Check out this week's edition of The Ontarion http://www.theontarion.ca/ to read about Guelph Gryphon Brad Crawford being drafted into the CFL by the Toronto Argonauts. Brad's versatility was a huge selling point and he'll look to make the cut with the Argos similarly to former Gryphon wide receiver Mike Palmer. Brad's brother Bryan is already a running back with the Argos and even if Brad doesn't make the team, he still has the option of returning to Guelph for a fifth year. On a team that could really use some leadership in the defensive secondary, Crawford's experience would certainly be helpful but we all wish him the best of luck in his tryouts with the Argos.
MT
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Bringing in the bigs
The Gryphons men's basketball team has landed a couple of top recruits to try and bolster their frontcourt depth.
6'8" forward John Brutto was the third ranked high school centre in all of Canada, averaging a filthy 22 points, 18 rebounds and 4 blocks per game.
Dan Latka is a 6'11" centre who will be expected to play bigtime interior defence with Duncan Milne having graduated. He was his high school's MVP for the last two seasons in Parry Sound and will likely compete with Duncan Reid and Adam Bering for minutes at the 5 position this year.
I'm really excited to see what these two players bring the floor. We've commented at length about the Gryphons lack of frontcourt size, especially given the loss of Milne, who anchored the position for the better part of 5 years.
Guelph has also recruited Adrian Achonwa, a 6'3" guard to join the team next year. Achonwa played high school ball just down the road at Centennial CVI in Guelph, the same school that produced Dan McCarthy just a year ago. It'll be interesting to hear what Dan has to say about Adrian and we'll try to get on that soon.
The recruitments of Brutto, Latka and Achonwa brings the number of men's hoops newbies to 5 as they will join Matt Howlett and Brady Heslip who were added earlier.
Still waiting on news about new recruits for the women's team but with Kris Yallin being the only graduating member, I don't expect to see many new faces there this year.
MT
6'8" forward John Brutto was the third ranked high school centre in all of Canada, averaging a filthy 22 points, 18 rebounds and 4 blocks per game.
Dan Latka is a 6'11" centre who will be expected to play bigtime interior defence with Duncan Milne having graduated. He was his high school's MVP for the last two seasons in Parry Sound and will likely compete with Duncan Reid and Adam Bering for minutes at the 5 position this year.
I'm really excited to see what these two players bring the floor. We've commented at length about the Gryphons lack of frontcourt size, especially given the loss of Milne, who anchored the position for the better part of 5 years.
Guelph has also recruited Adrian Achonwa, a 6'3" guard to join the team next year. Achonwa played high school ball just down the road at Centennial CVI in Guelph, the same school that produced Dan McCarthy just a year ago. It'll be interesting to hear what Dan has to say about Adrian and we'll try to get on that soon.
The recruitments of Brutto, Latka and Achonwa brings the number of men's hoops newbies to 5 as they will join Matt Howlett and Brady Heslip who were added earlier.
Still waiting on news about new recruits for the women's team but with Kris Yallin being the only graduating member, I don't expect to see many new faces there this year.
MT
Moving On
Just wanted to give a little shout out to Barry Rooke, my friend and former Station Manager at CFRU 93.3FM, the campus radio station in Guelph. Unfortunately, Barry's contract was not renewed by the Board of Governors and he will be moving on from CFRU in the coming year.
Barry had a huge influence on my introduction to sports journalism this past year, spearheading the sports broadcasting project on campus that covered football, basketball and hockey with outstanding results. He, along with Steve Mason, Aaron Levy, myself and a host of others worked together to build a very successful and professional broadcasting experience that will hopefully only improve over time.
With Barry moving on, I, along with Aaron, will likely look to take on greater roles in continuing to bring listeners high quality sports broadcasting. We're already looking into working with the Programming Committee at the radio station to try and plan for the fall when hopefully we'll be able to bring not only home but also road games to our listeners.
As always, we NEEEEEED volunteers to make this thing work. CFRU has a very small paid staff and many programs are run almost exclusively by volunteers. If you're interested in getting involved in ANY aspect of sports broadcasting, let me know.
As for Barry, I want to wish him the best of luck in his future work. Aside from being a great producer of our sports programs, he's also an excellent DJ and a real cool guy who'll be missed around the station.
