Suns Out, Stangs Out

This week on Suns Out Stangs Out, we're joined by Sam St. Croix, a Western Mustangs women's soccer alumna and rookie goalkeeper for the Halifax Tides in the Northern Super League.Sam shares the story of growing up in Port Lambton, Ont., how basketball was actually a bigger deal to her growing up and what ultimately drew her deeper into goalkeeping. She reflects on her time at Western — including how her first year in 2020 laid the foundation for who she is as a player — and draws some striking parallels to her debut NSL season in Nova Scotia with the Tides.We also talk about the veterans in Halifax who've gone out of their way to welcome her, what it meant to meet Canadian soccer icon Diana Matheson and why a career in teaching is just as much a part of her future plans as soccer.A thoughtful, honest conversation about growing up, finding your sport and trusting the process at every level of the game.Host: Alex McCombFollow the show on Instagram: @sunsoutstangsoutFollow Alex on Instagram: @alexmmccombFollow Alex on X: @alexmmccomb

Flag football is finally getting its moment in Canadian collegiate sport — and this week's guest has been one of the people building toward it for years.Olivia Ghosh-Swaby is a Western Mustangs women's flag football alumna, one of the architects behind OWIFA's rise as a premier collegiate flag football league in Canada, and works with Football Ontario driving partnerships across the country.We talk about the news that U Sports is bringing flag football in 2027 ahead of the LA 2028 Olympics, the long road to getting flag football into the collegiate conversation, her stories from Western, how OWIFA became what it is today, and the relationships she's helped build across Canadian flag football.Host: Alex McCombFollow the show on Instagram: @sunsoutstangsoutFollow Alex on Instagram: @alexmmccombFollow Alex on X: @alexmmccomb

Michael Jones didn't just play volleyball at Western — he built a reputation, chased Olympic dreams and spent his summers learning the NBA from the inside. In episode three of Suns Out Stangs Out, the men's volleyball alumnus joins us to reflect on his Mustangs career and the team curse that haunted the program until spring 2025. He takes us to the summer of 2023, when he represented Jamaica at the Paris 2024 Olympic qualification tournament. And beyond the court, Michael opens up about his studies at the Ivey Business School, and his three summers as an NBA Summer League intern and what that path has taught him about life after sports. It's a wide-ranging conversation about competition, identity, and figuring out what comes next.Host: Alex McCombFollow the show on Instagram: @sunsoutstangsoutFollow Alex on Instagram: @alexmmccombFollow Alex on X: @alexmmccomb

In this episode of Suns Out Stangs Out, we sit down with Nicole Baranowski, who transitioned from a national-champion rowing career at Western University to founding Hairstrong. We dive into her journey as a Mustang student-athlete: from 4 a.m. wake-ups for practice to how an undergrad project became an athletic hair brand and a solution.Connect with Nicole & Hairstrong:Website: ⁠hairstrong.ca⁠Instagram/TikTok/Facebook: @hairstrongbandHost: Alex McCombFollow the show on Instagram: @sunsoutstangsoutFollow Alex on Instagram: @alexmmccombFollow Alex on X: @alexmmccomb

OUA All-Rookie and Western Mustangs men's basketball forward Owen Urquhart joins Alex McComb for the first episode of Suns Out Stangs Out to talk about the 2025-26 U Sports basketball season, his friendship with Duke's Toby Fournier at Crestwood prep, a Mustangs rookie bromance and the mysterious brown bag tradition at Western University.Host: Alex McCombFollow Alex on X: @alexmmccombFollow Alex on Instagram: @alexmmccombFollow the show on Instagram: @sunsoutstangsout