Photo by: Charlie Martin

The Badgers did well in the month of February. Here are the month’s outstanding Badger athletes and how the teams performed.

February Student Athletes of the Week

The week of Feb. 6 saw Daniel Caldwell for men’s basketball and Grace Cave from women’s curling as the athletes of the week. 

Caldwell was recognized for his stellar performance during back-to-back Badgers games. He had a team-high 18 points in the first game, along with seven rebounds, three steals and one block. He then went on to record 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. Cave helped lead the Badgers to a quarterfinals appearance at the OUA women’s curling championship. She was named an OUA all-star as well as the OUA first team vice.

Athletes of the week of Feb. 13 were Max Budgey from men’s wrestling and Mia Friesen from women’s wrestling.

Budgey won gold in the 76 kg event at the OUA championships; his second straight gold medal in the event. He helped the men’s wrestling team to their seventh consecutive OUA Championship banner. Friesen won gold in the 56 kg event and played a major role in the women’s wrestling getting their eighth consecutive OUA provincial banner. 

For the week of Feb. 21, athletes of the week were Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia from men’s fencing and Claudia Murphy from women’s hockey.

Gutierrez-Sarabia won silver in the individual men’s epee category at the OUA fencing championships. He also won bronze alongside his teammates in the men’s epee team relay. He was awarded the George Tully Trophy for overall sportsmanship. Murphy came in clutch for the women’s hockey team scoring the game-winning and playoff-clinching goal with 44 seconds remaining against Western. 

There were three athletes for the week of Feb. 26, Emily Good from Track and Field, Mia Friesen from women’s wrestling and Carlos Vargas from men’s wrestling.

Good won the gold medal for the women’s shot put event at the OUA Championships. She qualified for the U SPORTS National Championships to take place in March. Friesen showed absolute dominance at the U SPORTS Women’s Wrestling National Championship, she won the national gold in the 56 kg weight class and was also named the U SPORTS female wrestler of the year prior. Vargas got gold in his first ever appearance at the U SPORTS Men’s Wrestling National Championship in the 68 kg weight class. Vargas went undefeated and never conceded a point in any of his matches at the National Championship.

February Standings for Badgers Varsity Athletics 

Most Badgers teams either met or exceeded expectations in February. Badgers wrestling sustained their annual excellence at the OUA and U SPORTS Championships and women’s volleyball continued to dominate. Men’s and women’s basketball were the exception, they did not make it to the final stage like they did last year.

Basketball

Men’s basketball had a total of six regular season games and one playoff game in February. They had three wins and three losses in their regular season games. They then played against Queen’s University in the OUA Quarterfinals on Feb. 25 where they lost by two points. Women’s basketball met a similar fate, after three wins and three losses in their February regular season games, they won their OUA Round 1 game on Feb. 22 by three points against the University of Windsor, but lost in the OUA Quarterfinal on Feb. 25 against Queen’s University by five points. 

Curling 

Brock men’s curling took part in the three-day OUA championship from Feb. 10 to Feb. 12. They defeated Guelph on the last day of competition to claim the OUA bronze medal. Women’s curling also competed in their OUA championship from Feb. 10 to Feb. 12. They were eliminated in the quarter finals.

Hockey

Men’s hockey won three of the seven regular season games they played in February. They lost two OUA Quarterfinal games to the University of Windsor on Feb. 23 and Feb. 25. Women’s hockey won three of five regular season games in February. They lost in the OUA Quarterfinal to the University of Waterloo, losing two games in best of three series from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25. 

Swimming 

Brock swimming competed in the OUA Championships on Feb. 9 to Feb. 11, where the men’s placed sixth place with 190 total points and the women came in seventh place with 129 total points. Just one athlete qualified and competed at the U SPORTS Championship from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26. 

Track and Field 

Badgers track and field took part in four competitions in February; the York Winter Open on Feb. 3, where the Badgers came out with 26 personal best performances, the Windsor Team Challenge Feb 10, to Feb. 11, where the women finished fifth overall, men’s finished sixth overall and Brock saw another 19 personal best performances, the Hal Brown Last Chance Meet on Feb. 17, where the Badgers had a total of five podium results and Brock saw another 10 personal best performances and The OUA Championships on Feb. 24 to Feb. 25, where the women finished sixth place in the overall standings and the men finished finished tenth, with the Badgers capturing two OUA championship medals and three more fifth place finishes. 

Volleyball

Women’s volleyball won all five regular season games played in the month. They then went on to defeat the University of Windsor in the OUA Quarterfinal. Men’s volleyball showed improvement and also won all five regular season games in February, however, this wasn’t enough to make up for their 8-12 overall season record.  

Wrestling

Brock wrestling competed in the OUA Championships on Feb. 11. Both teams won the OUA Championship banner, making it the eight consecutive banner for the women’s and the seventh consecutive men’s banner. The Badgers had 14 individual podium results. On Feb. 24 to Feb. 25, they competed in the U SPORTS Championship, where the men went on to capture their eighth consecutive U SPORTS banner and the women got second overall.  

Fencing

From Feb. 17 to Feb. 19, the Badgers hosted 12 other universities for the men’s and women’s OUA Fencing Championships. The men’s team finished ninth overall with 77 total points while the women’s team finished eighth overall with 76 total points. 

A few Badger teams still have championship tournaments in March.

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