Wedemire Reflects On His Career At Western

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Mustangs Moving On: Andy Wedemire

March 29, 2011
By Kaitlyn McGrath 

Being a varsity athlete has its perks — the glory after scoring the winning point, playing the sport you love everyday, line by-pass at The Ceeps. Sure, all those things are great, but it’s not what fifth-year Mustangs basketball star Andy Wedemire will miss most about his time here as a Mustang. It’s something much simpler than that.

“Just the regular day-to-day routine — come in, gym, workout, shoot and just being around everyone, who are pretty much like my family and best friends,” Wedemire said. “I’m going to miss that whole social aspect of the day-to-day routine.”

After five years of the daily grind, Wedemire’s career as a Mustang has finally come to a close, and in front of his parents, his brother and all his teammates and coaches, he walked off the court of Alumni Hall for the very last time.

“I actually had a hard time with that game,” he said about his final home game on Feb. 19, which the Mustangs won 73-59.  “I was battling emotions all before that just knowing it’s the last time I would actually play a regular season game at Alumni — it’s been a long five years.”

Before his time at Western, Wedemire was a young recruit from St. Patrick’s High School in Sarnia. When he started playing for Western, Wedemire managed to stand out enough to avoid the bench–riding most rookies have to experience. Before long, Wedemire was an integral part of the Mustangs’ starting rotation.

“At other universities you don’t play as much in your first few years so I took advantage of that and it allowed me to be one of the top rookies in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport,” he said.

In fact, Wedemire was named to the all-rookie team and took home the prize of top rookie in the Ontario University Athletics West division after his first season as a Mustang. And the awards have kept coming, as Wedemire has been named as a two-time OUA all-star, CIS All-Canadian and has scored over 1,400 points during his time as a Mustang.  Yet even with everything he’s accomplished, Wedemire is leaving with one goal unaccomplished — a national title.

That’s not to say that Wedemire never had a shot at the CIS championship. In fact his Mustangs were seconds away from a berth in the championship game in 2009. With one second left on the clock, Carleton Ravens guard Stuart Turnbull made the final shot to lift his team past the Mustangs, ending their season in a heartbreaking fashion. Even two years later, the moment still resonates with Wedemire as one of the lowest points of his career.

“The feeling went from an extreme high to an extreme low in a split second,” he recalled. “It was just like a collapse and everyone was on the floor in disbelief.”

At the time, Wedemire was in his third year with plenty of games still to play, so making the national tournament once again was never far from his mind.

“The goal for every season, what you work for all through the summer, and preseason is to get to that moment — to play for the championship.”

Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as Wedemire had hoped and he would never get another chance to play for the championships. Of course, there is disappointment, but Wedemire leaves the school with no regrets about his time as a Mustang.

And it isn’t the end for Wedemire. Currently, he is working on signing a contract to play basketball overseas in either England or Germany.

“There is another level to continue on for me.”