University of Toronto

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues bench boss Mike Katz was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Coach of the Year when major awards were announced at the All-Canadian dinner Thursday night at the Congress Centre in Ottawa, Ont.

Katz is only the second U of T coach to receive the Stuart W. Aberdeen Trophy since it was first awarded in 1972-73. Ken Olynyk was the recipient in 1994-95.

In his fourth campaign at the helm, Katz led the Varsity Blues to a 17-5 mark in the regular season, their best conference record since going 10-2 in 1995-96. The Blues took second place behind 22-0 Carleton in the ultra-competitive OUA East, improving from back-to-back third-place finishes the previous two seasons. Toronto, which went on to drop a heartbreaking 63-60 decision to Ottawa in the OUA East semifinals, was third on offence in the 16-team OUA averaging 77.8 points per game and fifth on defence with 69.1 points allowed per contest.

Prior to joining the Varsity Blues, Katz led Humber College to a 503-175 overall record over 19 seasons, guiding the Hawks to the Final Four every year, winning seven provincial championships and five national titles. He is a four-time OCAA coach of the year and a three-time CCAA coach of the year and was inducted into the Humber Varsity Hall of Fame in 2004.

Katz, who played three years for the Blues and graduated in 1972 with a B. Comm., was also the assistant coach of the Canadian national basketball squad, and took part in the 2000 Olympic Games and in the 2002 and 1993 world championships. In 1997, he guided Canada’s team to a silver medal at the Summer Universiade in Sicily.

Varsity Blues pole vaulter Jason Wurster completed is break-out season winning a gold medal at the 2008 CIS Track and Field Championships this past weekend at the McGill Fieldhouse in Montreal, Que.

The second-year Arts and Science student claimed his first CIS gold with a vault of 5.35m, five centimetres shy of the Fieldhouse record of 5.40m – a mark Wurster set at the McGill Open January 25, 2008. He bettered the 2007 CIS champion, Sherbrooke’s David Foley, by five centimeters (5.30m), and Saskatchewan Huskies vaulter Taylor Petrucha (5.05m).

Wurster finished the 2007-08 CIS track and field season ranked as the No.1 pole vaulter. His best vault of the year came on February 8, 2008 at the Randall Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas.

Blues Doug Creighton, a 2007 bronze medalist in the pole vault, finished fourth with a jump of 4.80m.

Varsity Blues high jumper Mark Dillon and 60m hurdles specialist Mark Stewart struck also struck gold at the McGill tournament on March 7.

Stewar, the 2006 University of Toronto Athlete of the Year, won his third consecutive national title in the 60mH with a time of 8.10 seconds and cemented his place as one of the great hurdlers in CIS track and field. He finished 0.05 seconds ahead of Guelph Gryphons hurdler Cody Sorenson, and 0.17 seconds ahead of Sherbrooke’s Valery Komenan.

Dillon, for his part, bounced back from a disappointing second-place finish at the 2007 CIS championships to claim the gold medal for 2008 with a jump of 2.11m. The fifth-year senior from Bowmanville Ont. dominated the competition as Western Mustang Alex Witmer finished second with a jump of 2.08m and Gryphon Cornell Haynes was a distant third with a leap of 2.02m.

Complete schedules and live results are available online at www.cisport.ca/e/championships/track/2008 or www.athletics.mcgill.ca.