Update from Athletics
By Christine Stapleton, Director, Sport and Recreation
It is hard to believe it’s already December. This year has flown by, and the Western Mustangs have seen some amazing results, due in no small part to the incredibly hard work by our staff and coaches, and the dedication and drive of our students and student-athletes.
Here are some of the highlights:
Provincial Banners were won by the Mustangs Women’s Golf Team (OUA Champions), Women’s Rowing Team (OUA Champions), Women’s Softball Team (OWIFA Champions), Mustangs Football Team (Yates Cup - OUA Champions), and Men’s Tennis Team (OUA Champions).
Several other Mustangs teams medaled at Provincial Championships. Women’s Tennis won silver and Men’s Rowing and Women's Lacrosse won bronze. The Women’s Soccer team were silver medalists, losing in penalty kicks at home in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd and then headed out east for the U SPORTS National Championships. Men’s Baseball also attended their provincial championship and qualified for the bronze medal game, which was rained out.
In addition, the Mustangs Football team had a dominating win over the St. FX X-Men at the Mitchell Bowl (U SPORTS Semi-Final) at home on Saturday, November 27. This win secured them a berth in the 2021 U SPORTS National Vanier Cup.
And then on Saturday, December 4 in Quebec City, Mustangs Football won the National Championship U SPORTS Vanier Cup over the Saskatchewan Huskies, in a thrilling 27-21 victory. Thank you to all the Mustangs Alumni who came out to support our team.
The Cross-Country Women’s team took Silver (2nd) at their OUA Championship and Silver (2nd) at the U SPORTS National Championship. Women’s Rowing came in 3rd Nationally, and both the Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams came in 3rd in their National Championships.
Our regular seasons for Basketball (Women’s and Men’s), Hockey (Men’s and Women’s) and Volleyball (Women and Men’s) as well as a number of our other 46 teams just got started in November, and we have seen great success early on. I know some of you have been in attendance already, and I look forward to seeing and talking with more of you as the sports season progresses.
I am pleased to share that several of our Mustangs coaches have been recognized provincially and nationally. Congratulations to them for this well-deserved recognition!
Jeff Pacheco– with Mustangs Women’s Field Hockey – won OUA Coach of the Year AND U SPORTS Coach of the Year
Katherine Baer– with Mustangs Women’s Rugby – won OUA Coach of the Year;
Mustangs Head Coaches Cameron Cross and Anthony Glavanic were named OUA Coaches of the Year for Men’s Tennis; And
Charles Fitzsimmons was named Women’s Golf Coach of the Year by the OUA.
Some other exciting news - Western's athletic stadium has been renamed Western Alumni Stadium following a significant investment by Western's Alumni Association.
Of the $1.4-million donation from the Alumni Association, $1 million is allocated for maintenance and regular upkeep of the renovated stadium grounds over the next 10 years, while $400,000 will be used to renovate the newly named Alumni Lounge. This includes window replacement to improve sightlines of the football field, replacing the flooring, increasing the seating capacity and updating the audio-visual equipment.
The Alumni Association's donation follows significant new capital investments in Western Sport and Recreation announced by the university earlier this year. The new turf and track have been installed and look beautiful; and the lights will be replaced in December.
These investments create beautiful, safe, accessible and sustainable spaces we can all be proud of and will make Western a destination for municipal, provincial, national and international events.
We are so thrilled to be back competing with you cheering on the sidelines. It has been so wonderful and energizing for me to reconnect with you, our athletic alumni again in person.
