York University Lions track and field athlete Arwin Mathivathanan vaulted onto the varsity scene in 2023-24. He won five medals as a rookie jumper, including a silver at the OUA championship, and has been named OUA Male Rookie of the Year, as announced by the conference on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old, who competes in long and triple jump, earned his first medals of the season at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal in January. He grabbed the gold in the triple jump with a personal-best leap of 15.12m, automatically qualifying him for the U SPORTS championships, and also took home the long jump silver with a 6.89m jump.

Then, in his first home event as a Lion the following week, the Scarborough, Ont. native snagged another triple jump medal with a silver at the York Open, jumping 14.50m. His seized another triple jump silver at the Windsor Team Challenge with a hop of 14.68m in addition to the aforementioned OUA championship silver.

The kinesiology & health science major set his personal best in long jump at the Commodore Challenge at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., where he finished eighth at 7.07m. Mathivathanan becomes the first Lion to win OUA Male Rookie of the Year since pole vaulter David McKay in 2012.

He will compete in the triple jump competition at the U SPORTS championships this weekend in Winnipeg, Man.