Banner Season:Guelph takes down the field at OUA Track & Field Championships
Toronto, Ont. (via York Lions) – The Guelph Gryphons earned both gold medals at the 2026 OUA Track & Field Championships, winning their second straight men's gold and eighth in the last nine meets. On the women's side, Guelph tops the podium for the first time in three years and the eighth time in the last decade.
Day two kicked off bright and early on Saturday morning with the women's weight throw. The final day began in record-breaking fashion, as Jordana Badley-Castello of the Windsor Lancers shattered the OUA record with a 19.11m throw, almost three tenths of a meter better than the previous mark of 18.86 set by York's Brittany Crew in 2019, which Badley-Costello tied a year ago.
The opening podium of the day was new record holder Badley-Castello with the gold, Liv Sands from the Western Mustangs with the silver, and Maakor Akai from the Toronto Varsity Blues with the bronze.
On the track, the first medal races of the day were the 600m, with the women's race leading things off. Three of the top four runners in the country lined the podium, with national leader Nicole McKenzie of the Guelph Gryphons taking the opening gold of Day 2 followed by the No. 3-ranked Isabella Goveia from the Windsor Lancers with the silver medal performance, and Hallee Knellsen of the Western Mustangs taking bronze.
In the men's 600m, the top runner was Moses Aidoo of the Varsity Blues winning the race, followed by Safwan El Mansari of the Ottawa Gee-Gees in second, and in third joining his teammate on the podium Christopher De Martin of the Varsity Blues.
In the 60m finals, the women's race was won by Gabrielle Cole of the Gryphons, with Gloria Etim of the Varsity Blues in second, and Maya Chande of the Mustangs in third place. Also in the 60m event Dante Del Cul of the Golden Hawks competed in the para category.
Concluding the 60m sprints the men's race saw the Gryphons secure a win as Travis Campbell led the pack, followed by York's Cameron Christian in second, and Gryphon Keon Rude joining his Guelph teammate on the podium as he finished in third.
In the sand, the host Lions took centre stage – the entire stage, in fact, sweeping the men's triple jump podium for their first multi-medal event of the weekend. Star Arwin Mathivathanan topped the charts with a longest leap of 15.67m before veteran Jamie Crawford vaulted into the silver medal position on his sixth and final attempt, clocking in at 14.84. That bumped Western's Benujan Kulainthiran from second to fourth and locked in the sweep with Williams Kalu winning bronze with a 14.72.
The men's shotput saw another OUA record broken with Lancer AJ Stanat's 19.06m effort that broke the previous record of 18.59 held by Mark Bujnowski of the Gryphons, with this result Stanat secured the gold medal. Guelph earned the other two medals, a silver earned by Liam Davis and the bronze went to Calum Crawford. Further, in the shotput Remi Ouellette of the Brock Badgers competed in the para competition.
The Badgers' first gold medal of the Championship came in the women's high jump competition as Chloe Zaraska won the event by a 0.06m margin with a jump of 1.77m. The Gryphons added two more to their podium count, as Rachel Maas and Dani Allen tied for the silver with their 1.71m jumps.
As the seven-event heptathlon concluded, Tristen Miscia of the Lancers logged a total of 5048 points and snatched the gold medal. While Western's Leo Wallner followed in the silver position with 4863 points, and the bronze went to the Varsity Blues Tyler Robertson with 4673 points.
The first set of Saturday relays saw the championship-leading Gryphons take the gold in the women's 4x200 with Diana Proctor, Gabrielle Cole MacKenzie and Amira Lawrence doing the honours and easily winning the gold by more than four seconds. The York Lions team of Janae Brown. Alexandra Quaidoo, Charlotte Murhchison and rookie Kyla Sleath earned silver, while the Cali Marles, Maya Metivier, Kelis Daye and Nadia Pupatello squad from Windsor were bestowed bronze.
Shortly after, the men took to the track with the hometown Lions earning another gold medal, and doing so from Heat 3. Their foursome of Brandon Choumbe Yami, Ibrahim Moustafa, Sam Princeau and Cameron Christian won the heat and, eventually the gold, beating out the silver-medallist Toronto Varsity Blues by better than eight tenths of a second. Completing the podium picture were the Gryphons, winning their 15th medal of the meet.
