This coverage was first sent as an email newsletter to our subscribers. Sign up to receive it, for free, on our Ottawa at the Canada Games page. Newsletter by Keiran Gorsky, Tyler Reis-Sanford, Martin Cleary, Dan Plouffe & Farrah Philpot Dexter Bates and Makinleigh Courtney’s voices are both hanging on for dear life. The boisterous crowd at Glacier Arena in Mount Pearl and a crowded mat of wrestlers have been locked in a fierce competition to outscream one another. Drums, bells and many screeches accompanied Ontario’s men’s and women’s wrestling teams en route to gold and silver medals at the 2025 Canada Summer Games on Friday afternoon. “I sound horrible,” Courtney gruffed after her match as she spoke to the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Keiran Gorsky. Team Ontario wrestling. Photo: Matthew Murnaghan / Canada Games Although team events are a rarity in the sport, the National Capital Wrestling Club athletes have both been to duel meets before. Wrestlers on each team go toe-to-toe with adversaries in each weight class, with points tallied up in each match (extra points are awarded for wins by pinfall or shutting out opponents, for example). This competition, they both agree, was something special. “It just makes you feel a lot closer to people,” smiled Courtney, who suggested duel meets ought to be more common in Canadian youth wrestling. “When you go to these tournaments, these girls are your competition. But as soon as you start doing duels, you realize these are your teammates.” “Having your team cheering you on after every single point, and before matches, it doesn’t get much better than that,” Bates added. Dexter Bates (right). Photo: Howie_Adams / Canada Games It’s precisely how Courtney and Bates, teammates at the 2024 Ontario Winter Games in Thunder Bay, became the close friends they are today. Bates was a late addition to Ontario’s Canada Games wrestling roster after another combatant dropped out two weeks before the main event. ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ Canada Games wrestling. Photo: Keiran Gorsky He made sure to do his homework on Dominic Wendt, B.C.’s provincial champion in the 65-kilogram category. Their match was amusingly interrupted by a slew of coaches’ challenges, indicated at the Canada Games by little Gusty mascot stuffed toys that coaches toss onto the mat. It caused their match to drag on longer than it perhaps had any right to, Bates eminently in control throughout. Wendt spent large parts of the bout ensnared in Bates’ element, trying in vain to break out of his robust ground game. Bates didn’t manage a pin but he did hit the points threshold needed to win 4-1 on technical superiority. “I knew exactly what I was going to do – execute my moves and come out on top,” indicated the Holy Trinity Catholic High School student who went unbeaten en route to OFSAA high school provincial gold earlier this season. Courtney, who had swept all her fights up to that point with little difficulty, fought just a few moments before Bates on the adjacent mat. She was dealt an extraordinarily difficult matchup in national champion Kai Pare. Makinleigh Courtney (right). Photo: Keiran Gorsky Courtney managed to score the first points of the bout – for a few fleeting moments, it seemed she had the upper hand. It was only when Pare pulled off a challenging low-body takedown that she assumed control. From the top, she was able to roll Courtney over and stay put for a quick pin after two minutes. Pare ran over to Courtney’s teammates and made a sly shushing motion before darting back across the mat. Somewhat shaken, though not totally dejected, Courtney jogged to the sideboards to speak with her father and biggest supporter, Darryl Courtney, in the front row after the match. “He just said that I performed really well, I did a good job, tomorrow is a new day and I’m gonna get her tomorrow,” Courtney recounted. The elder Courtney went on banging his drum and cheering on Courtney’s Ontario teammates to the bitter end. Locked at five wins apiece, the women’s competition climaxed with the 90 kg matchup between Ontario’s Gurjot Sidhu and B.C.’s Kylie Cameron-Pattison. In a tightly contested heavyweight bout, it was Cameron-Pattison who managed to pin her opponent in the second period, securing five points and the gold for B.C. by an accumulated score of 27-24. Makinleigh Courtney (right). Photo: Keiran Gorsky Courtney will hope to get another run at the one who bested her in the 59 kg event on Saturday. She snuck a rather bold prediction into her interview with Gorsky: “I did lose, but I’m going to have my rematch with her tomorrow and that will not happen again,” Courtney vowed. “I’m going to beat Kai Pare and I’m going to win.” Bates and the men’s team cruised to the top of the podium in a considerably more lopsided affair, Ontario winning nine of their 11 matchups against B.C. Indira Moores (left). Photo: NCWC Among the coaching staff present on the men’s side was National Capital’s own Indira Moores, who happens to be Bates’ personal coach back at home. For her birthday, Bates’ mother posted a fundraiser on GoFundMe with the aim of raising money for the volunteer coaches who double as chaperones for the club’s frequent travels across province and country. For Bates and his young, promising career, the club means everything. “They’re the people who got me to this point. I really wouldn’t be here without them,” Bates underlined. “Any way I can pay them back for what they’ve helped me achieve, that’s absolutely what I’ll do.”
