UNB strong yet again at CIS wrestling championship

(EDMONTON, AB) – For the second year in a row, the Brock University Badgers are in first place in the men’s and women’s standings after the opening day of competition at the CIS wrestling championships.

Ilya Abelev, of the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, will be looking for his fourth consecutive CIS gold medal, with the three previous each coming in a different weight class. A native of Ottawa, and former competitor for the Western Mustangs, Abelev has won CIS gold at 72 kg (2013), 68 kg (2012) and 65 kg (2011) and will look to add the 76 kg gold to his trophy case on Saturday when he meets Aleksander Soronov of the Winnipeg Wesmen.

 Website (including detailed results): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrest/index 

The Badgers are near locks to defend their men’s and women’s titles following Day 1 of competition in the University of Alberta’s Main Gym. Winners of a CIS record 14 men’s championships, Brock (47) holds a 10 point lead on second place McMaster, while the Brock women, a program that has won five titles, including the last three consecutive, sit in first place with 43 points, 10 more than second place Calgary. 

Six members of the Brock women’s team will compete for CIS medals on Day 2, including five in gold medal matches.  

Fifth-year Badger Jade Parsons, of Orillia, Ont., is in contention for her fourth straight 48 kg gold and will face Saskatchewan’s Annie Monteith in the title bout. 

Also defending their gold medals from last season will be Carlene Sluberski, who hails from Fredonia, N.Y., as she faces Madi Parks from Western in the 55 kg final, and Barrie, Ont. native Jessica Brouillette, who will step into the ring against Natasha Doroodian of Algoma for the 63 kg championship.

Concordia’s Veronica Keefe will also defend her title, the 72 kg gold, against Guelph’s Gracelynn Doogan, while Guelph’s Kelsey Gsell will defend her 82 kg championship against Calgary’s Holly Ellsworth-Clark. 

Brock also has potential gold medalists in Emily Schaefer, who will meet Alberta’s Hayley Thomas for the 51 kg title, while Indira Moores will battle Lakehead’s Emma Horner in the 59 kg title match. 

On the men’s side, only two reigning gold medalists will defend on Day 2 as Alberta’s Mike Asselstine, a native of Edmonton, will look to win his second straight CIS gold in the 61 kg class, and will do so against Brock’s Jason Buckle, while Western’s Riley Otto will square off with Winnipeg Wesmen wrestler Finn Higgins for the 90 kg top podium position.

The men’s 57 kg gold medal tilt should be a thriller as well, as three-time CIS gold medalist Steven Takahashi, from the Western Mustangs, meets Saskatchewan’s Dylan Bray. Bray, the most recent Canada West champion, has previously picked up CIS silver (2013) and bronze (2014) at 57 kg, while Takahashi is back after sitting out all of last season with an injury, and is wrestling a weight class up after winning a troika of gold medals in the 54 weight class.

Defending 54 kg gold medalist Brian Cowan will meet Alberta’s Dylan Williams in the bronze medal bout after Cowan lost 10-0, on a technical fall, to Bray in the preliminary round. 

Fellow Badger defending CIS title holders Sam Jagas (54 kg) and Matrixx Ferreira (82 kg) will both be battling for bronze on Saturday as well, after losing during preliminary matches on Day 1.

University of Saskatchewan freshman Josh Bodnarchuk, named the Canada West Male Rookie of the Year at the conference meet two weeks ago, will contest for the 54 kg title, against Concordia’s Trevor Banks, who beat Jagas 5-2 in the preliminary round. 

Brothers Nick (65 kg) and Tyler Rowe (72 kg), of the Brock Badgers, are both in gold medal fights on Saturday, and if they win they will become the first brothers to win double gold at the CIS championships since 1986 when Concordia’s Mike (61 kg) and Pat (68 kg) Sullivan did the trick.

Following is a complete list of Day 2 matchups.

DAY 2 MATCH-UPS: WOMEN

48 kg

Gold: Jade Parsons (Brock) vs. Annie Monteith (Saskatchewan)

Bronze: Valerie Ouelette (Western) vs. Alyssa Cleaves (UNB) 

5th: Kaitlin Kucharski (Winnipeg) vs. Josee Tremblay (Calgary)

7th: Natassya Lu (Guelph)

51 kg

Gold:  Hayley Thomas (Alberta) vs. Emily Schaefer (Brock)

Bronze: Kate Richey (Calgary) vs. Rachel Adler (Winnipeg)

5th: Alexandria Town (York) vs. Nicole Mazzara (McMaster)

7th: Amanda Eng (UNB)

55 kg

Gold: Madi Parks (Western) vs. Carlene Sluberski (Brock)

Bronze: Cara Nania (Calgary) vs. Cierra Carere (Guelph)    

5th: Laryssa Barry (Saskatchewan) vs. Emily Kessler (Winnipeg)

59 kg

Gold: Indira Moores (Brock) vs. Emma Horner (Lakehead)  

Bronze: Cholena Horne (Alberta) vs. Alyssa Medeiros (Western)    

5th: Lisa Brise (Saskatchewan) vs. Indhyra Linares (Regina)

7th: Brittany Dillman (UNB)     

63 kg

Gold: Natasha Doroodian (Algoma) vs. Jessica Brouillette (Brock)

Bronze: Temitope Ogunjimi (Calgary) vs. Krystin Paquette (Alberta)