MT
Barry had a huge influence on my introduction to sports journalism this past year, spearheading the sports broadcasting project on campus that covered football, basketball and hockey with outstanding results. He, along with Steve Mason, Aaron Levy, myself and a host of others worked together to build a very successful and professional broadcasting experience that will hopefully only improve over time.
With Barry moving on, I, along with Aaron, will likely look to take on greater roles in continuing to bring listeners high quality sports broadcasting. We're already looking into working with the Programming Committee at the radio station to try and plan for the fall when hopefully we'll be able to bring not only home but also road games to our listeners.
As always, we NEEEEEED volunteers to make this thing work. CFRU has a very small paid staff and many programs are run almost exclusively by volunteers. If you're interested in getting involved in ANY aspect of sports broadcasting, let me know.
As for Barry, I want to wish him the best of luck in his future work. Aside from being a great producer of our sports programs, he's also an excellent DJ and a real cool guy who'll be missed around the station.
MT
Varsity teams make the cut
I wrote an article for this week's edition of The Ontarion, the first issue put out by my boss, friend and former sports editor, the NEW Editor-in-Chief...drumroll please....Daniel Bitonti. The article was based on an interview I did with Guelph's Athletic Director Tom Kendall, earlier this week, about the stability of varsity athletics in the ongoing recession.
Kendall assured me that despite the need for budget cutbacks in athletics, ALL of Guelph's varsity teams will keep their status for next year. Check out Dan's first paper (and my article too!) at http://www.theontarion.ca/.
MT
Kendall assured me that despite the need for budget cutbacks in athletics, ALL of Guelph's varsity teams will keep their status for next year. Check out Dan's first paper (and my article too!) at http://www.theontarion.ca/.
MT
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Yallin's last stand
Kris Yallin, Guelph's outgoing captain on the women's basketball team, and star fourth year guard will play in her final university game next Saturday on May 9 taking part in the Inaugural OUA All-Star Game at RIM Park in Waterloo.
Yallin, the team's leading scorer, rebounder and three-point shooter was an OUA West Second Team All-Star this year and will be moving on to pursue an MBA at Wilfrid Laurier University in the fall. As a team co-captain this year with Morgan Jean and Rachel Hancock, Yallin was instrumental in helping to bring along what was a VERY young team, but one that also achieved much more than what was expected of them, earning a playoff berth before falling to McMaster.
I got the chance to interview Kris earlier this year for a piece we did for The Ontarion and she was probably the most personable athlete I met over the past year working for the paper. Having been a part of the broadcasting team that covered Gryphons basketball this year, I got a chance to see many of the top OUA 'ballers and I can safely say that Yallin will not be out of place in this team.
Some of her teammates in the upcoming All-Star game will include OUA West stars Dranadia Roc, Taylor Smith, Alyssa Wulff and Gryphon killer Amanda Anderson, who lit up the Gryphs on multiple occasions with her three-point shooting this year for the Western Mustangs.
If you're a fan of OUA basketball, this game is a can't miss as it's a chance to see some of the greatest female players in the province.
Yallin, the team's leading scorer, rebounder and three-point shooter was an OUA West Second Team All-Star this year and will be moving on to pursue an MBA at Wilfrid Laurier University in the fall. As a team co-captain this year with Morgan Jean and Rachel Hancock, Yallin was instrumental in helping to bring along what was a VERY young team, but one that also achieved much more than what was expected of them, earning a playoff berth before falling to McMaster.
I got the chance to interview Kris earlier this year for a piece we did for The Ontarion and she was probably the most personable athlete I met over the past year working for the paper. Having been a part of the broadcasting team that covered Gryphons basketball this year, I got a chance to see many of the top OUA 'ballers and I can safely say that Yallin will not be out of place in this team.
Some of her teammates in the upcoming All-Star game will include OUA West stars Dranadia Roc, Taylor Smith, Alyssa Wulff and Gryphon killer Amanda Anderson, who lit up the Gryphs on multiple occasions with her three-point shooting this year for the Western Mustangs.
If you're a fan of OUA basketball, this game is a can't miss as it's a chance to see some of the greatest female players in the province.
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