In the 1500's the women's race showed to be a tactical battle with the group remaining close and drafting through the opening laps together. Breaking away with a massive attack was Julia Agostinelli of the Varsity Blues who ran away with the gold and a time of 4:23.71. In the silver position was Elizabeth Vroom of the Queen's Gaels at 4:25.48, and Sophie Coutts of the Mustangs secured a bronze medal at 4:26.47.
On the men's side, right from the opening of the race, two runners stormed ahead of the pack as Jude Wheeler-Dee from Queen's dictated a fast pace that Max Davies from Guelph was able to hang onto and sit in the draft. Coming into the final meters of the race, Davies was able to overpass Wheeler-Dee in the final seconds and secure a gold medal with a time of 3:42.92, breaking the previous OUA Championship record that he had set in 2024 of 3:44.24. Directly behind, Wheeler-Dee finished at 3:43.37 and received the silver. For the bronze position, Windsor's Noah Costa crossed the line at 3:48.10 earning crucial points for the Lancers as the overall team competition was still on the line.
In the women's triple jump, Mikayla May of the Lancers launched herself to the gold medal position. Silver was awarded to Brianna Rand of the Mustangs while bronze went to May's Lancer teammate Chloe Vidamour.
The penultimate field event to conclude was the men's high jump which yielded a Varsity Blues gold as Aiden Grout jumped to 2.17m. Tristan Boateng finished with a height of 2.14m for the Lions on his first attempt to lock in silver, as Thomas Senechal-Becker of the Ottawa Gee-Gees matched this jump in three to take bronze.
The terminal track events of the weekend were the 4x400m relays. The women kicked it off with the Gryphons winning another gold, setting a U SPORTS standard with 3:43.36, more than four seconds ahead of the Windsor Lancers, who took silver. York reeled in its third relay medal of Day 2 with a third-place finish to win bronze.
Following this, the next relay saw the men's OUA 4x400m record broken by the Ottawa Gee-Gees who ran away to secure the gold medal in a time of 3:15.71, replacing the Gryphons previous record of 3:15.87 that was set in 2019. The Gryphons finished in silver, and the Lions continued to show relay strength as they ran to the bronze medal.
The final field event to finish was the men's pole vault, which finished in a three-way tie for the win, with Brock's Michael Ivanov getting the gold, followed by York's Liam West staking his claim to the silver and Western's Jackson McKay taking the bronze.
MAJOR AWARDS
Track Athlete of the Year - Nicole McKenzie, Guelph Gryphons
Track Athlete of the Year - Max Davies, Guelph Gryphons
Field Athlete of the Year - Rebecca Parker, Guelph Gryphons
Field Athlete of the Year - Aiden Grout, Toronto Varsity Blues
Rookie of the Year - Paige Zinger, Guelph Gryphons
Rookie of the Year - Jackson MacKay, Western Mustangs
Community Service Award - Chloe VidAmour, Windsor Lancers
Community Service Award - Aaron Thompson, Western Mustangs
Assistant Coach of the Year - Yolanda Sternberg & Ekua Cudjoe, Toronto Varsity Blues
Assistant Coach of the Year - Jordan Collison, Windsor Lancers
MEN'S FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Guelph Gryphons – 132
Western Mustangs – 105
York Lions – 100
Toronto Varsity Blues – 95
Windsor Lancers – 95
McMaster Marauders – 31
Ottawa Gee-Gees – 30
Brock Badgers – 21
Queen's Gaels – 18
Laurier Golden Hawks – 12
Waterloo Warriors – 10
Laurentian Voyageurs – 3
Lakehead Thunderwolves – 3
WOMEN'S FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Guelph Gryphons – 185
Western Mustangs – 133
Windsor Lancers – 126
Toronto Varsity Blues – 85
York Lions – 49
Queen's Gaels – 23
Brock Badgers – 18
McMaster Marauders – 15
Ottawa Gee-Gees – 11
Laurier Golden Hawks – 10
Waterloo Warriors – 7
CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS
Hec Phillips Trophy – A.J. Stanat (Windsor)
Dr. Wendy Jerome Trophy – Rebecca Parker (Guelph)
Bob Vigars Coach of the Year – Jason Kerr (Guelph)
Sue Wise Coach of the Year – Jason Kerr (Guelph)