5th: Sena Debia (Regina) vs. Alexa Momy (Western)

67 kg

Gold: Kayla Brodner (Regina) vs. Alison Carrow (Guelph)

Bronze: Lorena Ellis (St. Thomas) vs. Brandy Perry (Alberta)

5th: Kelsey Dayler (Lakehead) vs. Nicole Roach (McMaster)

7th: Cassidy Barnert (Calgary)

72 kg

Gold: Gracelynn Doogan (Guelph) vs. Veronica Keefe (Concordia)

Bronze: Hilary Goble (Calgary) vs. Olivia DiBacco (Brock)

5th: Darrion Sterling (UNB) vs. Molly Bouchard (Alberta)

7th: Dalynn McKay (Regina) vs. Grace Bannerman (Toronto)

82 kg

Gold: Holly Ellsworth-Clark (Calgary) vs. Kelsey Gsell (Guelph)

Bronze: Megan Nelthorpe (Saskatchewan) vs. Marlen Figueroa (Alberta)

5th: Alyshia Anderson (McMaster)

DAY 2 MATCH-UPS: MEN

54 kg

Gold: Josh Bodnarchuk (Saskatchewan) vs. Trevor Banks (Concordia)

Bronze: Mario Tran (UNB) vs. Sam Jagas (Brock)

5th: Chris Waltner (Lakehead) vs. Steven McCarville (Alberta)

7th: Freddie Aziz (Calgary) vs. Eric Renaud (Saskatchewan)

57 kg

Gold: Dylan Bray (Saskatchewan) vs. Steven Takahashi (Western)

Bronze: Dylan Williams (Alberta) vs. Brian Cowan (Brock)

5th: Roland Young (Calgary) vs. Elvir Uzonovic (Guelph)

7th: Bassel Bou Moughlabay (Concordia)

61 kg

Gold: Michael Asselstine (Alberta) vs. Jason Buckle (McMaster)

Bronze: Zack Falcioni (Brock) vs. Peter Shannon (Queen’s)

5th: Sam Dietrich (Regina) vs. Nathan Galan (Saskatchewan)

65 kg

Gold: Spenser Burk (Calgary) vs. Nick Rowe (Brock)

Bronze: Vince Demarinis (Concordia) vs. Cody Osborne (Alberta)

5th: Omar Ahmed (McMaster) vs. Andy Sanford (UNB)

7th: Mitchell Berenz (Winnipeg) vs. Ethan Smith (Western)

68 kg

Gold: Andrew McKenzie (Brock) vs. Chris Garneau (McMaster)

Bronze: Drew Belanger (Alberta) vs. Caleb Rutner (Western)

5th: Lucas Hoffert (Regina) vs. Tyler Buchan (Calgary)

7th: Christian Mardari (Concordia)

72 kg

Gold: Ahmed Shamiya (McMaster) vs. Tyler Rowe (Brock)

Bronze: Dimitry Gershanov (Concordia) vs. Richard Balfour (Western)

5th: Malcolm Meekins (Saskatchewan) vs. Kyle Horvath (Calgary)

7th: Ian Janes (Memorial) vs. Brock Munro (Winnipeg)

76 kg

Gold: Aleksander Soronov (Winnipeg) vs. Ilya Abelev (UNB)

Bronze: Ben Bradford (Guelph) vs. Connor Hodgins (Calgary)

5th: Hiddie Van Der Kamp (Alberta) vs. Eric Steffler (McMaster)

7th: Chris Kinsella (Concordia) vs. Alec Bauer (Western)

82 kg

Gold: Grayson St. Laurent (UNB) vs. Joban Phulka (McMaster)

Bronze: Matrixx Ferreira (Brock) vs. Dan Humphrey (Guelph)

5th: Andrew Johnson (Saskatchewan) vs. Dennis Sutton (Memorial)

7th: Makoto Honda-McNeil (Alberta) vs. Ben Christopher (Winnipeg)

90 kg

Gold: Riley Otto (Western) vs. Finn Higgins (Winnipeg)

Bronze: Nick Proctor (Calgary) vs. Ignatius Pitt (Brock)

5th: Kevin Barrett (McMaster) vs. Brad Hildenbrandt (UFV)

7th: Matt Short (UNB)

100 kg

Gold: Alex Thoms (UNB) vs. Andrii Vorontsov (Brock)

Bronze: Daniel Oloumi (Alberta) vs. Jacob Luczak (Regina)

5th: Andrew Balach (McMaster) vs. Kyle Bonk-Dann (Western)

120 kg

Gold: Kyle Nguyen (Winnipeg) vs. Manheet Kalhon (UFV)

Bronze: Jacob Philips (Saskatchewan) vs. Thom MaCrae (UNB)

5th: Ahmed Ramadan (McMaster) vs. Ali Koca (York)

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times MOUNTAIN TIME)

Thursday, February 26

17:30 Weigh-ins (Van Vliet Complex – U of A)

Friday, February 27

12:00 Preliminaries Round 1 (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

14:30 Preliminaries Round 2 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

18:00 Preliminaries Round 3 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Saturday, February 28

11:00 5th-8th place matches (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

12:30 Bronze-medal matches (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

14:30 Championship finals (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

18:30 Championship Banquet (Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel – Valley Ballroom)