CIS Wrestling Championships Day 2: Alberta’s Hayley Thomas & Michael Asselstine named Wrestlers of the Year
EDMONTON (CIS) – The Brock University Badgers have becomethe first school in Canadian Interuniversity Sport history to sweepthe men’s and women’s national championship teambanners in consecutive years, following their authoritativeperformance at the 2015 meet held in the University ofAlberta’s historic Main Gym.
Website (including detailed results): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrest/index
The Badgers clinched both of the men’s and women’stitles even before the gold medal matches got underway on Day 2 ofthe two-day event in Edmonton, but that didn’t stop the OUApowerhouse program from jacking up the medal count as they finishedwith a combined 14 medals, including six gold.
With the win the Brock women tie a CIS record of four straightbanners, previously set by the Simon Fraser Clan, and they tie theall-time mark for most consecutive banners (4) and, with its fifthtitle overall, moves into a tie for second place with Calgary, onebehind Simon Fraser.
The Badger men, meanwhile, extend their own national record byclaiming their 15th CIS banner.
Four of Brock’s medals were won the women’s side,including Jade Parsons’ fourth straight CIS gold medal in the48-kilogram weight class, and her fifth CIS medal overall after shealso collected silver at 51 kg in 2009 when she was named rookie ofthe year while competing for the University of Regina.
Also finishing on the top of the podium for the Badgers wasCarlene Sluberski (55 kg), Indira Moores (59 kg) and JessicaBrouillette (63 kg), who won her second straight CIS goldmedal.
“We wrestled incredibly well this weekend. But, wedidn’t come here focused on winning the team titles, orsetting CIS records or any of that, we came here to perform as wellas we could in our individual matches, and we knew if we did that,we would have success as a team,” said Brock head coach MartyCalder, who would later be honoured with the CIS men’s andwomen’s coach of the year awards.
“Our women were fantastic, I mean four gold medals; theywere awesome,” Calder continued. “And outside of one ormaybe two matches on the men’s side, I thought we were greaton that side too. This was a great event, with a lot of reallygreat wrestlers, and you could really see the parity in CISwrestling right now. It is a great competition with really awesomecoaches and athletes. It’s not easy winning these matches, orthese banners, and I know how hard we worked to winthem.”
Concordia’s Veronica Keefe successfully defended her 72 kggold medal, with an injury win over Guelph’s GracelynnDoogan, while Gryphon Kelsey Gsell was supplanted at the top of the82 kg weight glass by Calgary powerhouse HollyEllsworth-Clark.
Alberta’s Hayley Thomas finished off her CIS career on thehighest point possible, as she claimed gold in the women’s 51kg weight class by defeating Brock rookie Emily Schaefer 8-0.Thomas, who hails from Whitecourt, Alberta, was named the CISFemale Wrestler of the Year at the championship banquet after themeet, while the silver medal wearing Schaefer was honoured with theWomen’s Rookie of the Year Award.
For the second consecutive season the Male Wrestler of the Yearhonours went to Michael Asselstine of the Alberta Golden Bears, whoput on a dominant performance at the 2015 championships, includinghis 12-2 victory over McMaster’s Jason Buckle in the goldmedal 61 kg weight class bout. Asselstine, an Edmonton native whoearned silver for Canada at the 2014 Pan-Am Games, was trailingBuckle 2-0 in the early going, but performed three straight gutwrenches to take a commanding 6-2 lead, and then racked up anothersix straight points to win his second straight CIS gold. Thefourth-year Golden Bear had previously earned a CIS silver in 2013in the 65 kg weight class.
The U of A sweep of the wrestler of the year awards representsjust the third time that has happened in CIS history, followingLakehead (2012) and Simon Fraser (2008) as the other schools.
Ilya Abelev was the other big story in the men’s draw, asthe UNB wrestler grappled his way to his fourth straight CIS goldmedal in his fourth different weight class. A native of Ottawa, andformer competitor for the Western Mustangs, Abelev previously wonCIS gold in the 72 kg (2013), 68 kg (2012) and 65 kg (2011) weightclasses, and on Saturday added the 76 kg class thanks to his defeatof Aleksander Soronov of the Winnipeg Wesmen.
