Men's pair David Mungham and Brandon Griffin claim victory at largest collegiate regatta in the United States

On Saturday, May 12 Trent rowers David Mungham and Brandon Griffin convincingly raced to first place over a field of 42 boats from across North America at the Dad Vail regatta in Philadelphia.

“It’s a great confidence boost to race a collegiate field of this calibre and to come out on top,” said Trent Head Coach Jacqui Beattie. “When the commentators announced that Trent was in the lead with 750m to go, I got goose bumps. The pair executed their race plan and didn’t give an inch. I’m really happy with their performance.”

The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States. The 75^th annual regatta was held in Philadelphia, PA and featured more than 100 colleges and universities from across the US and Canada battling for the top over 2000m on the Schuylkill River.

In the men’s pair race, Trent was victorious with an impressive time of 7:34.024, nearly four seconds ahead of second place finishers Colgate. With hopes on building on their impressive appearance in the US, Mungham and Griffin will be racing for the Peterborough Rowing Club this summer and already have their eyes set on more gold, most notably a win at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in August.   

“Winning feels good,” said bow man David Mungham with a laugh. “And green looks good on the podium.”

Graduating History student Daniela Sheinin honoured as top female scholar-athlete

In recognition of all of her achievements and contributions both in and out of the pool, Trent University varsity swimmer Daniela Sheinin has been selected as one of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) 2011/12 Women of Influence, an award that honours female student-athletes who have excelled in their chosen sports, fields of study and community involvement.

Ms. Sheinin and the other top female athletes from across the province was honoured at a luncheon on May 8 during the OUA meetings at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario. This year's guest speaker was dual-sport national athlete, Olympic gold medalist, and OUA alumnus Heather Moyse.

Ms. Sheinin, a Peterborough native, is a graduating fourth-year student at Trent University who recently completed an undergraduate degree in History. A team captain of the varsity swim team, this year she posted qualifying times for the 2011 CIS Championships.

Swimming competitively since the age of eight, Ms. Sheinin joined the varsity team at Trent University when she started attending in 2009. In her three years on the team, she has been a strong leader and competitive force, qualifying for her first senior provincials in her first year at Trent. The following year she qualified for the Eastern Canadian Championships and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships – the first Trent representative at the national championship in four years. Always striving for the top, Ms. Sheinin broke the school records in the 50 and 100 butterfly and was a key member of the school record setting 400 free relay team. In recognition of her accomplishments, last year she was named the Huronia Region Athletes Representative for Swim Ontario.

A shining example of what a student-athlete should be, she excels in the classroom, was named an Academic All-Canadian for two straight years and has presented her work to the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies. Away from campus she volunteers for numerous non-profit committees with particular emphasis on helping St. John’s Ambulance. She regularly teaches courses to youth in the community, including Jamaica Self Help and is active in the Service for Seniors program, lending a hand to senior citizens in the area. 

In the fall, Ms. Sheinin will begin her MA in American History at the University of Toronto. Following that, she hopes to eventually complete a PhD and move into a career in academia.

Top eight teams from Ontario to vie for provincial title at Trent February 21-23, 2013

During their annual meeting in Ottawa last week, the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) announced that Trent University successfully won the bid to host the 2012/13 Women’s Volleyball Championship.

The successful bid comes on the heels of the announcement that Trent will also host the 2012 Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association’s Baggataway Cup in November 2012. These upcoming events build on Trent’s reputation as a dynamic host of national and international competition. In 2007, the University hosted the Women’s Under-19 World Lacrosse Championship and was the back-to-back host of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Women’s Rugby Championships in 2010 and 2011.

“Hosting this high-calibre provincial championship is an honour for us at Trent University,” said Bill Byrick, director of Athletics & Recreation. “We look forward to welcoming Ontario’s best female volleyball players to our state-of-the-art new Athletics Centre and showing them all that Trent has to offer. It is also a great time to bring the local community up to the University in a celebration of varsity sport.”

The OCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships will be held from February 21 to 23, 2013 at Trent University and will feature the province’s top eight teams. As host, Trent will earn an automatic berth in the championship. Previously, has made an appearance in the last three OCAA championship tournaments.

"We are very excited to be hosting the OCAA Women's Volleyball Championships at Trent next season,” said Pete Carter, coach of the Trent Excalibur Women’s Volleyball team. “The team will be training at Trent's new athletic facility throughout the summer to prepare for the upcoming season and to build on our Championship qualifying success over the past three years. We are thrilled to bring this Championship Volleyball event to Peterborough and are looking forward to home court advantage and community support for our team in February!"