CALGARY (CIS) – The Simon Fraser Clan men and host Calgary Dinos women are the teams to beat this weekend at the 2009 Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling championships, which are held for the second straight year at the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson Gym.
Championships website: http://www.cisport.ca/e/championships/wrestling/2009/
The two-day event gets under way Friday with three rounds of preliminaries. The gold-medal finals are set to start at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Saturday.
All bronze-medal matches and finals will be webcast live via the championship website.
The men's competition is shaping up to be a battle royal between the Clan, who lead the team rankings heading into the weekend, and the 10-time defending champion Brock Badgers. A victory for Brock would tie the CIS record for consecutive national championships of 11, held by the UBC women's swimming team (1997-98 to 2007-08).
Just four points separated Brock and SFU at the 2008 CIS meet, and both sides qualified wrestlers in all 10 weight classes for this year's Nationals while earning their respective conference championships. Quebec powerhouse Concordia also qualified 10 athletes for this weekend's meet, opening up the possibility of a three-way race for the men's team title.
Individually, just three CIS men's champions return from 2008. Lakehead's Huy Nguyen, the OUA Outstanding Male Wrestler this season, returns in search of his third 54-kilogram title after winning gold in 2008 and 2005, while UNB's Vince Cormier is back to defend his 57 kg championship. Brock's C.J. Hudson upgraded his 61 kg silver from 2007 to gold in 2008.
All three enter the meet ranked No. 1 in their respective weight classes.
Outside the three returning champs, just six medalists from last year return to the CIS championships.
Ryan Lannan of the host Calgary Dinos moved up a weight class after his 57 kg silver medal in 2008 and will wrestle at 61 kg this time around, while Brock's Alex Brown-Theriault, the other returning silver medalist, is the top-ranked wrestler at 82 kg after medaling at 90 kg last year.
Aaron Fabiano of Brock (54 kg), Peter De La Cruz of Regina (68 kg), Daniel Olver of Saskatchewan (76 kg) and Alex Dyas of Concordia (90 kg) each won bronze medals in 2008. Olver comes in as the No. 1 seed in his division and was named Outstanding Wrestler at the Canada West championship. De La Cruz actually finished fourth at the Canada West championship and didn't qualify for the CIS meet, but a late scratch by the third-place wrestler from Alberta gives him the chance to compete for a medal once again.
Other top-seeded wrestlers in the men's competition include Simon Fraser's Isaac Wing (65 kg), Concordia's Steve Rennals (68 kg), Lakehead's Chadd Lee (72 kg), Simon Fraser's Ali Al Rekabi (90 kg) and Concordia's David Zilberman (130 kg).
A 2008 Olympian for Canada, Zilberman returns to the CIS championships after a two-year absence. In three previous appearances, all at 130 kg, he claimed CIS gold in 2006 and 2004, and silver in 2005. The Montreal native won silver at the 2004 and 2006 world university championships.
A total of 79 male wrestlers representing 13 institutions will compete in the Jack Simpson Gym this weekend.
On the women's side, the host Calgary Dinos are the top-seeded team after winning their third straight Canada West title over longtime rival Simon Fraser. The two schools have dominated women's wrestling in its first decade as a CIS-sanctioned sport, winning nine of the first 10 national championships. Brock won the other title in 2001-02.
Calgary and Simon Fraser went toe-to-toe at last year's CIS meet, with the Clan emerging victorious by just two points – the lowest margin in championships history. SFU has captured five of the past six banners, with Calgary's 2007 triumph the only blemish since 2003.
Calgary, Simon Fraser and Brock have each qualified seven wrestlers of the possible eight, and all three schools have returning champions.
Brock's Michelle Fazzari (59 kg) is a two-time defending gold medalist after winning silver in 2006, while Calgary's Justine Bouchard (63 kg) sandwiched gold medals in 2008 and 2006 around a silver medal performance in 2007. Calgary's Gen Haley (51 kg), the 2007 CIS rookie of the year, won gold in each of her first two seasons and will continue her effort to become the first woman in CIS history to win five individual gold medals.
All three are ranked at the top of their weight classes heading into the weekend.
