McGill crew poised for medal haul at OUA championships
MONTREAL - The McGill rowing club will be one of 12 university teams vying for gold at the OUA rowing championships on the Henley Island Course in St. Catharines, Ont., Saturday.
McGill's lightweight men's coxed eight is returning to the same course where they won two weeks ago at the Brock Invitational regatta. This crew is one of the most competitive group of lightweights that McGill has produced in recent years and includes stroke pair teammates Brent Hopkins, a biology senior from Montreal and Renaud Garon-Gendron, a microbiology sophomore from Boucherville, Que.
Garon-Gendron took home silver and bronze medals from Canadian Henley regatta over the summer and Hopkins finished fifth in his event, along with summer pairs partner Evan DeJonghe, a senior from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., who is also part of the aforementioned eight. Both Garon-Gendron and Hopkins, along with Montrealer Jonathan Rinaldi, took part in the under-23 national team selection camp last June.
Five members of McGill's eight were selected to represent Québec at the 2009 national rowing championships, including Hopkins, Garon-Gendron, DeJonghe, Rinaldi and Nathaniel De Bono of Windsor, Ont. Four of these five also make up McGill's lightweight coxed four.
McGill's heavyweight men's coxed four is coming off last week's exciting gold medal performance in the Club Fours event at the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston, finishing with a winning time of 17:19. The boat is made up of Adam Hart of Montreal, John Willcock of Vancouver, B.C., Travis O'Farrell of Unionville, Ont., Eric Baumann of Delta, Ont., and coxie Jeremy Van Slyke of Fredericton, N.B.
McGill's best medal hopeful on the women's side is Emma Sheehan, a 20-year-old economics junior from St. Catharines, who garnered five gold medals on the same course at the Royal Henley last August.
The University of Western Ontario will be looking to regain the men's title after losing it to Queen's at the 2008 championships. The host Badgers claimed three consecutive men's OUA titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and will look to surpass the Mustangs and defending Gaels in familiar waters this weekend. Queen's swept both men's and women's team titles in 2008.
Other schools participating at the OUA championships include Carleton, Guelph, McMaster, Ottawa, Toronto, Trent, Ryerson and UOIT.