MCMASTER SET TO HOST 2008 OUA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
THE TEAMS:
Brock Badgers:
The Brock Badgers are easily identified as the powerhouse in OUA and CIS wrestling, and are looking to defend their reign as OUA Champions this weekend. The Badgers are led by fifth year Michael Neufeld (St.Catharines, ON) who took home the gold in the 130 kg weight class at the Brock Open this season. The Badgers will also look to Dylan Fryia (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) who also took home gold at the Brock Open in the 57 kg weight class. The women's side features veteran Michelle Fazzari (Caledonia, ON) who remains unbeaten this season as she posted a 4-0 record at the Guelph open to capture the 59kg weight class, and will look to be at the top of the podium Saturday.
Guelph Gryphons:
The Guelph Gryphons are coming into this year's championship with the momentum of a strong performance at the 2008 Guelph Open with over 20 Gryphons competing in the event. On the women's side Meaghan Wilton (Mildmay, ON) finished second in the 67 kg women's category. On the men's side Kyle Grant (Whitby, ON) finished third in the 96 kg event while rookie Alan Moffat (Milton, ON) competed in a tough 60kg weight class, finishing fourth. Ahead of him was former world champion and Olympic Silver medalist Gia Sissaouri. The Guelph team has looked solid for most of the year placing in the top four at almost every tournament.
Lakehead Thunderwolves
The Wolves will be sending a contingent of 10 men and six women to the championships and Head Coach Owen Dawkins and his squads are looking to make some noise this year. Lakehead's women placed third as a team last season and took two individual golds, and a silver. Lakehead's men placed fifth and took two individual golds, a silver, and two bronzes.
Lakehead's women were led last year by Tasha Eady who took gold at 63 kg with a win over the then defending OUA champ and Eady was named OUA Championships Female MVP for her efforts. Sophomore Nicole Plummer also won OUA gold at 82kg and was named OUA Rookie of the Year last year. Both will be looking to retain their OUA titles this year. Leah Daugherty took silver at 59 kg and will be looking to improve on that result this year. Lakehead is also looking for strong results from Laurel Knowles, Emma Brightwell, and Jessica Bershatskey.
Chris Camarata repeated as OUA Champion in the 57 kg weight category last year while sophomore Corey Lee took gold in the 82 kg weight class and was also named OUA Rookie of the Year. Both will be looking to repeat as OUA champions. Andrew Elliot, took silver in the 76 kg weight class last season and will be looking to regain his OUA title from 2006.
McMaster Marauders
The McMaster Marauders come into this weekend's championships with high hopes for their key athletes. The Western Open is typically the final tune up for the Marauders prior to the OUA Championship, and they didn't disappoint as four Marauders captured individual gold at the event. Mike Celli (65 kg, Mississauga, ON ), Tommy Wauchope (68 kg, Mississauga, ON), Sheldon Francis (76 kg, Hamilton, ON) and Attila Kasap (82 kg, Hamilton, ON) were all victorious. On the women's side a young McMaster team will look to Megan Bryden (Halifax, NS) who has wrestled well for the women and continues to progress her skills, showing improvement on a daily basis. Caitlyn Goodfellow (Barrie, ON) was the top female finisher for McMaster placing sixth in the 59 kg in London.
Queen's Golden Gaels
Perennial medal contender Shannon Mullins (Terra Cotta, ON) will be relied upon to provide the leadership to a small Queen's contingent on the women's side at this year's championship. Mullins has continued to excel this season after her outstanding 2007 season. She knows that to win gold she will have to find a way to defeat the top competitors this weekend.. For the men Chris Levy (Mississauga, ON) is a key component in the 54 kilogram weight class. Eric Bertrand has also had an outstanding exhibition season for Queen's. Overall the Gaels as a team look to improve on last year's OUA standings.
Toronto Varsity Blues
The Toronto Varsity Blues will look to continue their stellar season at this year's OUA Championships. Toronto will look to Jessica Fitzgerald who won her first senior women's wrestling provincial championship (67kg) at the Ontario Open Wrestling Championship this season. The first-year pharmaceutical grad student, remains the only undefeated Toronto wrestler in both university and open competition this year with a perfect record of 12-0. Fitzgerald finished head of two top-ranked wrestlers from Guelph in the competition. \"Jessica wrestled very well yesterday," said Blues head coach Mike Quinsey. "The woman she [Jessica] beat in the finals dominated her all last year and so beating her now is definitely a tribute to how hard she has trained.\" Toronto is still a very young team, but could provide the upsets of the Championship as the under dog competitors.
Western Mustangs
The Western Mustangs come into this year as the defending women's champions and will look to keep the banner again in 2008. Led by Jenn Nguyen (Mississauga, ON) who finished second in the women's 51 kg weight class at the Western Open. Lesley McCallum (Woodstock, ON), Katrina Huszarik (Bancroft, ON) and Jill McCallum, (London, ON) also took home silver medals for Western at the event and will be looked upon to continue that success at the championships. On the men's side they will look to London's Austin vanHorne, and Robert Grant (Courtice, ON) who both took home silver medals at the London Open which saw the men's team win five medals in the event.
Check back to www.oua.ca for all of your OUA Wrestling Championship results.
-OUA-
Michelle Church
Communications & Media Relations Coordinator
Ontario University Athletics
Tel: (905) 540-5156
Fax: (905) 574-2840
E-mail: michelle.church@oua.ca
Web: www.oua.ca