprinter crossed the finish line with a time of 34.07 to take the win by 0.16 seconds. Another Gryphon printer to impress against NCAA competition was Craig Thorne, who took home 2nd-place in the men’s 60m hurdles, with Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin crossing the finish line 0.01 seconds ahead of Thorne. In the field events, Corbin Deblois led the way with a 2nd-place finish after jumping 1.98m. 

In St. Catharines the Guelph Gryphons varsity wrestling team was in action for the first time in the new year competing in the Badger Invitational. The day was highlighted by a pair of 1st-place performances from Tristan Cako and Nathan Hunyady. Cako, a second-year student-athlete, defeated Brock’s Mateo Romano by fall to earn the win in the 57kg weight class. Hunyady meanwhile earned his victory by technical fall over another Badger, Brock’s Nicolae Gundrabura. Finally, Mitchell Schechinger, a two-sport athlete also competing on the Gryphon football team, made his U of G wrestling debut in St. Catharines, pinning his opponent to earn a victory in his first ever wrestling event. Schechinger impressed on the football field back in the fall, where he was named an OUA Second Team All-Star for the 2023 OUA football season.

At the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre the U of G basketball teams hosted back-to-back doubleheaders against the Lakehead Thunderwolves and Brock Badgers. The Gryphon women captured a convincing win against the Thunderwolves Friday night before falling the next day to the Brock Badgers. The Gryphons now trail the Waterloo Warriors for the top spot in the OUA West division. The U of G men now find themselves in 4th-place in the OUA West after consecutive home-court losses see them drop to 4-10 on the season. Friday night the Gryphons men’s basketball team fell just short in a tightly-contested match to Lakehead, and were agonizingly close to capturing a signature win over Brock on Saturday night, only to see the Badgers hit a go-ahead three with 1.8 seconds remaining to steal the win. 

For the Gryphon volleyball teams it was a perfect weekend, with both the men’s and women’s team securing back-to-back straight-sets victories over the RMC Paladins on the road in Kingston. The U of G women now have sole possession of 3rd-place in the conference standings while the U SPORTS No. 10-ranked Gryphon men’s team now holds the top spot in the OUA with a single-game advantage over the Brock Badgers. 

Finally, on the ice the Gryphon men’s hockey team dropped their first match of the weekend to the defending OUA Champion UQTR Patriotes before bouncing back with a strong 3-1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors for Alumni Day. For the Gryphon women, the No. 5-ranked team in the nation continued their incredible season with consecutive shutout victories over the Brock Badgers and TMU Bold to improve to 16-1-2 and extend their OUA West division lead to 16 points. 
 

Gryphon Weekend Scoreboard

Friday, January 12, 2024
 

Saturday, January 13, 2024