Athletic Director's Message

By Christine Stapleton

athleticdirector

It has been a wonderful return to competition for all our teams in 2021-22, resulting in eight provincial and national championship titles. Together we successfully navigated the new rules, regulations, occasional shutdowns and pauses, to have a successful season of sport.

  • Our Men’s Tennis team won the OUA banner this past fall
  • Mustangs Football won the Yates Cup & Mitchell Bowl and proceeded to win the 2021 Vanier Cup title for the eighth time
  • Our Women’s Golf team won the OUA team title
  • Our Men’s Squash team continued their unprecedented streak with their 38th consecutive OUA title
  • Mustangs Women’s Rowing team won the OUA championship banner for the fourth time in five years of competition
  • The Ringette team won the Ontario Provincial Championship this year
  • The Women’s Softball team dominated the provincial championship for their 12th overall win and 10thin a row

Our Western Mustangs student athletes continue to amaze me with their contributions to making Western one of the most athletically dominant schools in the country, but I am also so proud of how they are such an integral part of the academic success of our institution, and such strong supporters of our community.

They have made time this past year to volunteer with MASC (the Mustangs Athletes Students Council), Mustangs Care, community groups, charities and local youth sports teams. They have taken the initiative to organize and participate in food and sock drives, they have supported local families in need; and they made Western #1 for the number of Academic All Canadians once again this past year.

I am proud to say that Western has some of the best coaches in the country. They consistently go above and beyond what is required and expected; innovating, and working tirelessly to improve our programs.

We had six of our coaches receive special recognitions this past season:

  • Jeff Pacheco won OUA Coach of the Year as well as U SPORTS Coach of the year, for Women’s Field Hockey
  • Katherine Baer won OUA Coach of the Year for Women’s Rugby
  • Carol Christie won OUA Coach of the Year for Women’s Fencing
  • Charles Fitzsimmons won OUA Coach of the Year for Women’s Golf
  • And Cameron Cross & Anthony Glavanic won OUA Coach of the Year for Men’s Tennis

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 I am pleased to say we hosted our first in-person Mustangs Awards Celebration in three years at Alumni Hall on campus. It was a scaled down version of our previous Awards Gala Dinner, but it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, and be able to recognize all of our incredible student athletes in-person once again. Athletes shine at the 81st Mustangs Awards - Western Mustangs Sports

Our top award winners for 2021-22 included:

  • F.W.P. Jones Trophy - Joan-Shiao Chen from the Swimming team
  • Dr. Claude Brown Trophy - Jackson Bere from the Men's Volleyball team
  • Male Athlete of the Year - Deionte Knight from the Football team
  • Female Athlete of Year - Kate Current from the Cross Country and Track & Field teams

Throughout April and May, we are running our annual digital season of celebration as well, where we recognize all of our award winners and teams individually and in more detail. Watch for more information at @WesternMustangs. I couldn’t be more purple and proud of everything our Mustangs have accomplished this past year.

I am also excited to announce that next month we are launching our annual Adopt A Mustang fundraising campaign, and this year your gift will go further. Beginning May 12, the Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni (WMAA) is matching all new Adopt A Mustang donations up to a total of $50,000. That means you will double your impact when you give. I want to sincerely thank the WMAA for their generous support. It will have a significant impact on our student-athletes.

The campaign will also feature a new Adopt A Mustang giving site, where you will hear from coaches, see real-time updates on your team’s fundraising progress and get more details on how your donation will be put to work. Mark your calendars and follow the Western Mustangs on social media to learn more. 

Once again, thank you to all of you, our Mustangs Alumni, for your incredible and continued support. We saw a hybrid of programming and events this year, we continued with some virtual events but also did restart our in-person sporting events, which I am so excited about. 

I look forward to seeing many of you in-person again, at our upcoming events.