Ashley McKilligan (48 kg) and Stacie Anaka (67 kg), both of Simon Fraser, are the other returning champions from 2008, and their gold medals might be the toughest to defend. McKilligan is up against Regina's Hajar Ashtiani, who was named Outstanding Wrestler at the Canada West championship earlier this month in Edmonton and is seeded No. 1 for the CIS tournament. Anaka is seeded second behind Canada West champion Vanessa Wilson of Calgary, who won silver at 72 kg last year.
Calgary women are ranked No. 1 in five of the eight divisions heading into the weekend. In addition to Haley, Bouchard and Wilson, Erica Wiebe (72 kg) and Leah Callahan (82 kg) also top the rankings in their weight classes.
Saskatchewan's Jill Gallays (55 kg), a bronze medalist in 2008, is the favourite to win gold at 55 kg. Other returning medalists include UNB's Krista Betts (48 kg), Rita Pare of Simon Fraser (51 kg), Amy Dyck of Saskatchewan (59 kg) and Erin Church of Simon Fraser (72 kg).
In total, 57 female competitors representing 14 CIS schools will take to the mats over the weekend.
CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE (all times LOCAL: Mountain Time)
Thursday, Feb. 26
17:00 Registration, weigh-in, medicals (Dinos wrestling room)
Friday, Feb. 27
10:00 Preliminaries Round 1 (Jack Simpson Gym)
13:00 Preliminaries Round 2 (Jack Simpson Gym)
15:30 Preliminaries Round 3 (Jack Simpson Gym)
Saturday, Feb. 28
10:00 Classification matches 5th-8th place (Jack Simpson Gym)
11:30 Bronze-medal matches (Jack Simpson Gym) – Live webcast
13:00 Championship finals (Jack Simpson Gym) – Live webcast
WRESTLERS BY SCHOOL
Women
7 – Brock, Calgary, Simon Fraser
6 – UNB
5 – Lakehead, Saskatchewan, Western
4 – Guelph, Regina
3 – Concordia, Memorial
2 – Alberta, McMaster, Toronto
Total: 57
Men
10 – Brock, Concordia, Simon Fraser
9 – Lakehead
8 – UNB
7 – Regina
6 – Saskatchewan
5 – Alberta, Guelph, McMaster
2 – Calgary
1 – McGill, Toronto
Total: 79
PAST CIS TEAM CHAMPIONS
Women (first championship in 1998-99)
2007-08 Simon Fraser
2006-07 Calgary
2005-06 Simon Fraser
2004-05 Simon Fraser
2003-04 Simon Fraser
2002-03 Simon Fraser
2001-02 Brock
2000-01 Calgary
1999-00 Calgary
1998-99 Calgary
Men (last 20 years)
1998-99 to 2007-08 Brock has won the last 10 titles
1997-98 Regina
1996-97 Regina
1995-96 Brock
1994-95 Brock
1993-94 McMaster
1992-93 Manitoba
1991-92 Brock
1990-91 Manitoba
1989-90 Western Ontario & Concordia (co-champions)
1988-89 York
PAST CIS WRESTLERS OF THE YEAR (last 10 years)
Women (first championship in 1998-99)
2007-08 Miranda Dick, Simon Fraser
2006-07 Hana Askren, Concordia
2005-06 Emily Richardson, Simon Fraser
2004-05 Ellen Macro, McMaster
2003-04 Martine Dugrenier, Concordia
2002-03 Tara Hedican, Guelph
2001-02 Tara Hedican, Guelph
2000-01 Breanne Graham, Calgary
1999-00 Julie Harris, Calgary
1998-99 Erica Sharp, Calgary
Men
2007-08 Dustyn Fisher, Simon Fraser
2006-07 Jamie Macari, Brock
2005-06 Sheldon Francis, McMaster
2004-05 Ryan Weicker, Brock
2003-04 Adam Fera, Brock
2002-03 David Kooperberg, Calgary
2001-02 John Rice, Regina
2000-01 Ryan Weicker, Brock
1999-00 Scott Seeley, UNB
1998-99 Roger Ruiu, McMaster
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