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2011 Canada West wrestling championship preview
CANADA WEST - The Canada West wrestling
championship is set for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12, in
Saskatoon at the Education Gym on the University of Saskatchewan
Campus.
Events get underway at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, 11:00 a.m. on
Saturday.
Schedule &
Results
All medalists from the event qualify for the 2011 CIS wrestling
championships, Feb. 25-26 at Lakehead University in Thunder
Bay, Ontario.
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS & PANDAS
Men
2010 CW Men: 4th
2010 CIS Men: 9th
Last CW Men’s title: 1985
Last CIS Men’s title: none
Women
2010 CW Women: 4th
2010 CIS Women: 7th
Last CW Women’s title: none
Last CIS Women’s title: none
EDMONTON - This weekend in Saskatoon, University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas’ wrestling coach Owen Dawkins will lead his youthful brigade into the Canada West championship tournament with a focus on results and CIS qualifications.
All told, 18 U of A grapplers, 10 Golden Bears and eight Pandas, will make the trip to the University of Saskatchewan for the conference championship. With a number of strong results at meets throughout the season already in the books, coach Dawkins expects nothing but continued progression up the results ladder.
Golden Bears Dylan Williams (54 kg), Jason Wass (57 kg), Coleman Brinker (72 kg), Jamie Yurick (76 kg) and Jason Margo (82 kg), will be on the hunt for podium finishes for sure in Saskatoon, where only the top two placements make the grade for CIS. Finish with podium position in your weight class, and you find yourself qualified for the national championship meet.
For the Pandas, Hayley Thomas (48 kg), Lyndsay Almeida (51 kg),
Marlen Figueroa (59 kg), Sabrina Kelly (67 kg) and Molly Bouchard
(72 kg), should be leading the charge, but again, coach Dawkins
thinks all of his athletes could qualify to compete at CIS.
bears.ualberta.ca
CALGARY DINOS
Men
2010 CW Men: 5th
2010 CIS Men: 12th
Last CW Men’s title: 2003
Last CIS Men’s title: none
Women
2010 CW Women: 2nd
2010 CIS Women: 2nd
Last CW Women’s title: 2009
Last CIS Women’s title: 2009
CALGARY – The Calgary Dinos women enter the event as one of the top-ranked squads in the country after finishing second at last year’s CIS championship to the now-departed Simon Fraser Clan.
Four of the veterans for head coach Mitch Ostberg are Gen Haley, Leah Callahan, Erica Wiebe, and Tessa Gallinger. Haley is a four-time CIS and current World University champion looking to cap off her incredible career in style. Callahan is eager to defend the CIS crown she earned last year, while Wiebe hopes to take the final step up the podium after a silver medal performance at nationals in 2010. Finally, Gallinger has taken on the challenge of moving up in weight class, but remains a feared competitor by her opponents.
Jessy Seida and Danielle Burk are two younger athletes hoping to make a statement in 2011. Seida placed fourth at last year’s nationals in her first year of university competition and is hungry for more, while rookie Burk tries to reach the podium in her first attempt at the Canada West championships.
The men’s team is a less experienced squad that is building confidence with each competition. Ostberg’s goal is for the men to challenge for a national title over the next few seasons.
Leading the charge is Vaughn Gandy, who is brimming with
confidence after a recent meet in which he defeated a prominent
challenger for the CIS title from the University of Toronto. Gandy
has been intensely focused on his training since a series of
unfortunate events prevented him from advancing past the round
robin qualifying of last year’s nationals.
godinos.com
REGINA COUGARS
Men
2010 CW Men: 2nd
2010 CIS Men: 3rd
Last CW Men’s title: 2002
Last CIS Men’s title: 1998
Women
2010 CW Women: 3rd
2010 CIS Women: 5th
Last CW Women’s title: none
Last CIS Women’s title: none
REGINA - On the men’s side, the Regina Cougars field an experienced lineup that head coach Leo McGee expects will challenge for a conference title. The team is led by Gilbert Musonza and Steven Schneider, who won Canada West gold medals last season at 57 kg and 54 kg, respectively.
Cory Horsburgh, a two-time Canada West gold medalist and the 2007 CIS Rookie of the Year, will return to the fold after a two-season absence and is expected to wrestle at 65 kg. Brothers Gaelan Malloy and Connor Malloy, who both won conference silver medals last season, will compete at 72 kg and 76 kg.
The lineup is expected to be missing Kirk Ackerman, who won a Canada West silver in 2010 but suffered an injury in January.
Jasmine Slinn headlines the women’s team. Slinn is a two-time Canada West medalist and won a CIS silver medal last year at 51 kilograms, and is expected to again wrestle at 51 this weekend.
Laurin Holhoyi and Shelby Moran return as second-year wrestlers
after competing in the conference championships for the first time
last season, while Jamestown College transfer Danielle Anderson and
rookie wrestlers Trisha Elliott and Savannah Toth are all expected
to make their Canada West debuts this weekend.
reginacougars.com
SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (HOST)
Men
2010 CW Men: 3rd
2010 CIS Men: 7th
Last CW Men’s title: 1986
Last CIS Men’s title: none
Women
2010 CW Women: 5th
2010 CIS Women: 11th
Last CW Women’s title: none
Last CIS Women’s title: none
SASKATOON – The Saskatchewan Huskies are led by team captains Daniel Olver (82 kg) and Lindsay Olver (48 kg).
Daniel Olver won his fourth straight Canada West medal in 2010 and added a gold medal in the 76 kg at the CIS championships. He has been wrestling in the 82 kg class throughout this season. His wife, Lindsay, failed to qualify for the CIS championships in 2010, but is a former conference medalist. Both have competed internationally.
To help Daniel Olver in CIS experience is Ryan Myrfield (72 kg) and Landon Squires (90 kg). In 2009, Myrfield was named the CIS Rookie of the Year after upsetting a veteran athlete for the gold medal, while Squires captured Canada West and CIS silver in his rookie season. Myrfield will hit the mats at the Canada West and CIS level for the first time since 2009. An injury kept him out of competition in 2010. Alex Kelly (68 kg) will also bring Canada West experience having competed at the championship the last two seasons.
Including Lindsay Olver, just three Huskies women have experience at the Canada West event. Both Natasha Kramble (51 kg) and Koren Pitkethly (55 kg) finished fourth in the conference in 2010. Also competing will be Kathleen Kent (59 kg). It will be Kent’s first trip to the championship but she has seen success this season with two gold medals at other competitions during the year.
Both the men’s and women’s team lost perennial medalists to graduation. Jill Gallays, Beth Thompson and Tim Kent all graduated after using five years of eligibility. Gallays won Canada West and CIS gold in both 2009 and 2010, while Kent and Thompson were named the Canada West Student-Athlete Award winners in 2010.
-Canada West-
