The York University Lions men’s fencing team finished in fifth place at the Ontario Universities Athletics (OUA) championships in St. Catharines, Ont., this past weekend thanks to two gold-medal performances.
The result was a significant improvement over the 11th-place finish by the team last year.
Adrien Sparling, in his first season with the Lions, put on a show in the men’s sabre competitions to win a pair of gold medals. He finished first in the individual event to capture the Schwende-Tully Trophy and joined with teammates Naufal Rafi Antares, Christopher Dani and David Remisch to also win the men’s team sabre relay.
Sparling was also named an OUA all-star, becoming York’s first recipient of the honour since Bob Berke was recognized in 1997.
The men’s sabre team relay final produced the most exciting finish of the day as the Lions won their first team medal since 1986 by defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 45-44.
The Varsity Blues went on to win the OUA banner, their second in a row, while the Carleton Ravens won the team silver medal and the RMC Paladins picked up the bronze.
Final Standings
Gold – Toronto, 254 points
Silver – Carleton, 230
Bronze – RMC, 173
4. Ryerson, 172
5. York, 149
6. Queen’s, 135
7. Western, 128
8. Brock, 96
9. Ottawa, 95
10. McMaster, 66
11. Trent, 1
Team Relay Men’s Sabre
Gold – York
Silver – Toronto
Bronze – RMC
Team Relay Men’s Foil
Gold – Carleton
Silver – Ottawa
Bronze – Ryerson
Team Relay Men’s Epee
Gold – Toronto
Silver – RMC
Bronze – Ryerson
Men’s Sabre
Gold (Schwende-Tully Trophy) – Adrien Sparling, York
Silver – William Kinney, Toronto
Bronze – Kenneth West, Queen’s
Men’s Foil
Gold (Charles Walter Trophy) – Samuel Hardwicke-Brown, Ryerson
Silver – Philip McCully, Carleton
Bronze – Geoffrey Devaney, Carleton
Men’s Epee
Gold (Desjarlais Trophy) – Colin Dale, Toronto
Silver – Zachary Zanussi, Carleton
Bronze – Dani Mansour, RMC
OUA All-stars
Colin Dale, Toronto
Geoff Devaney, Carleton
Patrick Fournier, Ottawa
Sam Hardwicke-Brow, Ryerson
William Kinney, Toronto
Dani Mansour, RMC
Phil McCully, Carleton
Adrien Sparling, York
Kenneth West, Queen’s
Garrett Whelan, RMC
Logan Wilford, Brock
Zac Zanussi, Carleton