Brooklin native started at free safety in Vanier Cup Shawn Cayley scayley@durhamregion.com WHITBY -- Keldyn Ahlstedt isn't used to losing. Neither are the McMaster Marauders. So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that it's taken him and his team a little while to digest the fact they lost to the Laval Rouge Et Or during last month's Vanier Cup. "Going all the way to the Vanier and losing, with that being the only game you lose, it's kind of hard," Mr. Ahlstedt said during a recent interview. "We're not used to losing. Especially me. I haven't lost in a while ... Losing that Vanier was a tough one." A freshman with the Maraud- ers this season, he entered university fresh off a Metro Bowl championship with Whitby's Donald A. Wilson Gators last season. However, while disappointed with the outcome, overall it was another successful season on many fronts for Mr. Ahlstedt and the Marauders. They played through an undefeated regular season, won the Yates Cup and followed with the Mitchell Bowl title in order to reach the championship game. And Mr. Ahlstedt reached one of the lofty goals he had set after committing to attend McMaster last spring. He started on defence as a freshman, manning the free safety position. "Coming here I set a lot of goals for myself and reflecting on that now, I actually attained a lot of those goals that I had set as a freshman and starting in the Vanier," he said. "I never expected that. I was beside myself when I got to start the game. That was a big accomplishment for me as a freshmen. "I showed the coaches that I earned the right to start through the hard work I put in in practice and everything." While winning the Vanier Cup was the ultimate goal, Mr. Ahlstedt and the rest of the young- er members of the McMaster squad will likely find themselves in position to win once again before their time is up. With that in mind, the winning they did manage this sea- son, and even the disappointment of losing, should serve them well as they move forward with their careers. "Coming in your first year winning the Yates Cup undefeated is something you don't see every day and that's one of the reason's I decided to come to Mac. They are a winning program and I knew I'd have a shot to win the Yates, Mitchell and Vanier too," Mr. Ahlstedt, a product of the Ajax-Pickering Dolphins program, explained. "This is the right spot for me, and hopefully there is more in the future." "Looking at what we've done in year one, there's nothing but good things to come," he added. Keldyn Ahlstedt reflects on solid first season at McMaster > Submitted photo HAMILTON -- Brooklin's Keldyn Ahlstedt, a rookie with the McMaster Marauders football team, with the Yates Cup after McMaster defeated Guelph 30-13 in the Ontario final.