Camren Courchene-Carter (St. Catharines, Ont.) of the men's swimming team, Tatum O'Connor (Dundas, Ont.) of the women's swimming team, Ben Bonisteel (Fenwick, Ont.) of the men's hockey team and Chloe Zaraska (Toronto, Ont.) of the women's track and field team have been named Brock University Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, Feb. 22.
Over the weekend from Thursday, Feb. 19 to Saturday, Feb. 21, Courchene-Carter competed at the 2026 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships held at the Athletic Centre Varsity Pool in Toronto. The second-year swimmer took home a gold medal and led Brock to a sixth-place finish overall. Courchene-Carter repeated as champion in the 100-metre breaststroke, finishing with a time of one minute, 33 milliseconds which set a program record. The English Language and Literature major also helped break another school record over the weekend, this time in the 4x100m medley relay. He swam alongside teammates Blake Bishop, Michael McCormick and Aidan Johnston, posting a time of 3:46.36 to surpass the previous mark of 3:48.19 set at last year's OUA Championships.
O'Connor delivered a highly decorated weekend at the 2026 OUA Championships held at the Athletic Centre Varsity Pool in Toronto, leading the Brock women's team to a third-place finish for the first time since 1988. The third-year swimmer earned four medals over the course of the weekend. Individually, the Social Sciences major captured golds in the 50m backstroke (27.66) and 100m backstroke (59.92), defending her crown in both of those events from last year's OUA Championships. She also helped break a school record in the 4x50m freestyle relay, collecting a bronze medal with a time of 1:42.20. Not done there, O'Connor alongside Gwen Creskey, Adriana Martone and Grace Chai also placed second in the 4x50m medley relay, touching the wall in 1:53.29. Additionally, O'Connor was honoured with an OUA Award of Distinction, given to competitors who have medalled at three or more OUA Championships.
Playing in a Round 1 best-of-three series against the No. 3 West seed Lakehead Thunderwolves, Bonisteel led the No. 6 West seed Badgers to an upset in three games. The first matchup, taking place on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at Canada Games Park saw the second-year netminder record 34 saves in an 8-5 victory. Game 2 took place at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont., with Brock dropping a narrow 3-2 loss in double overtime on Friday, Feb. 20. Bonisteel kept the Badgers alive all game, turning away 35 out of 38 shots as they killed off six of seven penalties. With the series tied up at one apiece, Game 3 became a winner-take-all matchup, where Bonisteel and the Badgers outduelled the Thunderwolves with a 4-2 road victory. After going down 2-1, the Computer Science major held the Thunderwolves scoreless for the final 38 minutes, allowing the team's offence to contribute as they scored three unanswered goals. Bonisteel's 90-save performance over the week has earned the Badgers a berth in the OUA quarterfinals, where they will take on the No. 2 OUA West seed TMU Bold in a best-of-three series.
Competing at the 2026 OUA Championships at the Toronto Track and Field Centre in Toronto, Zaraska helped lead the Badgers to a seventh-place finish. In her first year competing with Brock, the fifth-year athlete took home a gold medal in the high jump event, posting a personal-best jump of 1.77m. This mark topped her performance from 2024, where she earned a silver medal (1.69m) in the same event with the Guelph Gryphons. The Nursing major's performance has her sitting at the No. 2 rank in the country, earning her a spot at the U SPORTS Championships which will be held at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Man. from March 5-7.
