Brock wrestling juggernaut rolls along
Same story, different year.
For the 22nd time in school history and for the ninth consecutive year, the Brock men’s wrestling team won the U SPORTS Wrestling Championships Saturday at the University of Guelph. Not to be outdone, the Badger women won their 11th national title and 10th in the past 11 years.
“There is no secret to it. We have the mentors who know what they are doing and you wouldn’t be able to do it if you didn’t have those. And the kids do their work,” Brock head coach Marry Calder said. “We raise ourselves up. We (men’s team) ended up No. 1 in the rankings before nationals but during the year we were No. 4 and all over the place. But we won by 21 and it wasn’t even close. Our athletes seem to be able to put it together at the right time and that has been our mantra all along. When it is time to go, that is when we are going to be ready.
“I know people always want these magical words but there are never words that do it. It is always the work and the passion and all that stuff that amount to it in any kind of success.”
The coaching staff is made up of: Calder, the U SPORTS Men’s Coach of the Year; Dave Collie, the U SPORTS Women’s Coach of the Year; Tyler Rose; Ignatius Pitt; Heather Sweezey; Diana Weicker; and Olivia Di Bacco.
Brock’s men finished first with 83 points followed by Alberta (62) and McMaster (48). On the women’s side, the Badgers topped the field with 75 points followed by Alberta (56) and Saskatchewan (55).
“The guys wrestled really well. We had some good wins that we weren’t sure of. It was in that area where it could go either way and we were winning them,” Calder said. “We lost some on the girls side but we also had some people rise up. Jessica Tillmanns had a big win and Cassie Corbett had a couple of really good wins. It kind of went back and forth on that side but on the men’s side we put it together well and had eight in the finals. We got wins where we weren’t getting them before. Roger Li beat a guy that has beaten him the last three times so things like that happened.”
The championships were held in one day this year instead of two but that had little effect on how the Badgers performed.
“Usually you know who you are going to wrestle the next day and you can plan for that. This year we had such a quick turnaround. I don’t think there was 10 minutes between the preliminary matches and the placement matches,” Calder said. “It was not a format that I would suggest but it was what it was and we dealt with it as best we could. Obviously it seems we dealt with it better than anybody else did.”
Winning gold medals on the men’s side were Garette Saunders (61 kilograms), Nicolae Gandrabura (65 kilograms), Bobby Narwal (72 kilograms), Callum Knox (100 kilograms) and Li (125 kilograms).
Earning silver were Gabriel Blanchette (68 kilograms), Max Budgey (76 kilograms) and Yazden Farokhizad (90 kilograms).
Mining gold in the women’s divisions were Francesca Lo Greco (50 kilograms), Mia Friesen (56 kilograms) and Brianna Fraser (83 kilograms)
Taking silver were Tillmanns (68 kilograms), Vanessa Keefe (72 kilograms) and Corbett (76 kilograms).
Earning bronze were Brooklyn Brown (53 kilograms) and Michaela Rankin (59 kilograms).
Lo Greco was named the U SPORTS Female Rookie of the Year.
There will be little time for Brock wrestlers to catch their breath with junior and senior nationals scheduled for next weekend in Ottawa.
“Then we get some time off. It is a crazy time,” Calder said.