Ottawa’s Batley, Jeggo, Murphy win medals on track/in pool
Ottawa athletes notched their first medals in track events at the newly constructed Fortis Canada Games Complex near Memorial University. Will Batley ran the third leg for the champion Ontario men’s 4×100-metre relay team, which beat Quebec by four tenths of a second in a time of 40.33 seconds. The team approached the meet record time of 40.02 set by an Andre De Grasse-anchored 2013 Ontario team. Zach Jeggo secured silver in the men’s 400 m with a time of 47.74 – four tenths of a second behind Quebec’s Mickael Allaire. Joshua Foster came within one place of the podium with a 14.62 m leap in the men’s triple jump. In artistic swimming, GO Capital’s Madison Murphy won the bronze medal in her solo free routine, earning with a score of 398.7638. She also swam with Ontario in the team event, narrowly finishing behind Quebec, the leader following the preliminary round. Ontario’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams both won their quarterfinal matchups in four sets. The Ottawa Fusion’s Deng Yout helped his team to an 18-25, 25-13, 25-22, 25-20 over British Columbia, while Maverick players Jasmine Chrétien, Eva Génier and the women’s team bested Quebec 30-28, 19-25, 25-16, 25-11. Conner Hopper and the Ontario men’s softball team won their final three preliminary outings, beating Saskatchewan 8-1, Manitoba 16-0 and B.C. 15-0. Hopper scored three runs on the day. Ella Lindsay landed in fifth place in the women’s platform dive.Day 15 Preview: OSU Force products burst into women’s soccer medal round
Expectations were high for Ontario’s women’s soccer team entering the 2025 Canada Summer Games, and the reigning champions have lived up to their fearsome reputation. So far Team Ontario has been relentlessly impressive, first besting a stalwart P.E.I. team 4-0 in their opening match, then with an impressive 7-0 blowout of Manitoba at Fortis Canada Games Complex on Thursday evening. Despite only having a few weeks to practice together, Ontario has looked like a well-oiled machine on the field. “Chemistry means a lot. There are a few of us from the same clubs, but there’s a lot of us who came from different clubs,” noted Fiona Cortes-Browne, who grew up with Ottawa South United Soccer Club alongside teammate Danica Menard. “At the beginning of the week, we got to practice when we were just getting to learn how everyone plays together, but when we came out we all played together really well and moved the ball around a lot. It paid off.” Ontario women’s soccer team. Photo: @ontario_soccer Instagram Ontario will have to keep the momentum going to fulfill its quest of back-to-back gold medals in women’s soccer, as Saturday promises to provide them with a tougher test in the form of a 1-1-0 Alberta squad. Cross-border rival Quebec could also prove a challenge should they meet in the final, as Quebec alone shares Ontario’s undefeated record and staggering 11-0 goal differential over two games. “I think all the teams are going to be strong honestly. They’re the best from their provinces,” said Cortes-Browne when asked by the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Tyler Reis-Sanford in a phone interview if there were any matchups the team had circled on the calendar. “So we’re just focusing on ourselves. We know that we have the skillset we need to beat other teams.” While some young Ontarians might excitedly book their G1 test on their 16th birthday, Menard had something different in mind for her sweet sixteen. Menard, who wears #16 for Ontario, had her birthday fall on the day of their opening game, and she knew just what she wanted. “It was really important to me – I want a goal and I want to win, but at the end of the day, I’m here to play and so are all these other girls,” highlighted Menard. “Having that number on felt really special, especially when I got the goal, and then when I got the assist as well, I think we were all just so proud of each other. Opening with a 4-0 win was really special, especially on my 16th birthday. It was an incredible feeling.” Ontario women’s soccer team. Photo: @ontario_soccer Instagram Menard and her teammates’ excitement was palpable when she scored to put the team up 2-0, and Menard and Cortes-Browne both agree that the camaraderie and chemistry has been a large part of what has made this team so successful. The Ottawa pair are both now based in Toronto at the Canadian women’s team’s National Development Centre, which is also home to many more Ontario teammates. Menard said that she’s been impressed by how quickly this team has gelled, and that when they first came together, they felt like “they were all from different places,” but that it didn’t take long before they were just one team, united by their goal to take home gold. Menard said the team’s mentality is a simple one. “The girls and I are really excited, especially after that first game,” signalled Menard. “We came out strong, but it’s not over. We have to keep pushing it to the next game and the next game, and the next game, and then the game after that.” Other local athletes in action Saturday: Silver-medallist Ontario women’s wrestling team. Photo: Keiran Gorsky Thanks to their strong results from matches during the team event, Bates and Courtney will both be back in action Saturday with a shot at another wrestling medal in their respective men’s 65 kg and women’s 59 kg individual categories. Five local track and field athletes will be in competition Saturday, and all will be medal contenders – Connor Fraser in men’s discus, Jessica Gyamfi in women’s shot put, Will Batley in men’s 200 m, Thomas Sénéchal-Becker in men’s high jump and Zach Jeggo in the men’s 4×400 m relay. Sophia Audet, Sofia Milks and the Ontario women’s baseball team will face Saskatchewan in a Saturday morning quarterfinal for the right to play B.C. in the evening semifinal. Connor Hopper and the Ontario men’s softball team will have a chance to advance directly to the championship game when they face top-ranked Quebec Saturday morning, with the loser of the 1st vs 2nd match getting a second chance later Saturday to reach the Sunday final against the winner of the 3rd vs 4th contest. Quebec dealt Ontario its only loss of the eight-game preliminary round with a three-run bottom of the seventh surge to win 6-5. Deng Yout and the Ontario men’s volleyball team are set for a rematch against their toughest challenger thus far when they play in the Saturday afternoon semi-final. Their adversary will be Manitoba, which fell 18-16 in the fifth set in their preliminary round meeting. Jasmine Chrétien, Eva Génier and the Ontario women’s volleyball team will take on Saskatchewan for the first time this tournament in their afternoon semi-final, while diver Rafael Serey-Cormier will compete in the men’s platform event.Ottawa at the Canada Games Daily Newsletter
A huge team of 48 Ottawa athletes is competing at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. The Ottawa Sports Pages will be sending out a free daily email newsletter with recaps, previews and profiles throughout the Aug. 9-24 national youth multi-sport event. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. By clicking on the submit button, you consent to receive the above newsletter from the Ottawa Sports Pages. You may unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the bottom of our emails. Ottawa Sports Pages | 21 Kolo Dr., Ashton, Ont., K0A 1B0 | 613-261-5838Related
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