OUA wrestling championship preview

HAMILTON, Ont. - The Brock Badgers look to continue their title reign in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) men's and women's wrestling as The University of Western Ontario hosts the OUA wrestling championships on Saturday in London, Ont.

Brock wrestling has been one of the elite programs in OUA over the last two decades, winning 15 straight men's championships and 16 in the past 18 years. The women's wrestlers have been dominant as well, winning back-to-back OUA crowns and nine in the past 11 years.

But if the most recent Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) wrestling rankings are any indication, Brock's title reign may be coming to an end, at least in the men's division. While the Brock women are currently ranked No. 1 in OUA and No. 3 in CIS, the men are rated No. 10 in the nation, behind the Lakehead Thunderwolves (No. 3), Guelph Gryphons (No. 6) and Western Mustangs (No. 9).

Other top-ranked women's teams include No. 5 Western and No. 7 Lakehead.

Wrestlers from seven schools will compete at the championship, including Brock, Guelph, Lakehead, McMaster, Queen's, Toronto and Waterloo. The CIS wrestling championships will be hosted by the University of Calgary from March 5-6.

You can follow along all the wrestling action live on www.westernmustangs.ca starting at 10 a.m. Medal matches will begin at approximately 3:30 p.m. Splitdraw.com will also broadcast the event, available early next week on tape delay at www.splitdraw.com.

2010 OUA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Alumni Hall, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ont.

Saturday, February 20
10 a.m. Preliminaries
1:30 p.m. Bronze medal matches
3:30 p.m. Championship ceremonies and introduction of the finalists
4 p.m. Gold medal matches and awards

- OUA -