THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Going up against the best in the nation, the University of Calgary Dinos had a strong first day of competition at the 2026 Wrestling Canada Lutte / U SPORTS Invitational Championships Friday, hosted by Lakehead University inside the CJ Sauders Fieldhouse.
A total of nine Dinos will compete in Saturday's medal matches, headlined by five athletes – all on the women's side – set to battle for a national gold medal.
It was an impressive showing for
Mackenzie Cayer. The reigning U SPORTS Rookie of the Year went 4-0 in Friday's bouts, winning her first three by pin in a combined 95 seconds. She'll take on Jonelle Clarke of Western in Saturday's gold-medal match.
The Canada West Athlete of the Year on the women's side in
Maya Johnston earned a pair of wins by decision sandwiching a pin to earn her way to the gold-medal bout at 53kg.
Rookie
Elizabeth Latulippe (59kg) will also go for gold, as will defending
Annika Fines (62kg) and national wrestler of the year
Gabriela Cross (56kg).
Angelina Ellis-Toddington (68kg),
Ankita Singh (50kg) and rookie
Clara Smithanik (72kg) earned their way to the bronze-medal bouts, while
Danyka LaBelle (76kg) will compete in the fifth-place match.
On the men's side,
Mark Schwichtenberg will go for bronze at 76kg Saturday afternoon.
Dominic Dubeau (61kg),
Kaden de Castro (65kg),
Brantley Saar (82kg),
Joseph De Maio (90kg) and
Connor Bren (100kg) will all battle it out for fifth place.
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.
-UC-
