Badgers’ men’s rowing team wins third straight provincial title at OUA Rowing Championships

On Oct. 28^th, the Badgers’ men’s rowing team captured their third consecutive provincial championship and 14^th in school history, with an impressive showing at the OUA Rowing Championships at Henley Island in Port Dalhousie. Brock finished atop the standings with 524 points, followed by the Western Mustangs in second with 443 points and the Queen’s Gaels a distant third with 277. 

A big reason for the Badgers’ high point tally is due to them finishing first or second place in eight of the 10 races. 

Opening the competition, freshman Charles-Etienne Tabet won his first of two gold medals on the day with the only sub-eight-minute performance in the men’s lightweight single event with a time of 7:58.01. Tabet finished nearly six seconds ahead of second-place Victor Rolland of McGill. 

The OUA Men’s Rower of the Year picked up his second gold of the competition shortly thereafter in the men’s lightweight double event with teammate Riley Watson. The rookie duo edged out the Queen’s pair with just over a second to spare, crossing the finish line with a time of 6:55.56. 

Watson, the Peterborough native, also won himself a second gold, this time in the men’s lightweight pair event with Archer LaRochelle. LaRochelle and Watson dominated the competition, finishing the race with a time of 7:19.43, drastically ahead of the Western duo at 7:53.03 and the McMaster pair at 7:37.78. 

Third-year rower Connor Dodds added another gold for Brock, finishing first in the men’s single event with a swift time of 7:29.03. 

Dodds added his second and third gold medals of the day in the lightweight team events in both the lightweight fours and eights. In the eights, the Badgers’ octet of Dodds, LaRochelle, Christopher Gomez, Maddox Harrison, Ethan Mason, Benjamin Molnar, Dalton Sawyer and John Ross comfortably finished in first with a time of 6:24.60, ahead of the Western and University of Toronto teams. The Badgers – Dodds, Gomez, Harrison and Mason – followed up in the lightweight fours, racing to the only sub-seven-minute time of 6:53.60. 

The Badgers also added two silver medals to go along with their six gold, winning silver medals for Brock in the men’s four and men’s eight races. 

The men’s four team of Jared Boles, Keithan Woodhouse, Elijah Lopez and Joshua Ruby narrowly finished in second at 6:44.22, under two seconds behind the first-place Mustangs. Brock’s men’s eight team – Boles, Woodhouse, Ruby, Lopez, Ian Doctor, Euan Coulson, Flynn Kirwin and Lucas Fogh – crossed the finish line just ahead of the third-placed McGill rowers, finishing with a time of 6:14.97. 

Next up for the Badgers is the Canadian University Rowing Championships where they will be hoping that their provincial success can translate into national success. The competition runs from Nov. 9^th to 12^th at Burnaby Lake in Burnaby, British Columbia. 

 
For more information on the men’s rowing team, head to gobadgers.ca.