The men’s 57 kg gold medal tilt was a showcase of talentas well, with three-time CIS gold medalist Steven Takahashi, fromthe Western Mustangs, triumphing over Saskatchewan’s DylanBray. Takahashi, whose father won a Commonwealth Games wrestlinggold medal in Edmonton in 1978, returned to the mat this seasonafter sitting out all of last season with an injury. He previouslycelebrated trio of victories in the 54 weight class.
Saskatchewan’s Josh Bodnarchuk, who was awarded the 2015CIS Male Rookie of the Year Award, struck national championshipgold in the 54 kg bout, defeating Concordia’s TrevorBanks.
NOTES: Brock had also swept the team banners back in 2001-02.The only other school to accomplish the feat since women’swrestling was added to the CIS program 16 years ago was SimonFraser, in 2009-10...
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
NOTE: Tie-breaker is most gold, then most silver, etc.
Women
1. Brock, 54 points
2. Calgary, 38
3. Alberta, 36
4. Guelph, 33
5. Western, 23
6. Saskatchewan, 20
7. Regina, 17
8. Concordia, 14
9. UNB, 13
10. Lakehead, 12 (wins tie-breaker over Winnipeg)
11. Winnipeg, 12
12. Algoma, 8 (wins tie-breaker over McMaster)
13. McMaster, 8
14. St. Thomas, 5
15. York, 4
16. Laurentian, 3
Men
1. Brock, 66 points
2. McMaster, 56
3. UNB, 44
4. Alberta, 38
5. Calgary, 35
6. Winnipeg, 34 (wins tie-breaker over Saskatchewan)
7. Saskatchewan, 34
8. Western, 28
9. Concordia, 25
10. Regina, 14 (wins tie-breaker over Guelph)
11. Guelph, 14
12. Fraser Valley, 12
13. Queen’s, 5
T14. Lakehead, 4 (wins tie-breaker over Memorial, but remainstied with York)
T14. York, 4 (wins tie-breaker over Memorial, but remains tiedwith Lakehead)
T16. Memorial, 4
INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
Women
Outstanding wrestler: Hayley Thomas (51kg), Alberta
Rookie of the year: Emily Schaefer (51kg), Brock
Coach of the year: Marty Calder, Brock
R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Darrion Sterling (72 kg), UNB
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Urshian Khalid(63 kg), York
Men
Outstanding wrestler: Michael Asselstine (61kg), Alberta
Rookie of the year: Josh Bodnarchuk (54 kg), Saskatchewan
Coach of the year: Marty Calder, Brock
R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Spenser Burk (65 kg), Calgary
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Ali Koca (120 kg),York
FINAL INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS
WOMEN
48 kg
1. Jade Parsons, Brock
2. Annie Monteith, Saskatchewan
3. Alyssa Cleaves, UNB
4. Valeria Ouelette, Western
5. Josée Tremblay, Calgary
6. Kaitlin Kucharski, Winnipeg
7. Natassya Lu, Guelph
51 kg
1. Hayley Thomas, Alberta
2. Emily Schaefer, Brock
3. Rachel Alder, Winnipeg
4. Kate Richey, Calgary
5. Alexandria Town, York
6. Nicole Mazzara, McMaster
7. Amanda Eng, UNB
55 kg
1. Carlene Sluberski, Brock
2. Madi Parks, Western
3. Cara Nania, Calgary
4. Cierra Carere, Guelph
5. Laryssa Barry, Saskatchewan
6. Emily Kessler, Winnipeg
59 kg
1. Indira Moores, Brock
2. Emma Horner, Lakehead
3. Alyssa Medeiros, Western
