Posted: Sep 16, 2024

Weekend Recap - Week 2

Week 2 of the ACAC season brought more wins and stellar team performances as the Thunder continued to put their stamp on multiple sports. Here’s what happened this past weekend.

Cross Country

Thunder Cross Country traveled to Grand Prairie as Northwestern Polytechnic hosted the second Running Room Grand Prix of the season.

Thunder rookie Ashlee Walker ended the event with her first ACAC 1st place finish in the Women’s 6km, posting a time of 25:59. On the men’s side it was Markus Boland who had the best time for the Thunder in the Men’s 8km, finishing the event 4th place overall with a time of 31:47. The Thunder men also finished 4th overall in the team rankings to round out the weekend.

Here were the top times for the Thunder in the Women’s 6km and the Men’s 8km.

Women’s 6km

Ashlee Walker - 25:59
Natalia Skajwo - 41:16

Men’s 8km

Markus Boland - 31:47
Elkan Ekhator - 38:55
Jason Kwong - 40:59

Thunder Cross Country will have their next event take place Saturday September 28th, as the team travels to Calgary for the Running Room Grand Prix #4.

Golf

It was another outstanding weekend for Thunder Golf as the group was out at Lac La Biche Golf & Country Club for their second tournament event of the year.

The squad came away with a second victory on the season for the women’s team and their first mixed team tournament win of the year. For the women’s event, the team destroyed the competition. Lauryn Psutka, Ella Gifford, and Ava Stach finished the tournament in 1st, 2nd, and 4th individually. As a team, their combined score of +47 led the women’s tournament by a wide margin, with the next closest score being NAIT at +107. For Psutka, this is her second individual tournament win in a row after leading the women’s circuit the weekend prior at Coal Creek.

As for the mixed results, the team captured their first win of the season, shooting a combined 458. The mixed team consisted of Lauryn Psutka and Ella Gifford on the women’s side, with Hayden Prins, Evan Couch, and Aaron Menor on the men’s.

For Thunder men’s golf, the group finished in 4th place overall with a combined score of +77. Hayden Prins led the Thunder men, finishing in 2nd place individually shooting a 72 on Day 1 and 71 on Day 2. Mateo Gallo and Evan Couch both finished in the Top 20, while Aaron Menor and Eric Westman both finished in the Top 25 individually.

Next up for Thunder Golf is the ACAC Championship Tournament hosted at Alberta Springs Golf Resort from September 22nd-24th. The goal of this team is high, with hopes of bringing back more banners for the university and another trip to Nationals.

Soccer

Thunder Soccer had a packed weekend, traveling to St.Albert for games on Saturday vs. the NAIT Ooks followed by home games vs. The King's University Eagles on Sunday.

Thunder women’s soccer got the weekend off to a great start, defeating the Ooks on Saturday by a score of 1-0. Mallory McDonald-Cockrall was the lone goal scorer of the game, while keeper Madison Kempster was in the zone, saving six shots on route to her first shutout of the season. The ladies kept the good times rolling on Sunday, notching their third win in a row by defeating The King’s University 2-1. Isabella Amico got the first goal of the day and the first of her ACAC career, while veteran striker Abigael Burton got her first goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0. The Eagles scored in extra time to keep things close, but the Thunder held strong to get the win.

On the men’s side, Saturday ended in defeat as the Thunder fell to NAIT 5-0. After a tight first half ending at 1-0, the Ooks took over in the second half scoring four goals. Sunday brought a better ending for men’s soccer as the Thunder captured their first win of the regular season, defeating the Eagles 2-0. The first Thunder goal of the game was scored by Munashe Maranga in the 24th minute, and the Thunder put the game away in the second half thanks to a goal from Carlos Echeverria in the 72nd minute.

After the weekend, Thunder women’s soccer sits at 3-0 on the season, while men’s soccer is now at 1-2. There are more games to come for both teams as they travel to Grande Prairie to play the Northwestern Polytechnic Wolves on Saturday September 21st and Sunday September 22nd.