No. 2 Dinos women's wrestling named Canada West Champions

CALGARY – The No. 4 Alberta Golden Bears completed the three-peat, taking home the men's wrestling title, while the No. 2 Calgary Dinos were the women's champion, returning to Canada West supremacy.

Women's Standings

Calgary – 44 points
Alberta – 40 points
Regina – 25 points
Saskatchewan – 22 points
Winnipeg – 19 points
Fraser Valley – 4 points

Men's Standings

Alberta – 45 points
Saskatchewan – 43 points
Fraser Valley – 40 points
Winnipeg – 39 points
Calgary – 38 points
Regina – 26 points

Four points separated the newly crowned champion Dinos from the reigning champion Alberta Pandas as Calgary won it's first women's wrestling championship since 2011, ending Alberta's three-year takeover.

The Dinos had four gold medal winners including Cara Nania (55kg), Temitope Ogunjimi (63kg), Hilary Goble (72kg), and Holly Ellsworth-Clark (82kg). Coming down to the final round against Alberta, the No. 2 Dinos rallied to take the win with a huge win from Goble in one of the final bouts. Josee Tremblay won silver in the 48kg weight class and Kate Richey took bronze at 51kg.

"It's exciting and I'm excited for the girls," said Dinos head coach and Canada West Women's Coach of the Year Mitch Ostberg. "They are the best team in Canada West and I think they're the best team in the country so it was really neat to see them wrestle well. Alberta is a tough team and we were in trouble there for a little bit, but they came back and won it. I think Hilary Goble getting that fall was huge and it would have been really tight at the end if she hadn't gotten that fall. Holly's match at the end was very dramatic and so close too so it was very exciting."

Also winning gold medals included 2014 Canada West Outstanding Wrestler Annie Monteith (48kg) of Saskatchewan, Alberta's Hayley Thomas (51kg) and Cholena Horne (59kg) and Regina's Kayla Brodner (67kg).

In the closest Canada West men's wrestling championship in years, the Alberta Golden Bears came out on top by just two points over No. 8 Saskatchewan. Just seven points separated the top five teams in the competition that had five of the top ten ranked teams in the country.

"As an athlete, I've been in Canada West myself since 1997 and this is the closest race I've ever seen," said Golden Bears head coach and Canada West Men's Coach of the Year Owen Dawkins. "It's a testament to the coaches in this conference and how things have improved. With the addition of Fraser Valley, it was a battle this weekend. With our group, we have five rookies on our squad and a whole bunch of injuries, but they worked together and we pulled it out and it was truly a team championship this weekend for us."

The team win came with Michael Asselstine (61kg) as the only gold medal winner from the Golden Bears. The Winnipeg Wesmen topped the men's gold medal winners with four over the course of the meet including Mitchell Berenz (65kg), Aleksandr Soronov (76kg), Finn Higgins (90kg), and Kyle Nguyen (120kg). Other gold medal winners included three Huskies in the likes of Josh Bodnarchuk (54kg) who also earned Rookie of the Year honours, Dylan Bray (57kg) as Outstanding Wrestler, and Malcolm Meekins (72kg). Regina's Lucas Hoffert took home gold in the 68kg weight class while Fraser Valley's Jasmit Phulka (82kg) and Chanmit Phulka (100kg) won medals in their first ever CIS competition.

All gold, silver, and bronze medal winners will advance to the CIS Championships hosted by the University of Alberta, Feb. 27-29.

AWARD WINNERS

Outstanding Wrestler
Male: Dylan Bray - Saskatchewan
Female: Annie Monteith – Saskatchewan

Rookie of the Year
Male: Josh Bodnarchuk - Saskatchewan
Female: Brandy Perry - Alberta

Student-Athlete Community Service Nominee
Male: Brock Munro - Winnipeg
Female: Annie Monteith - Saskatchewan

Coach of the Year:
Men's: Owen Dawkins - Alberta
Women's: Mitch Ostberg - Calgary

Women's Medals
48kg
Annie Monteith – Saskatchewan
Josee Tremblay – Calgary
Kaitlin Kucharski – Winnipeg

51kg
Hayley Thomas – Alberta
Rachel Alder – Winnipeg
Kate Richey – Calgary

55kg
Cara Nania – Calgary
Emily Kessler – Winnipeg
Laryssa Barry – Saskatchewan

59kg
Cholena Horne – Alberta
Indhyra Linares – Regina
Lisa Brise – Saskatchewan

63kg
Temitope Ogunjimi – Calgary
Krystin Paquette – Alberta
Sena Debia – Regina

67kg
Kayla Brodner – Regina
Brandy Perry – Alberta
Cassidy Barnert – Calgary

72kg
Hilary Goble – Calgary
Molly Bouchard – Alberta
Dalynn McKay – Regina

82kg
Holly Ellsworth-Clark – Calgary
Marlen Figueroa – Alberta
Megan Nelthorpe – Saskatchewan

Men's Medals
54 kg
Josh Bodnarchuk – Saskatchewan
Steven McCarville – Alberta
Freddie Aziz - Calgary

57kg
Dylan Bray – Saskatchewan
Dylan Williams – Alberta
Roland Yong – Calgary

61kg
Michael Asselstine – Alberta
Aso Palani – Fraser Valley
Nathan Galan - Saskatchewan

65kg
Mitchell Berenz – Winnipeg
Cody Osborne – Alberta
Spenser Burk – Calgary

68kg
Lucas Hoffert – Regina
Tyler Buchan – Calgary
Drew Belanger - Alberta

72kg
Malcolm Meekins – Saskatchewan
Devin Purewal – Fraser Valley
Kyle Horvath – Calgary

76kg
Aleksandr Soronov – Winnipeg
Connor Hodgins – Calgary
Hidde Van Der Kamp - Alberta

82kg
Jasmit Phulka – Fraser Valley
Andrew Johnson – Saskatchewan
Ben Christopher - Winnipeg

90kg
Finn Higgins – Winnipeg
Brad Hildenbrandt – Fraser Valley
Nick Proctor – Calgary

100kg
Chanmit Phulka – Fraser Valley
Daniel Oloumi – Alberta
Jacob Luczak – Regina

120kg
Kyle Nguyen – Winnipeg
Manheet Kalhon – Fraser Valley
Jacob Philips – Saskatchewan

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Players Mentioned

Cassidy Barnert: 5' 9"; 1st

Tyler Buchan: 5' 11"; 4th

Spenser Burk: 4th

Holly Ellsworth-Clark: 6' 0"; 4th

Hilary Goble: 5' 2"; 3rd

Connor Hodgins: 6' 1"; 4th

Kyle Horvath: 5' 10"; 4th

Cara Nania: 5' 3"; 3rd

Nick Proctor: 6' 0"; 3rd

Josee Tremblay: 5' 1"; 3rd

Roland Yong: 5' 7"; 1st

Players Mentioned

Cassidy Barnert
: 5' 9"; 1st

Tyler Buchan
: 5' 11"; 4th

Spenser Burk
: 4th

Holly Ellsworth-Clark
: 6' 0"; 4th

Hilary Goble
: 5' 2"; 3rd

Connor Hodgins
: 6' 1"; 4th

Kyle Horvath
: 5' 10"; 4th

Cara Nania
: 5' 3"; 3rd

Nick Proctor
: 6' 0"; 3rd

Josee Tremblay
: 5' 1"; 3rd

Roland Yong
: 5' 7"; 1st