Badgers’ dozen
The Brock Badgers women’s wrestling team won its 12th U SPORTS title in the past 13 years but it was anything but easy.
The team championship was up for grabs heading into the gold medal matches Saturday and Brock’s title wasn’t secured until McMaster’s Olivia Lichti defeated Calgary’s Eve Maxwell-Nikiforak in the fourth match of the finals on Mat 2 at Canada Games Park. Brock’s 70 points put it three points ahead of Calgary for its 12th overall crown.
“If they would have won that one and Briana (Fraser) lost, which she didn’t, then we would have lost,” Brock women’s head coach Dave Collie said.
The Badgers lost six of the seven gold medal matches they contested.
“It’s great to have competition. Our girls definitely showed up and wrestled really well on the first day,” he said. “We didn’t have a good finals, even though we won.”
Collie thought his young team felt the pressure Saturday.
“If you can have a final day like we had today and still win the overall title, that kudos to all the hard work, time and effort that they put in all year. And what they did the first day, they put themselves in a position that having a bad day today wasn’t totally disastrous.”
Fraser’s win at 83 kilograms was by technical superiority but it took her to 51 seconds left in the second round to end it.
“I think she was really feeling the pressure because it was like a domino effect on our guys and girls sides. We had loss after loss after loss and instead of going out there and wrestling the best that she could, she was wrestling not wanting to lose at points during the match. That being said, she won by technical superiority so it wasn’t like it was a close match,” Collie said. “There were moments when it was close and on one of the last breaks when we had a chance to talk to her, Heather (Sweezey) and myself finally got through to her and she went out and got the job done.”
Collie believes Fraser has a bright future as she works towards the 2028 Olympics.
“The last Olympic trials she was third and second was her older club teammate Shauna Kuebeck. Justina Di Stasio who was No. 1 I’m pretty sure will be retired,” he said. “It’s keep doing what we are doing every day. She has to keep working hard and we have to get her international exposure and international matches and she will be in a good spot.”
Fraser won her third straight U SPORTS championship but wasn’t thrilled with her overall performance.
“I didn’t wrestle how I liked to wrestle and then in the second half I started to wrestle how I like to wrestle,” the 22-year-old Sara native said. “I wasn’t going after my takedowns.”
Her third U SPORTS title went to the top of the list.
“This one is definitely special because it was in our home gym.”
She feels she has made strides in her game in the past year.
“I have had a lot of experiences over the past year that have helped me grow as a wrestler. Our coaches are really great at getting us a lot of opportunities to improve and I have spent a lot of time with them working on things I need to.”
The next step in her progression will be achieved in simple fashion.
“It’s keep training hard, listening to the coaches and following their lead. They know how to get us ready.”
Fraser wasn’t focused on the team title.
“We always come to do our best and getting team titles is something that happens. It is not necessarily the focus. It’s nice when we finish a tournament, have done our best and end up bringing home a team title.”
Fraser’s goal is to represent Canada at the 2028 Olympics.
“I got third at the last trials and I know that I have so many areas to improve on. Every day I am trying to get better at those and be ready for the next trials.”
Her motivation comes from those around her.
“I have a lot of support and a lot of coaches who believe in me. I have family and friends that support me and I train to be the best I can be. I want to leave the sport with no regrets.”
BROCK WOMEN’S RESULTS FROM FINALS
50 kilograms: Samantha Romero was pinned by Guelph’s Kelyn Young.
53 kilograms: Francesca Lo Greco lost by technical superiority to McMaster’s Serena Di Benedetto
62 kilograms: Michaela Rankin lost by technical superiority to Calgary’s Annika Fines.
65 kilograms: Bronwyn MacGregor lost 15-10 Calgary’s Mackenzie Cayer.
68 kilograms: Vanessa Keefe was pinned by Calgary’s Angelina Ellis-Toddington.
76 kilograms: Cassie Corbett was pinned by Lakehead’s Haley Florell.
83 kilograms: Brianna Fraser won by technical superiority over Concordia’s Alexia Shetland.
Other Brock women’s results included: Olivia Mathezer who defeated Alberta’s Natasha Ekundayo in the 56-kilogram bronze medal match; Rachel Hall who placed fifth at 72 kilograms; and, Jusleen Sidhu who placed seventh at 59 kilograms.
