The Brock men's and women's rowing teams hosted the 25^th annual Canadian University Rowing Championships at Henley Island in Port Dalhousie from Nov. 5-6.
 
A total of 305 athletes from 24 universities across Canada competed in the two-day event.
 
The Brock men's team placed second in the country with a total of 104 points behind the first-place University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (123); the Brock women finished fifth with 58 points.
 
Brock's Thomas Markewich and Stephen Harris were named the Men's Co-Athletes of the Year alongside Patrick Keane of the University of Victoria.
 
The CURC also announced a new award in honour of Brock head coach Peter Somerwil and named him its first recipient. The Peter Somerwil Award for Development of University Rowing recognizes individuals who support the next generation of rowers and the future of the sport.
 
"Canadian university rowing is top notch. There is a boatload of Under-23 national team members spread out across our universities and that really drives this competition forward, which is something we can all be proud of," Somerwil said.
 
Somerwil added that the sport of rowing has navigated rough waters through the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Our sport has been hammered hard and moving forward is a matter of rebuilding. We're looking to engage our rowing community to become volunteers," he said. "There were close to 100 volunteers that ran this regatta over two days for 305 athletes. It's just what it takes to run our sport. I'm encouraging people to give back because they've received so much from volunteers. That will grow our sport."
 
Markewich, a fourth-year Medical Sciences student from Regina, Saskatchewan, and Harris, a third-year Economics student from Guelph, collected two golds and a bronze for the Badgers.
 
The duo first won gold in the men's lightweight double with a time of six minutes, 15 seconds and 90 milliseconds ahead of second place UBC (6:19.10).
 
They helped the men's lightweight four win gold (6:08.50) alongside crew mates Jonathan Cinquina, Connor Dodds, and coxswain Riley Pisek over UBC (6:11.30). Harris and Markewich also played a role in the Brock men's eight win bronze (5:39.98) with Sam Stewart, Michael Ciepiela, Daniel Brophy, Connor Dodds, Chris Gomez, Jared Boles and Pisek.
 
Ciepiela, a third-year Business student from Brampton, captured a bronze medal in the men's single with a time of 6:48.69 behind Keane of Victoria and Liam Smit of UBC.
 
On the women's side, Isabella and Zoe Durcak, second-year Accounting and Business students from Stoney Creek, combined to win a silver medal (7:02.40) in the women's lightweight double just milliseconds behind Victoria's Paige Letham and Genevieve Olsen (7:01.85).
 
With a total of 13 first years and six second-year, Brock women's team head coach Mary Rao is encouraged by the development of the program.
 
"We had a large graduating class in 2020 and 2021. We faced some challenges, but we saw a lot of team growth with the hard work everyone put in this season," Rao said. "We were able to enter all the events at the Ontario University Athletics Championships and our core varsity group in the CURCs. We're proud of all the work these women have done to get this far."
 
Individual Major Awards
Women's Athlete of the Year – Alizée Brien (University of Montreal)
Men's Co-Athlete of the Year – Thomas Markewich & Stephen Harris (Brock University) and Patrick Keane (University of Victoria)
Women's Team Coach of the Year – Jane Gumley (University of Victoria)
Men's Team Coach of the Year – Mike Pearce (University of British Columbia)
Above and Beyond Athlete of the Year – Rhiannon Crichton and Vienna Scholten (University of Ottawa)
Coach Builder of the Year – Joe Rochon (Concordia University/ETS)
Peter Somerwil Award for Development of University Rowing – Peter Somerwil (Brock University)
 
Women's Final Point Standings
Victoria 106
Western 100
UBC 90
Queen's 82
Brock 58
Toronto 53
Ottawa 40
Trent 31
Calgary 29
Carleton 25
McGill 22
Montreal 21
StFX 20
Guelph 16
Saskatchewan 15
Dalhousie 13
McMaster 13
Fort Langley 1
Concordia 0
Nipissing 0
Ontario Tech 0
Alberta 0
Waterloo 0
ETS 0
 
Men's Final Point Standings
UBC 123
Brock 104
Victoria 101
Queen's 60
Western 58
McGill 50
Toronto 30
StFX 24
Guelph 22
Carleton 21
Calgary 18
Montreal 17
Waterloo 12
McMaster 11
Trent 9
Dalhousie 7
ETS 6
Fort Langley 5
Nipissing 5
Alberta 3
Ontario Tech 0
Ottawa 0
Saskatchewan 0
 
Women's Medal Races
Women's Single
1 Montreal - 7:16.68; 2 Trent – 7:18.23; 3 Western – 7:28.06
 
Women's Lightweight Single
1 Western – 7:33.50; 2 Ottawa – 7:34.20; 3 Toronto – 7:38.40
 
Women's Eight
1 Victoria – 6:12.27; Queen's – 6:16.69; 3 UBC – 6:17.60
 
Women's Lightweight Double
1 Victoria – 7:01.85; 2 Brock – 7:02.40; 3 UBC – 7:03.70
 
Women's Pair
1 UBC – 7:01.83; 2 Western – 7:02.37; 3 Victoria – 7:04.48
 
Women's Lightweight Four
1 Western – 6:57.13; 2 Victoria – 6:58.05; 3 Queen's – 7:03.01
 
Men's Medal Races
Men's Lightweight Double
1 Brock – 6:15.90; 2 UBC – 6:19.10; 3 Victoria – 6:24.20
 
Men's Pair
1 UBC – 6:22.60; 2 Queen's – 6:26.68; 3 Victoria – 6:28.63
 
Men's Lightweight Four
1 Brock – 6:08.50; 2 UBC – 6:11.30; 3 Victoria – 6:15.80
 
Men's Single
1 UBC – 6:40.59; 2 Victoria – 6:45.41; 3 Brock – 6:48.69
 
Men's Lightweight Single
1 Victoria – 6:44.77; 2 UBC – 6:49.66; 3 Montreal – 6:56.95
 
Men's Eight
1 UBC – 5:25.23; 2 Victoria – 5:37.12; 3 Brock – 5:39.98