BURLINGTON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs finished in a first-place tie while the women's golf team placed second at the McMaster Invitational at Crosswinds Golf & Country Club on Oct. 12-13.

It was the final OUA regular season tournament before the OUA Championships next week and was played in cold and often windy conditions, keeping players from posting low numbers.

Mustangs Johnny Hall and Paul Gallo both tied for second overall shooting 76, while Andrew Zanatta shot an 80 and Tom Andreoli and Alex Hrycko both shot 81 for Western.

Western, Waterloo and McMaster all finished tied for the low team score of the day at 313.  Fifth-player scores assigned McMaster to the bronze medal, but Western and Waterloo remained deadlocked and thus shared the gold medals.

The parity on the men's side of the draw will continue at the OUA Championships next week (Oct. 18-20) at Angus Glen Golf Club.

On the women's side, Caitlin Jennings led the Mustangs team with 90, Amy Williams and Hilary Bennett both shot 91 and Sarah Mecredy shot 93. Arielle Notte played as a single and shot 96. 

Queen's continues to be the class of the OUA women's golf scene, but Western believes it has a team that could spoil Queen's bid for a title. Western is looking for its fifth straight OUA banner.

"The girls played hard today and that's all I can ask for," said women's head coach Chris Dickson. "We finished second again today. Next week is OUAs, so if we want to win it for a fifth straight year, we have to play like we can. I wouldn't count the girls out yet, I'm certainly not."

The Queen's women swept the top four positions in the tournament and easily won the team title with an outstanding team score of 235, a stunning 37 shots up on the Mustangs.

Observers described the McMaster Invitational as the tightest tournament in recent memory on the men's side with only 11 shots separating the low score from the high score and all three medals decided by tie-breakers.  
 
FINAL RESULTS
MEN
T1 - WESTERN - 313
Johnny Hall - 76
Paul Gallo - 76
Tom Andreoli - 81
Alex Hrycko - 81
Andrew Zanatta - 80
 
T1 - WATERLOO - 313
Ryan Stroud - 80
Adam Wilson - 77
JS Rancourt - 81
Russell Mackay - 77
Simon McInnis - 79
 
3 - McMASTER - 313
Mark Young - 79
Matt Gay - 80
Paul Lang - 80
Brian Decker - 83
Jason Wellings - 74
 
4 - GUELPH - 316
Danny Moody - 76
Tyson Cooper - 79
Justin Fuerth - 83
Eric Pattenaude - 80
Christian Wong - 81
 
5 - QUEEN'S - 321
Alex Forbes - 85
Matt Courchene - 80
Will Thornburrow - 82
Mike Hossack - 77
Taylor Henderson - 82
 
6 - LAURIER - 325
Neil Khosla - 83
Jeff Lang - 82
Steve Feeney - 79
Matt Farronato - 81
Curtis Mills - 84
 
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS - MEN
1. Jason Wellings - McMaster - 74
T2. Danny Moody - Guelph 76
T2. Johnny Hall - Western 76
T2. Paul Gallo - Western 76
T5. Adam Wilson - Waterloo 77
T5. Mike Hossack - Queen's 77
T5. Russell Mackay - Waterloo 77
T8. Tyson Cooper - Guelph 79
T8. Steve Feeney - Laurier 79
T8. Mark Young - McMaster 79
T8. Simon McInnis - Waterloo 79
 
FINAL RESULTS - WOMEN
1. QUEEN'S - 235
Justice Durland - 86
Casey Ward - 76
Kate Burnett - 79
Hailey Ingleson - 80
 
2. WESTERN - 272
Sarah Mecredy - 93
Hillary Bennett - 91
Amy Williams - 91
Caitlin Jennings - 90
 
3. McMASTER
Kaitlyn Storton - 102
Katie Campagnolo - 95
Jessica Johnstone - 98
Candi Campbell - 88
 
4. GUELPH
Vanessa Dupuis - 110
 
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS - WOMEN
1. Casey Ward - Queen's - 76
2. Kate Burnett - Queen's - 79
3. Hailey Ingleson - Queen's - 80
4. Justice Durland - Queen's - 86
5. Candi Campbell - McMaster - 88
6. Caitlin Jennings - Western - 90
T7. Hillary Bennett - Western - 91
T7. Amy Williams - Western - 91
9. Sarah Mecredy - Western - 93
10. Katie Campagnolo - McMaster - 95