ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – With nearly 200 of the country's best collegiate wrestlers on hand, the Calgary Dinos came out strong on the first day of the 2025 Wrestling Canada Lutte / U SPORTS Invitational Championships, hosted by Brock University at Canada Games Park.
A total of 12 Dinos will compete for a medal in Saturday's medal round, headlined by six Calgary wrestlers – five in the women's competition and one in the men's – that will look to bring home the crown as they will compete in the gold-medal match after a very successful first day of action out East.
Rookie
Mackenzie Cayer continued her first-year dominance, going 4-0 with three pins on the day to earn a spot in Saturday's gold-medal match at the 65kg weight class.
Gabriela Cross picked up a pin in just 45 seconds in her opening bout to set the tone and followed up with technical fall wins of 10-0 and 11-0 and will compete in Saturday's championship bout at 56kg.
Eve Maxwell-Nikiforuk had a pair of pins and also went 4-0 in pool play at 59kg, while
Annika Fines (62kg) and
Angelina Ellis-Toddington (68kg) also will have a shot at a U SPORTS gold medal on Saturday.
Maya Johnston (53kg),
Eilidh Wist (72kg) and
Danyka LaBelle (76kg) all will compete in the bronze-medal match on Saturday, while
Ankita Singh will go for fifth place.
In all, the Dinos women will compete for eight medals on Saturday after going a combined 31-9 on the day, including 12 wins by pin.
On the men's side, reigning U SPORTS Rookie of the Year
Nick Hooper has continued his dominance - going a perfect 4-0 at 76kg with three 10-0 tech falls and one pin in a blazing 16 seconds. He will go up against Brock's standout rookie and OUA champion Cole Coghill in Saturday's gold-medal match.
Canada West Rookie of the Year
Jack Pye has put himself in another medal match as he'll go for bronze tomorrow after a 3-1 showing in his nationals debut. Pye pinned his first opponent before turning in 10-0 and 15-4 tech fall wins, just missing a spot in the final after a close decision in his fourth bout of the day at 100kg.
Fred Calingay (57kg) and
Joseph De Maio (90kg) will also go for bronze tomorrow, while
Brantley Saar (82kg) and
Connor Bren (125kg) will wrestle for fifth at their respective weight classes.
Saturday's action gets underway with non-medal matches starting at 7 a.m. MT. Bronze-medal matches are slated to start at 10 a.m. MT, while those competing for gold are set to compete starting at 1 p.m. MT.
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