4. Cholena Horne, Alberta
5. Indhyra Linares, Regina
6. Lisa Brise, Saskatchewan
7. Brittany Dillman, UNB
63 kg
1. Jessica Brouillette, Brock
2. Natasha Doroodian, Algoma
3. Temitope Ogunjimi, Calgary
4. Krystin Paquette, Alberta
5. Alex Momy, Western
6. Sena Debia, Regina
67 kg
1. Alison Carrow, Guelph
2. Kayla Brodner, Regina
3. Brandy Perry, Alberta
4. Lorena Ellis, St. Thomas
5. Kelsey Dayler, Lakehead
6. Nicole Roach, McMaster
7. Cassidy Barnert, Calgary
72 kg
1. Veronica Keefe, Concordia
2. Gracelynn Doogan, Guelph
3. Olivia DiBacco, Brock
4. Hilary Goble, Calgary
5. Molly Bouchard, Alberta
6. Darrion Sterling, UNB
7. Dalynn McKay, Regina
8. Grace Bannerman, Toronto
82 kg
1. Holly Ellsworth-Clark, Calgary
2. Kelsey Gsell, Guelph
3. Marlen Figueroa, Alberta
4. Megan Nelthorpe, Saskatchewan
5. Theresa El-Lati, Concordia
6. Demi Swann, Winnipeg
MEN
54 kg
1. Josh Bodnarchuk, Saskatchewan
2. Trevor Banks, Concordia
3. Sam Jagas, Brock
4. Mario Tran, UNB
5. Chris Waltner, Lakehead
6. Steven McCarville, Alberta
7. Eric Renaud, Western
8. Freddie Aziz, Calgary
57 kg
1. Steven Takahashi, Western
2. Dylan Bray, Saskatchewan
3. Brian Cowan, Brock
4. Dylan Willams, Alberta
5. Elvir Uzomovic, Guelph
6. Roland Yong, Calgary
7. Bassel Bou Moughlab, Concordia
61 kg
1. Michael Asselstine, Alberta
2. Jason Buckle, McMaster
3. Zack Falcioni, Brock
3. Peter Shannon, Queen’s
4. Sam Dietrich, Regina
5. Nathan Galan, Saskatchewan
65 kg
1. Nick Rowe, Brock
2. Spenser Burk, Calgary
3. Vince Demarinis, Concordia
4. Cody Osborne, Alberta
5. Omar Ahmed, McMaster
6. Andy Sanford, UNB
7. Mitchell Berenz, Winnipeg
8. Ethan Smith, Western
68 kg
1. Chris Garneau, McMaster
2. Andrew McKenzie, Brock
3. Drew Belanger, Alberta
4. Caleb Rutner, Western
5. Lucas Hoffert, Regina
6. Tyler Buchan, Calgary
7. Cristian Mandari, Concordia
72 kg
1. Ahmed Shamiya, McMaster
2. Tyler Rowe, Brock
3. Dimitry Gershanov, Concordia
4. Richard Balfour, Western
5. Kyle Horvath, Calgary
6. Malcolm Meekins, Saskatchewan
7. Brock Munro, Winnipeg
8. Ian James, Memorial
76 kg
1. Ilya Abelev, UNB
2. Aleksander Soronov, Winnipeg
3. Connor Hodgins, Calgary
4. Ben Bradford, Guelph
5. Eric Steffler, McMaster
6. Hidde Van Der Kamp, Alberta
7. Alec Bauer, Western
8. Chris Kinsella, Concordia
82 kg
1. Grayson St. Laurent, UNB
2. Joban Phulka, McMaster
3. Matrixx Ferreira, Brock
4. Dan Humphrey, Guelph
5. Andrew Johnson, Saskatchewan
6. Dennis Sutton, Memorial
7. Ben Christopher, Winnipeg
8. Makoto Honda-McNeil, Alberta
90 kg
1. Finn Higgins, Winnipeg
DQ. Riley Otto, Western
2. Nick Proctor, Calgary
3. Ignatius Pitt, Brock
4. Kevin Barrett, McMaster
5. Brad Hildenbrandt, Fraser Valley
6. Matt Short, UNB
100 kg
1. Andrii Vorontsov, Brock
2. Alex Thoms, UNB
3. Jacob Luczak, Regina
4. Daniel Oloumi, Alberta
5. Andrew Balach, McMaster
6. Kyle Bonk-Dann, Western
7. Baldwin Asala, Calgary
120 kg
1. Kyle Nguyen, Winnipeg
2. Manheet Kalhon, Fraser Valley
3. Jacob Phillips, Saskatchewan
4. Thom MaCrae, UNB
5. Ali Koca, York
6. Ahmed Ramadan, McMaster
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