AROUND OUA: Brock Open

Brock men's and women's wrestling capture team gold at Brock Open

ST. CATHARINES, ON - The Brock University wrestling teams captured the overall team title at the Brock Open Saturday. The women placed first overall with a total of 54 points while the men took home gold finishing with a total of 71 points.

The Brock women captured eight medals in total with Jillian Gallays (55kg), Carlene Sluberski (59kg), Michelle Fazzari (63kg) and Olivia Di Bacco (63kg) all capturing gold. Indira Moores (63kg) took home silver while Emily Schaefer (59kg), Jessica Brouilette (67kg) and Jade Parson (55kg) all collected bronze.

The Brock men's team added a total of 10 medals with Sam Jagas (57kg), Mizam Tamaradze (61kg), Tyler Rowe (72kg), Jevon Balfour (82kg) and Clayton Pye (90kg) all capturing gold. Brian Cowan (61kg), Chance Mutuku (76kg) and Ignatius Pitt (90kg) all placed second overall while Chris McIsaac (61kg) and Luke Roberts (72kg) finished in third. In his wrestling debut, Brock men's rugby all-star Josh Gomer placed sixth at 130kg.

Jagas and DiBacco were both selected as the Brock Open Outstanding Wrestlers.

Source: Brock Badgers

Mustangs return home from Brock Open with 10 medals

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – Western's wrestling teams opened 2016 with various dominant performances at the annual Brock Open tournament this past Saturday. In addition to the top four individual medals earned, the Mustangs saw several top six placings from team members who have yet to compete this season.
 
The 2015 Junior Nationals champion, Julie Steffler, led the women with a silver medal in the women's 55 kg weight division. She lost in the final by Technical Superiority to Brock Wrestling Club's Jillian Gallays after winning three preliminary matches by pin. The 28 year-old Gallays was a bronze medalist at the 2014 World Championships. Nonethless, Steffler gained valuable experience by competing against the veteran.
 
Freshman Ligrit Sadiku, who has had a great season by placing in every tournament thus far, secured the bronze after a first match loss to Sam Jagas (BRO). Sadiku won in the final six seconds of each match to prevail, maintaining his great repertoire of offense and scoring when it is needed.
 
London, Ontario native Kyle Bonk-Dann rebounded after losing his opening match against Fred Choquette of Vanier College to win bronze, pinning Choquette in the repechage bronze final in the 120 kg division. After taking Choquette down with a double-leg tackle to his back, Bonk was able to secure Choquette for the pin.
 
Other competitors include London Saunders graduate Nolan Deinum, who had a good opening tournament with a 2-1 win-loss ratio. This was his first tournament in three years after taking time off with previous injuries. In addition, two-sport athlete, Kevin Marshall, who also plays football, had a solid fifth place finish with a 2-2 win-loss record. The Mustangs also saw solid performances from female freshmen, Christine Grafe (48 kg) and Raeggan Bressette (51 kg), who competed for the first time this season.
 
The Mustangs will be back in competition this coming weekend in Guelph at the prestigious Guelph Open on Saturday January 16, 2016. Following that, the Mustangs encourage you to come and support them, as they will host the Western Open Saturday January 23, 2016 at Alumni Hall.  

Source: Western Mustangs

Town, Koca finish fifth at Brock Open

York University Lions wrestlers Alexandria Town and Ali Koca both finished fifth in their respective weight classes at the Brock Open on Saturday (Jan. 9) in St. Catharines, Ont.
 
Town (Scarborough, Ont.), who has already won multiple medals this season, including gold at the York Open in her most recent competition before this past weekend, reached the semifinals in the women's 55kg division by defeating Jade Parsons from the Brock Badgers and Cierra Carere from the Guelph Gryphons, who both have impressive wrestling resumes. Parsons is a four-time CIS champion and recently placed third at the Canadian Olympic trials, while Carere was the 2014 junior national champion. Town defeated both of them in dominant fashion, taking out Parsons 12-1 and Carere 11-1 en route to her fifth-place finish.
 
Koca (Richmond Hill, Ont.) earned the same result in the men's 130kg weight class. He defeated Josh Gomer from the Badgers by a score of 18-8 before being defeated by Donovan Lozada to fall to the consolation side of the draw. He then took down Gomer again, this time 16-5, in the fifth-place match.
 
A small contingent of the team will be in Guelph, Ont., next Saturday (Jan. 16) for the Guelph Open, and the full team will head out to London, Ont., the following weekend for the annual meet at Western University.

Source: York Lions

Algoma's Logan McKinnon Earns Silver at Brock Open

Newest member to the Algoma Thunderbirds wrestling team, Logan McKinnon, had a solid performance on the mats this past weekend at the Brock Open. McKinnon earned silver in the men's 54-kilogram weight class.
 
McKinnon, who was Assistant Coach of the squad in the first half of the season, brought home his second medal of the season. This is McKinnon's second silver for the Thunderbirds.
 
Thunderbird Brody-Allen Evans also had an honourable performance, placing 6^th in the men's 90-kilogram division.
 
"Our wrestlers showed great improvement from the first half of the season. Many of our losses were winnable matches that we will be looking to capitalize on at the OUA Championships. Logan once again turned heads in the OUA with a second place finish. HIs only loss was against Trevor Banks of Concordia, who we won't see until the CIS Championships. Logan has only one loss against an OUA opponent this entire season," said Head Coach Trevor Manchester.

Source: Algoma Thunderbirds

'Wolves finish sixth at Brock Open

Lakehead wrestlers came away with a 6th place standing (out of 24 teams) at the Brock open on Saturday.

"A pretty good showing today, our athletes wrestled well," said coach Francis Clayton.

Emma Horner (59kg) also reached the bronze medal match and settled for 4th place.