Queen’s to play Laval in U Sports men’s basketball final after victory over Ottawa

The Queen’s Gaels will be playing for a national championship on Sunday after edging the Ottawa Gee-Gees 85-77 in the semifinals of the U Sport men’s Final 8 basketball championship in Quebec City.

Cole Syllas led the Kingston-based Gaels with 25 points and 18 rebounds, while Luka Syllas had 20 points.

The Gaels led 20-19 after the first quarter, 49-35 at halftime and 67-56 heading into the final quarter.

Brock Newton led the Gee-Gees with 19 points, while Dragan Stajic had 15 points and Cole Newton chipped in with 12.

The Gaels and Rouge et Or will play for the W.P. McGee Trophy on Sunday after Laval defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 84-74 later on Saturday.

Watch live coverage of the men’s and women’s tournaments on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Haris Elezovic scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds to pace the Rouge et Or, while teammate Ismael Diouf had 11 rebounds and 19 points. Steeve Joseph scored 16.

Malcolm Christie had 25 points for the Tigers and Nginyu Ngala chipped in with 16 points and six rebounds.

The Tigers led 48-43 at halftime and 65-61 heading into the fourth quarter, but were outscored 24-9 in the final frame.

Saskatchewan, Carleton advance to women’s basketball final

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and Carleton Ravens will meet in the U Sport women’s basketball championship final after punching their tickets with semifinal wins on Saturday in Edmonton.

The Huskies scored a 64-57 win over Laval Rouge et Or while the Ravens trounced the Queen’s Gaels 74-40.

Carly Ahlstrom led the Huskies with 27 points and five rebounds, while Gage Grassic chipped in with nine points and seven rebounds.

WATCH | Saskatchewan aiming for gold in women’s tourney:

University of Saskatchewan’s women’s basketball team eager to prove themselves at nationals

USask is coming off a Canada West title for the 9th time in its program’s history.

Kali Pocrnic paced Carleton with 22 points while Tatyanna Burke and Kyana-Jade Poulin each contributed 12 points apiece.

The Huskies and Ravens will play Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Guelph extends dynasty at track & field nationals

The University of Guelph had its half-decade stranglehold on both the men’s and women’s U Sports track and field world questioned on Feb. 24 after finishing as runner-up to Western at the OUA Track & Field Championships in Windsor, Ont.

While Guelph had OUA championship streaks of seven for the women and six for the men snapped last month, the women earned their sixth consecutive national title at the James Daly Fieldhouse, while the men took home their seventh straight.

The Guelph women edged rival Western 115-102 for gold, while the Calgary Dinos narrowly beat the Saskatchewan Huskies 87-86 in the race for bronze.

Cameron Ormond led the way for Guelph over the weekend by winning her second straight 1,500-metre national title, bettering last year’s time by 0.90 seconds by clocking in at four minutes 23.57 seconds. The fourth year also added a silver in the 1,000m.

Also winning gold for the Gryphon women were Nicole McKenzie in the 300m, Jennifer Elizarov in the pole vault, and the women’s 4x200m relay team.

On the men’s side, Guelph edged the host Manitoba Bisons 89.5-82 for top spot while Laval clipped Western 56.5-55 for bronze.

There was no question who the star of the show was for the Gryphon men, with second-year Max Davies setting U Sports records in both the 1,000m and 1,500m, and adding another gold for good measure in the men’s 4x800m relay.

Davies first broke a 12-year-old record by 1.09 seconds on Friday with a 2:21.00 time to win the 1,000m, then won his second straight 1,500m title on Saturday in a truly remarkable final.

With the U Sports record of 3:46.85 set by UBC’s Allan Klassen standing for 34 years, four runners beat that time in the 1,000m final, led by Davies’s 3:44.00 mark.

Laval’s Jean-Sim Desgagnés (3:44.76) took silver, Jonathan Podbielski of the Regina Cougars (3:45.18) nabbed bronze, and Queen’s runner Jude Wheeler-Dee (3:46.49) finished just off the podium.

Craig Thorne (60m hurdles) and Johnathan Jacob (long jump) also added gold medals for the Guelph men.

U of T wins men’s, women’s swimming championships

The University of Toronto took home both the men’s and women’s team gold medals at the 2024 U Sports Swimming Championships in Montreal on Saturday.

The U of T women’s victory was particularly contentious, defeating UBC 1,444-1,300.5, with Calgary taking bronze with a total score of 872.5.

Fifth-year Ainsley McMurray was sensational across the three-day competition, winning seven medals (gold in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4×100 freestyle relay and 4×100 medley relay, silver in the 200m freestyle, and bronze in the 50m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay).

The men’s win was more decisive, tallying 1,145 points to silver medallist Calgary’s 922.5, bronze medallist McGill’s 893, and fourth-place UBC’s 867.5.

Bill Dongfang capped off a superb meet by setting a U Sports record of 2:00.17 in the 200m butterfly.

The first-year also won gold in the 100m butterfly and silver in the 200m freestyle, in addition to silver in both the 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay.