According to the Canadian Press on Wednesday, Sarah Gates of Newmarket, Ontario, and Gabriel Mastromatteo of Kenora, Ontario won the 2023 Canadian University Sports Athletes of the Year on Wednesday at a ceremony in Calgary. In addition to receiving a trophy, Gates and Mastromatteo earned a $5,000 scholarship to pursue post-graduate studies.
Gates was on the McMaster University women’s basketball team. She led Canadian University Sport this past year in scoring with an impressive 27.3 points per game. Despite the strong individual performance, the Marauders were not good enough to qualify for the 2023 U Sports Women’s Basketball Championship, which was won by the Carleton University Ravens.
Mastromatteo meanwhile was on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues swim team. He won four medals at the Canadian University Sport National Swimming Championships in Victoria, British Columbia. His gold medals came in the men’s 50 metre breaststroke and 100 metre breaststroke. Mastromatteo also won silver in the men’s 200 metre breaststroke and the men’s 4×100 metre medley relay. In winning the gold medals, he set national records at the university level. Mastromatteo had a winning time of 27.53 seconds in the men’s 50 metre breaststroke, and was actually one of four swimmers in the final to break the previous record of 28.46 seconds. In the men’s 100 metre breaststroke final, Mastromatteo set the national university record with a time of 1:01.38.
