Brock Wrestling Club dominates nationals
Jessie MacDonald (left) was one of seven Brock Wrestling Club members who won national titles this past weekend.
The Brock Wrestling Club turned in its most impressive performance ever at the Canadian senior national wrestling championships.
“We were friggin’ awesome,” said Brock head coach Marty Calder, following the competition Saturday in Saskatoon.
Brock won both the men’s and women’s team titles at the event.
“That was the first time that we won both and we dominated,” Calder said. “It wasn’t close.”
There were a lot of factors that went into the incredible week, including great athletes and a little bit off luck.
“It was a combination of things,” he said. “The kids were ready to go and they went out and put it all out on the line.
“I give them all the credit and I was really proud of the effort they put in and the quality of their performance.”
On the men’s side: Jevon Balfour (74 kilograms) and Nick Rowe (70 kilograms) won gold; Sam Jagas (57 kilograms) and Juwan Burgess (79 kilograms) earned silver; Ligrit Sadiku (57 kilograms), Cruiz Manning (65 kilograms), Tyler Rowe (74 kilograms) and Richard DesChatelets Jr. (97 kilograms) captured bronze; and, Alex Moher (57 kilograms),and Chris McIsaac (65 kilograms) placed fifth.
On the women’s side: Jessie MacDonald (50 kilograms), Diana Weicker (53 kilograms), Hannah Taylor (57 kilograms), Olivia Di Bacco (68 kilograms) and Darrion Sterling (72 kilograms) mined gold; Emily Schaeffer (57 kilograms) and Jessica Brouillette (62 kilograms) won silver; Jade Parsons (53 kilograms) and Shauna Kuebeck (72 kilograms) took bronze; and, Kristina McLaren (53 kilograms) placed fifth.
Among Calder’s most memorable moments on the weekend were: Taylor capturing a national title at age 20; Brouillette leading late in the match and coming close in a tough weight class; Sadiku having a great tournament; Jagas recording a huge upset in the semifinals before losing a close match in the final; dominant performances by Weicker and MacDonald; Balfour gutting it out and winning again despite returning from a back injury; and, Parsons earning ‘true second’ by defeating the silver medalist and becoming eligible for international trips if the gold medalist declines.
The successful weekend means Brock will have a healthy contingent of athletes competing at the 2019 world championships. Not all the Brock winners have earned automatic berths to the worlds. Some athletes in Olympic weight classes will face wrestle-offs against athletes who were injured and unable to compete at nationals. Di Bacco and Taylor are in this situation.
And winners in non-Olympic weight classes will have to go to trials and compete against wrestlers who didn’t win their divisions in Olympic weight classes. This effects Nick Rowe and Sterling.
Weicker, Balfour and MacDonald have all punched their tickets to the worlds and Canada’s team for the Pan Am Games.
The junior national championships were also held in Saskatoon. Brock’s Garette Saunders (57 kilograms) took silver, Samantha Romano (50 kilograms), Nicole French (72 kilograms) and Tejvir Boal (86 kilograms) earned bronze and Jessica Tillmanns (62 kilograms) placed fourth
Team Discipline’s Samantha Adams (50 kilograms) won a silver medal. Adams is a student at Beamsville and District Secondary School.
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