Brock men and women golden at OUAs
The beat goes on for the Brock men’s and women’s wrestling programs.
Following a one-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario University Athletics wrestling championships returned to centre stage Saturday at Brock University.
Brock’s men ended up winning the team title for the sixth straight year and the 23rd time overall while the equally impressive women won their seventh straight team championship and 20th in the past 24 seasons.
Individual award winners included: Mia Friesen, OUA women’s rookie of the year; Roger Li, men’s rookie of the year; Dave Collie, female coach of the year; and, Marty Calder, male coach of the year.
“After a long time, off, it was nice to get back and wrestle in some meaningful competition,” Calder said.
At some OUA championships, the Brock men and women had sewn up the team titles even before the gold-medal matches but that wasn’t the case Saturday.
“No, it was competitive and especially on the men’s side,” he said. “McMaster had a strong squad and we knew they were going to threaten us and as a team we wrestled really well.”
Calder agreed it was extremely challenge to train during the pandemic.
“Ontario got hit hard with non training regulations and it has been really tough on these kids. There was no consistency in their training and competition and it has been a battle.
“We had a hiccup again in December (with another lockdown) I am proud that these kids stuck with it and the coaches are happy that they were able to compete again and how well they did.”
Collie was thrilled with how well his team fared.
“It was a great performance. We have a really young team and we only have two women who had competed at the OUAs before. That meant the other seven were brand new at it and I am really happy with the results.”
Collie didn’t see any surprises Saturday.
“People placed where they should have.”
There were contributions up and down the roster, including: Jessica Tillmanns, who made it to the final by defeating a Western opponent who had beaten her twice during the season; up-and-comer Friesen making the 59-kilogram final; Sam Romano winning as expected; Daina Morris-Armstrong winning after returning from a bad injury; rookie Sam Adams winning bronze; Ella Jakobi stepping in late and winning bronze; Jessica Matile, whose father was a former training partner of Collie’s and a former USPORTS champion, winning gold; Brianna Fraser wrestling up a weight class but still winning silver.
“We were super happy with all the performances,” Collie said.
Below are complete Brock results:
BROCK WOMEN
50-kilograms: Sam Romano defeated McMaster’s Ligaya Stinellis 8-7 in the final.
53 kilograms: Daina Morris-Armstrong pinned York’s Arely Torales-Ramirez 32 seconds into the first round of the final.
56 kilograms: Ella Jakobi won a bronze medal.
59 kilograms: Mia Friesen lost to York’s Alexandria Town by technical superiority in the final.
63 kilograms: Jessica Tillmanns lost to Lakehead’s Madison Clayton by pin in the final.
67 kilograms: Samantha Adams won a bronze medal.
72 kilograms: Aminat Adeniyi won gold when Western’s Paige Baynham withdrew because of an injury.
76 kilograms: Brock’s Brianna Fraser lost to Amelia Frisbee 1-1 after Frisbee scored the last point in the final.
82 kilograms: Brock’s Jessica Matile defeated Ryerson’s Tessa Williams 10-0 by technical superiority in the final.
BROCK MEN
57 kilograms: Gabriel Sementilli lost to McMaster’s Francesco Fortino by technical superiority in the final.
61 kilogams: Garette Saunders won a bronze medal.
65 kilograms: Gabriel Blanchette won a bronze medal
68 kilograms: Brock’s Eamonn Dudley-Chubbs lost by technical superiority to McMaster’s Trystan Kato in the final.
72 kilograms: Bobby Narwal defeated Lakehead’s Alex Richer 8-3 in the final.
76 kilograms: Brock’s Max Budgley defeated McMaster’s Jackson Glasgow 10-0 by technical superiority in the final.
82 kilograms: Jordan Wiley lost 9-5 to Western’s Lukas Geske in the final.
90 kilograms: Brock’s Brock’s Richard DesChatelets defeated Guelph’s Simon Chaves 10-0 by technical superiority in the final.
100 kilograms: Callum Knox lost by technical superiority to to McMaster’s Peter Shirley in the final.
125 kilograms: Roger Li defeated McMaster’s Jonathan Vecchio 12-2 by technical superiority in the final.
