MOUNTAIN BIKING
Martin Cieslak is a second-year masters student in physiology from Mississauga. He attended Horne Park Secondary School before becoming a U of T student. He enjoys alpine skiing, climbing, reading, and playing chess when not conquering the world on his bike.
Cieslak is the team captain and currently the acting-coach of the U of T mountain bike team. He likes to point out that mountain biking is student run, coached, watched and partially funded.
Martin is known for being able to struggle through grueling 12-hour and 24-hour races, including a race in August where he came in second.
He actually said that:
“When in doubt… plan B, just give’r!”
“I will always remember washing mud off [myself] with freezing hose water, while it was spitting shlush and only 4 degrees outside at Ganaraska.”
Kristen Lake is a multi-talented fourth-year history and political science specialist. She captains the U of T rowing team when not in class or on her bike. She is from Port Elgin, Ontario and went to Saugeen District Secondary School. She only started mountain biking four weeks ago, but has already racked up a sixth place finish.
Lake has competed in tournaments in Boston, Rochester, and a variety of Ontario towns, and has also been a member of the Trent University rowing squad.
How about telling us how you really feel?:
“It is a shame it is so expensive to be an athlete at U of T.”
Greg Togtema is a second year engineer at U of T, who has spent the last six years on a mountain bike. He also swam competitively for eleven years and was a member of the OUA champion swim team last year. This is his first year competing as a mountain biker for U of T, but already has two top ten finishes.
What the people need to hear:
“It’s easy to train hard and race when this team and sport emphasize enjoyment.”
UC WATER DRAGONS
Adrian Yen is a fourth-year pharmacology student who is in his fourth year on the team and is one of the coaches. He regrets giving up phys. ed. after grade ten, but made up for it in a big way by becoming a leader for the Water Dragons. He related that a poster of a dragon blasting smoke out its nostrils inspired him to choose dragon boat racing over every other sport at U of T.
Yen is a true leader and encourages everyone to be active and get involved in some sort of extra-curricular program at this school. His biggest triumph to date is winning the Centre Island University Cup last season.
Word of the day:
“Huzzah!”
Wayne Sang is a third-year architecture student at U of T and is also in his third year with the Water Dragons.
Two dragon boat memories are the most vivid for him: the first is winning at the 2004 Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival and the second is competing at the International College Dragon Boat Championship in China in September, where the Russian team tried to cheat by using older athletes. The team was given an invitation to compete there because of excellent performances during the summer.
Say it again, Wayne:
“I don’t think the Russians are in university. They’re sort of huge and in their mid-thirties.”
Wilson Hong is a fourth-year radiation science student who will be entering his third year as a dragon boat racer. He claimed that he was not very good at sports in high school, but found that he was good at paddling a dragon boat in university. His career highlights include winning three gold medals–one in Pickering, one in Waterloo, and one at the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival.
can you repeat that for the rest of the class?:
“Haha, Wilson sits with all the girls in the boat.”
Will Ly is a member of the Water Dragons, a Varsity cheerleader, and a fourth-year biology and chemistry double-major. He has been a Water Dragon for four years and a coach for three. He likes racquet sports and was on the team that went to China in September. He was on many teams in high school.
Quote this:
“Whatever you do, always do your best.”
WOMEN’S VOLEYBALL
Anastasia Danilova is in the third year of a physics degree at U of T and is fairly new to this country, as she moved to Canada from St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2003. The 6’0 star lived in Latvia during her high school years, where she tried basketball and swimming. She came back to Russia after finishing high school and started concentrating solely on volleyball, her current sport-of-choice. From there she moved to Canada with her family, came to U of T, started playing volleyball and has had an immediate impact. She was CIS rookie of the year last year, as well as being an OUA Final Four all-star. The women’s volleyball team finished first in the OUA and fifth in the country in 2003-04.
In her own words: “When I came here I didn’t know much. I chose U of T because of its reputation, but when I met Kristine [the volleyball coach] I realized this is where I want to be and play.”
MEN’S HOCKEY
Mike Lymer first put on a pair of skates at the age of two. He is now a double major in political science and history in his third year of study. His hometown is Scarborough, Ontario. Mike is an avid fisherman, golfer, guitar player, and AC/DC fan.
Lymer was a sixth-round draft pick of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, but he decided to pursue his studies at U of T instead. He was also a member of the Provincial Junior “A” South Division champion Wexford Raiders and a member of the OUA Mideast division champion Varsity Blues in 2003-2004.
Quotable quotes:
“Life’s a gong show. Bang it!”
“I came here for two reasons: kicking ass and drinking beer. I’m almost out of beer.”
Simon Barg is in the second year of a city studies degree. The 6’0 left winger is originally from Ashburn, Ontario but went to Ajax High School. He is a fan of music, golf, soccer, and football when he is not playing hockey, and he plays a mean guitar. He started playing in minor hockey leagues at the age of five. Barg has the ambition of playing hockey in Europe once he finishes university.
Simon grabbed centre stage during U of T’s 5-0 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday. He scored a goal and also tallied an assist.
