Victory highlight of busy weekend for Thunderbird varsity athletes!

(SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – NOV. 8, 2021): The Algoma University Thunderbirds had a lot to celebrate this past weekend with student-athletes from the school’s curling, wrestling, cross-country running and basketball returning to varsity competition. 

The highlight of the weekend was a victory by the men’s curling team at the Northern Ontario Curling Association Men’s & Women’s Provincial Club Championships hosted at the Soo Curling Club. Both men’s and women’s curling teams had the opportunity to participate in this year’s event. The women’s team put forth a great effort throughout the weekend, but lost to Team Larocque (Fort William Curling Club, Thunder Bay, Ontario) in the best of five competition. 

The Men’s curling team ended their first game against Team Daoust (Curl Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario) with a 9-6 win. Their second game, although close, ended with another win of 7-6. Come their final game on Saturday, the team was eager to continue their streak. And that they did, winning once again against Daoust 5-1. With a clean sweep in Provincials, the men’s team has qualified for Nationals. This year’s event, the Everest Canadian Curling Club National Championships, will take place in Ottawa from November 28th to December 4th.  

The Thunderbirds wrestling team also made their return to varsity competition, traveling to Hamilton for the McMaster Invitational. “Taking into consideration the fact that the Algoma team hasn’t had a competition in about 20 months, I thought our wrestlers performed really well. We were able to work technically in a live situation and to see how our conditioning compares to other teams,” said Trevor Manchester, head coach.  

The team brought back two medals with returning athlete Emily Duchesne receiving bronze in the Women’s 53kg category, and Larissa Weston earning a silver in the Women’s 82kg  category. Algoma’s wrestlers will participate in the  Ryerson Open on November 14th for their next competition.  

In other varsity competition, Avery Litke participated in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Cross Country Championships in London, Ontario. Litke had a consistent race in the 8km event, shaving two minutes off of her personal best from last season, completing the race in 44:33.  

The Thunderbirds basketball teams officially started their OUA regular season on the road visiting the Western Mustangs in London, Ontario. Both teams lost the opening matches of the weekend double-header with the women falling by a score of 86 to 34 while the Mustang men’s team secured a 91 to 70 victory over the Thunderbirds. Top scorer in the women’s game was Thais Matte with 12 points while Maxime Bellony led the men’s team with 20 points. The Mustangs continued their winning ways on Saturday with the Thunderbird women falling by a score of 98 to 49. Megan Looney was top scorer for the Thunderbirds with 20 points. The men’s team lost 90 to 52 in the final game of the weekend with Vincent Falardeau scoring 11 points.  Both teams have a weekend off before playing host to the McMaster Marauders in a regular season home opener double-header on November 19th and 20th.  

(Photo:Tom Coulterman (Coach), Ethan Bowman, Hunter Schumacher, Kevin Morin, Kevin Macmichael, Josh Hales)

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