Gaels collect hardware at OUA Figure Skating Championships
On March 7 and 8, the Queen’s figure skating team travelled to London for the OUA Championship hosted by Western. As the last meet of their season, the Gaels gave their all and walked away with a silver by Zander Neilsen in the Men’s Open event, and bronze by Jade Paganelli and Shaundra Bueow in the Gold Similar Dance event.
After day one of the competition Queen’s had collected 16 points from their performances and sat seventh overall. On day two, they brought even more energy to add 15 more points to their title, moving up to finish sixth out of the 10 teams who competed.
Queen’s has been magic on ice all season, and their energy and enthusiasm has been crucial in their success. Although the Gaels didn’t walk away with a banner, they received another major award last week: the Team Spirit Award.
The Gaels are already looking ahead to next year with current Co-Captain Trina Dykstra-MacPherson set to join the coaching staff.
Women’s Football dominates at Laurier Tournament and climbs to fourth in the league
Now in its second sanctioned year, Queen’s Women’s Football has become one of the most exciting winter teams to watch. The players are huge on-campus advocates for women in sports and have caused even larger disruptions off-campus at their weekend tournaments.
This past weekend, the team played six games at Laurier. They shut down their first two opponents in decisive 16-0 and 6-0 wins over McMaster and Sheridan, respectively. U of T was the next challenge, but the Gaels stayed consistent in another win.
They held York to just three points and scored 18 of their own in the quarterfinal game, then dominated U of T 20-0 in the semifinals. Unfortunately, the Gaels suffered their first loss when they fell 13-10 in the finals against Western. Despite this loss, their performance over the weekend lifted them to fourth in the league.
This team has been a force on campus all semester. As much as they’re excited about their own games and success, they’re pumped about other women dominating in sports.
In December they trekked to the Memorial Center on a team outing to support the women’s hockey team, then two weekends ago, they packed the stands across from the Raven’s bench at the Women’s Basketball game. Just last week, they set up a bake sale outside of the ARC to fundraise support for women in sports.
Keep an eye out for Women’s Football. They’ll play on March 25 and 26 in the 11v11 Championship at Sheridan; you’ll probably see them around campus before then, though.
Queen’s equestrian team hosts and places at meet in Ottawa
On March 5, the Queen’s equestrian team hosted their annual horse show at the Wesley Clover venue in Ottawa.
Queen’s placed second overall at the tournament, with Captain Halle Gainey sweeping her division and earning a show-high 16 total points for Queen’s. She now sits as the highest seed for her category in the Ontario Collegiate Equestrian Association East Division with 30 points.
As perhaps one of the most unique university sports, the equestrian team faces several challenges and barriers throughout their season. For example, they’re responsible for organizing and hosting a show each year without the venue and horses to do so at Queen’s. As a result, the team is forced to coordinate the event remotely and travel to Ottawa to host their event.
The barriers, however, don’t stop there: because most schools in Ontario don’t have their own stables, athletes are required to use whatever horses are provided by donation from nearby horse owners. Riders may not meet or mount their horse until seconds before they enter the ring to ensure fairness and equity throughout the show.
Although this improves equality across the events, it also increases risk as riders are unfamiliar with their animals. Moreover, having to coordinate horses creates an even bigger burden for the host school trying to plan the event.
Despite these burdens, the hard work of Queen’s equestrian team has paid off as they’re set to compete at the Ontario Collegiate Provincial Equestrian Finals on March 25.
Tags
equestrian team, Figure skating, horses, ice, OUA, win, Women's Football
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