For a second consecutive year, Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia is taking home a silver medal from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Men's Fencing Championship.
"Nico pushed through one of the most grueling OUA championships being the only top-seeded athlete entering the competition to walk away with a medal at the end," said head coach Tim Stang. "Gold is certainly in his grasp in coming years."
The top fencers from the province descended upon Ottawa for the two-day provincial competition that started on Saturday, March 16.
Overall, the Badgers placed ninth (62 points) out of 13 teams, matching their finish from a year ago.
On Day 1, Gutierrez-Sarabia earned a second-place finish in the individual epee competition. After two rounds of pool play, the Budapest, Hungary product was seeded seventh heading into the direct elimination round.
After a 15-11 win over Cadyn Ung of the York Lions in the Round of 16, Gutierrez-Sarabia defeated the No. 2 seed Mohab Mefreh of the McMaster Marauders by a score of 15-11. He then won his semifinal matchup by the same scoreline, besting RMC's Daniil Makarenko to book a ticket to the final.
In the final showdown, Gutierrez-Sarabia came up just short, falling 15-12 to Waterloo's Seraphim Jarov.
Ethan Ciolfi placed 25th to lead Brock's results in men's sabre while Mackenzie Andrei finished 27th in the individual foil competition.
The competition moved to the team relay events on Day 2 where two Brock teams made it to the quarter-final round, with the highest finish being accomplished by the epee team.
The group of Gutierrez-Sarabia, Nathaniel McDonnell, Dhairya Shah and Karl Stang finished 1-2 in pool play to earn a spot in the Top 8. In the direct elimination bracket, the Badgers dropped their quarter-final contest to the Varsity Blues (45-28). After a 45-36 loss to the York Lions, the Badgers took down the Guelph Gryphons 45-37 to place seventh.
Andrei, Robert Cruickshank, Malcolm McShane and Parker Triano formed the men's foil team. After winning one pool play match, the Badgers earned a chance at the direct elimination bracket. With losses to the Toronto Varsity Blues (45-21), Queen's Gaels (45-30) and McMaster Marauders (45-30), the Badgers settled for eighth.
In men's sabre, the team of Ciolfi, Andre Montrichard, Omsharan Rampertaub and Benjmain Wignall finished just out of the quarter-final round, earning a ninth-place finish after going 0-2 in pool play.
Major Award Winners
George Tully Trophy – Gavin Crowder, Ottawa
Coach of the Year – Paul Godin, Waterloo
OUA All-Stars
Foil
Steven Zhang, Western
Ethan Haines, TMU Bold
Mike Howard, Toronto
Sacha Vasiliev, Ottawa
Sabre
Leo Chen, Toronto
Cameron Haigh, Toronto
Richard Yang, Waterloo
Oscar Zhao, Toronto
Epee
Gavin Crowder, Ottawa
Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia, Brock
Seraphim Jarov, Waterloo
Lio Xiao, Toronto
Day 2 - Team Relay Results
Foil Team
Gold – Waterloo (Koerts, Li, White-Roy, Li)
Silver - Western (Zhang, Cui, Wang, Yu)
Bronze – Ottawa (Vasiliev, Turk, Oroszlan, Fosterdelmundo)
Sabre Team
Gold - Waterloo (Cho, Li, Miyake, Yang)
Silver – Toronto (Chen, Haigh, Ng, Zhao)
Bronze – Western (Brooks, Li, Wong Won, Yamaguchi)
Epee Team
Gold – Toronto (Kanaan, McCurdy, Shi, Xiao)
Silver – Waterloo (Hong, Jarov, Shahzadeh, Zheng)
Bronze – McMaster (Celejewski, Hand, Kriemadis, Mefreh)
Final Team Standings
1. Toronto 333
2. Waterloo 329
3. Western 168
4. TMU 149
5. McMaster 109
6. Ottawa 93
7. Queen's 92
8. RMC 79
9. Brock 62
10. York 39
11. Carleton 29
12. Guelph 15
13. Trent 0
