AROUND OUA: York Open

Brock women's wrestling places first at York Open, Men third

TORONTO - The No. 1 ranked Brock University women's wrestling team captured their four consecutive team title of 2015-16 as they placed first overall at the York Open. The No. 3 ranked men finished in third place.

For the women, Kristina McLaren (55kg) and Indira Moores (63kg) led the Badgers with individual golds in their respective weight class. Emily Schaefer (59kg), Cassidy Noonan (82kg) and Stevie Kelly (67kg) all took home silver. Rounding out the top finishers for the women were Mackenzie Smallwood (4th - 51kg), Farrantina Gatta (4th - 48kg) and Kelsey Larkin (4th - 55kg).

For the men, Sam Jagas (57kg), Mizam Tamaradze (61kg) both took home gold while Chris McIsaac (61kg) collected a silver.

The Badgers will have eight wrestlers comperting at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Edmonton this weekend.

Source: Brock Badgers

Marauders mine silver at York Open

The McMaster men's and women's wrestling teams both sent partial squads to the York University Open Wrestling meet last weekend and both teams saw Marauder grapplers capture silver medals.

In the women's competition, McMaster's Nicole Roach finished second to bring home the silver medal in the 63-kg weight class. 

Marauder women's team member Jenna Leslie also had a strong meet, finishing fifth at 55-kg.

  On the men's side of the meet, Marauder  Erik Joy took the silver medal at 68kg, although he was the top university finisher in his weight       class, as he lost to a club wrestler from Montreal in the final.

The next competition on the schedule for the Marauder wrestling teams is the Brock Invitational, on January 9, 2016.

Source: McMaster Marauders

Algoma wrestlers bring home two medals at York Open

The Algoma Thunderbirds wrestling team brought home two medals this weekend from the York Open, including a silver and a bronze medal. 
 
Assistant Coach Logan McKinnon, who will be joining the Thunderbirds roster as an Algoma U student in January, earned silver in the 54 kilogram division. McKinnon went 3-1 on the mats, taking his only loss to Trevor Banks, the 2015 CIS silver medalists from Concordia.
 
"For the second time this season, Logan showed that the Algoma wrestlers are not to be overlooked, dominating in all three of his wins. His hard work on and off the mat as both a coach and wrestler has been a great motivator to the lesser experienced student-athletes. Logan will be enrolled in the Computer Science program for January," said Trevor Manchester, Head Coach of the Algoma Wrestlers.
 
Michael Casagrande brought home his first medal for the Thunderbirds. Casagrande earned bronze in the 130 kilogram class. In the heavyweight division, Casangrande went 2-2 on the mats with tough losses against quality opponents. His first loss was against Donavan Lozada, a US wrestler who was a junior College All-American in the 2014-15 season. His second loss was to Ali Koca, the defending OUA Champion from York University.
 
First year wrestlers Auni AlMutairi and Noodin Shawanda both posted a 0-2 record on the mats.
 
"Algoma was once again plagued with injuries prior to the York Open, but we still managed to have some very solid successes. Mike Casagrande showed a lot of improvement from previous competitions, but was caught making minor errors that his opponents capitalized on.  By the time the OUA Championships are concluded here in Sault Ste. Marie, our coaching staff feels confident that Mike and a couple of the other wrestlers have a great chance to be wearing an OUA medal around their neck."

Source: Algoma Thunderbirds

Bannerman, Jarrett reach podium at York Open

The University of Toronto men's and women's wrestling teams travelled to compete in the 2015 York Open on Saturday, November 28.

Rookie Brooke Jarrett led the Blues with a silver-medal finish in the women's 63kg event, while veteran Grace Bannerman won the bronze medal in the women's 82kg category.

Cole Goodfellow registered Toronto's men's lone top-5 finish, placing fifth overall in the 90kg event.

Full Results

The Varsity Blues return to action in the New Year when they travel to St. Cathareines, Ont., for the Brock Open on Saturday, January 9.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Western's Ligrit Sadiku takes second at York Open

TORONTO - Western's  Ligrit Sadiku posted the top result of the weekend for the Mustangs wrestling team, taking home silver medal in the 57 kg weight class this past weekend at the York Open. The PEI native has had a a tremendous start to the first half of the season, winning four medals in all four tournaments.

First-year Mustang Sadiku lost a close final against Sam Jagas (Brock) and settled for second place. Sadiku almost scored with a single leg takedown in the remaining ten seconds of the match to win, but Jagas was literally able to hang on the Sadiku's ankle to prevent full control of the takedown.

Bennet Jaworski won an exciting 21-20 high scoring match at 82 kg. Jaworski scored in the last five seconds to clinch his first win of the season, but did not advance past the third round of matches.

Adam Redgrift, graduate of London Banting SS, and second year Kinesiology student had a solid performance with five matches and sixth place finish at 65 kg.  Teammate, Eric Renaud also placed sixth with a 3-3 win-loss at 61 kg in his first tournament of the season.

Graduate student Sahana Mazumder (48 kg) won her fifth place match with an impressive performance scoring with her judo background using throws and leg trips, eventually pinning her York opponent.

London Saunders SS graduate and first year, Michalia Walls placed sixth in the women's 67 kg class.

Four additional Mustangs competed in this weekend action, including Jeremy Kamenschik (65 kg), Colin Johnston (82 kg), Abraham Lee (65 kg), and Greg Clark (61 kg).

This competition was the final tournament of the year for the Mustangs. They will now take time off to recover and prepare for the Brock Open January 9, 2016in St. Catherines, Ontario.

Madi Parks and Steven Takahashi will travel to Edmonton this weekend to compete in the Canadian Olympic trials.

Source: Western Mustangs

Lions win three medals at York Open

The York University Lions wrestling team hosted its annual York Open meet on Saturday (Nov. 28) and won three medals in their home gym at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
Both teams finished in third place in their respective team standings.
 
The highlight of the day came in the women's 51kg division, where sophomore Alexandria Town (Scarborough, Ont.) won the gold medal. After a strong round robin to reach the championship match in her weight class, Town defeated Jade Papke from the Guelph Gryphons 14-4 in the final to finish atop the podium. Papke was the 2011 CIS gold medallist in the division and also won the national silver medal in 2013.
 
Also finishing in the top three were second-year wrestler Ali Koca (Richmond Hill, Ont.) in the 130kg division and rookie Sebastian Galzote (Thornhill, Ont.) in the 61kg division. Koca, the OUA champion in the weight class last season, won a pair of matches before falling in the final to win the silver medal, while Galzote recorded big wins over wrestlers from Concordia and Lakehead to capture the bronze medal.
 
The Lions are now off for the December break and will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 9 in St. Catharines, Ont., for the Brock Open. The meet will be one of two in the regular season before the OUA championships, which will be hosted by the McMaster Marauders on Saturday, Feb. 13 in Hamilton, Ont.

Source: York Lions