Pearls of wisdom:
“I would never get through school without hockey, though hockey prevents me from getting through school.”
MEN’S BADMINTON
Michael Glenney is a fine example of a multi-sport athlete. He is on both the badminton and golf teams and has a long list of accomplishments in both disciplines. In 2001-2002 he was the OUA badminton MVP as well as an OUA all-star. Mike has also won a host of medals for his golf prowess, the top of which are gold medals at the Queen’s Invitational tournament in 2001 and 2002. He was a golf silver- medallist and all-star in 2002 and in 2002 and 2003 he represented U of T at a tournament at St. Andrew’s, Scotland, which is a holy ground for any golf enthusiast. Not bad for this fifth year arts & science student who is specializing in history andminoring in english.
Glenney attended high school at Lindsay Collegiate and Vocational School. His hobbies include, but are not limited to, playing any sport he can and playing and listening to music.
What he said: “Playing Varsity sports at U of T has been my most rewarding experience as a student here.”
MEN’S SOCCER
Luciano Lombardi is the goalkeeper for the men’s soccer squad. He is only eighteen and in his first year at U of T. This Scarborough boy attended Cardinal Newman high school and has played soccer since the tender age of ten years old. When he is not playing or watching soccer, Luciano likes to grab a good book or get involved with other sports. His favourite team to watch is Juventus and his favourite player is Gian Luigi Buffon.
Lombardi has the distinction of being MVP of his high school in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He also had a stint with the Toronto Jr. Lynx of the Super Y League, as well as attending the Ontario Provincial Team Development camp in 2000.
Words to live by:
“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
“Impossible is nothing.”
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
“COMMUNICATION!”
Joe Rini is a second-year economics major, who has lived his life in Toronto. This is his second year playing soccer for the Blues, but has been playing soccer since he was six. Rini attended St. Michael’s high school before coming to this university. Also of interest is the fact that Joe’s father works as a professor at U of T.
Joe Rini is a man of varying interests. His hobbies range from watching English Premier League soccer to sitting down and duking it out in an intellectual battle of chess. His favourite soccer player to watch is Ronaldinho.
He lists among his career highlights winning OFSAA in 2001 (regional high school championship), being a finalist at the 2003 Indoor Ontario Cup and being a TDCAA soccer champion in 2001.
Interesting expressions:
“Ball side, goal side.”
“Soccer is life.”
Mike Bialyis a second-year commerce student who attended Father Michael Goetz Secondary School before coming to U of T. He has been involved in organized soccer since the age of eight, and has a brother named James who is also on the men’s soccer team. Bialy enjoys watching Zinedine Zidane play and also enjoys pounding his drums for his band.
Bialy already has a long list of accomplishments and experiences to take notice of, even though he is only in second year. He was MVP of his high school soccer and volleyball teams in 2003 and he played with a Third Divison soccer team in Poland in his younger days. Mike has also scored two big game-winning goals in his career: the first was against Mexico in the quarter final of the 2000 USA Cup in the Under-17 category. The second was against the Czech Republic in the Summer Games quarter finals in Poland.
Words from his mouth:
“Confidence is the key to life.”
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Meghan Cheung is a fourth-year student of sociology and urban, economic, and social geography at U of T. She hails from Cairine Wilson Secondary School in the small town of Orleans, Ontario.
Aside from tennis, Megan enjoys skateboarding and hockey. Her tennis career has been full of success. In 2001 and 2003 she was able to help the women’s tennis team achieve silver medals, and this year she was able to improve upon that achievement. Megan was a big part of this year’s OUA championship won by the Blues.
Say that again: “Too many practices!”
All of Qiuyan Tian’s friends call her Chewy. She is a third-year actuarial science specialist and economics major who left her home in Singapore to go to U of T. Now that is a long trip!
Tian’s first love is tennis, but she also digs snowboarding and wakeboarding. Whistler is her vision of paradise.
Qiuyan was on the women’s tennis teams that won OUA silver in 2003 and OUA gold in 2004. She also played in the ITF Junior Under-18 tournament in her home country of Singapore.
Word of the day:
“When in doubt, hit them.”
Masha Sidorova is in the phys. ed. and health faculty at U of T and resides from Richmond Hill. Besides tennis she likes to spend time among the waves on her surf board and likes to go to the gym.
Masha was a quarter-finalist at the Junior Australian Open in the doubles division. She also played tennis at West Windsor High School in Princeton, New Jersey.
She said:
“Now I get noticed for wearing a Varsity shirt and not a short skirt.
MEN’S WATERPOLO
Jake Pottier is the only returnee in this year’s feature. The second year philosophy and economics student hails from Kitchener, Ontario and played rugby and football for his high school team, the Grand River Renegades. Jake started his water polo career in grade six, and has gone on to great success since then.
Jake cites his six straight provincial water polo championships as a major career highlight. He was MVP in two of those tournaments and was also part of the national youth team in 2000-01.
Favourite Quotes:
“Hard work builds character.” “There’s a hurricane coming through.”
“Moron!”
Update (March 27, 2015, 12:25 pm): One student’s information was removed upon request due to inaccuracies.
