Badgers pin down gold medals
Brock men’s, women’s teams dominate Ontario university wrestling championships
Brock is once again No. 1 in the province when it comes to grappling with success on the wrestling mat.
Both the Badgers men’s and women’s teams pinned down gold medals at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships at McMaster University Saturday in Hamilton. It was the 19th provincial title for the Brock men’s team and the 16th for the women wrestlers from the St. Catharines university.
Women’s teams from Brock have won all but four of the 20 championships awarded by the university sports governing body in Ontario.
Brock wrestlers turned in one of the most-dominant performances in OUA wrestling history winning 14 individual gold medals.
“It was one of the best performances by any team I have coached at the OUA’s,” Brock head coach Marty Calder said. “The kids have committed themselves to the pursuit of excellence, and we saw the results today.”
“We look forward to the national championships in two weeks and the challenges that we will face.”
Nationals are taking place Feb. 2526 in Winnipeg.
Gold medallists for the Brock men in Hamilton were Sam Jagas 57 kilogram; Chris McIsaac, 61 kg; Mizam Tamaradze, 65 kg; Matt Jagas, 68 kg; Cruiz Manning, 72 kg; Tyler Rowe, 76 kg; Jevon Balfour, 82 kg; and Ignatius Pitt, 100 kg.
Clayton Pye, 90 kg; settled for the silver medal, while Kingston Wong, 54 kg; and Benny Ferrara, 120 kg; each placed fourth overall at the Ontario championships.
Kristina McLaren, 51kg; Hannah Taylor, 55kg; Emily Schaefer, 59kg; Jessica Brouillette 63kg; Indira Moores, 67 kg; and Zoe Forsythe, 82kg; won gold medals for Brock in the women’s divisions.
Farrantina Gatta, 48kg; and Shauna Kuebeck, 72 kg; were awarded silver medals.
Taylor was named the OUA women’s rookie of the year, and Calder the provincial coach of the year, for both men’s and women’s wrestling, for the 17th time in his career.
Rounding out the major award winners were Ahmed Shamiya, McMaster, outstanding male wrestler; Natyssa Lu, Guelph, outstanding female wrestler; and Marco Palermo, Lakehead, men’s rookie of the year.
Rowe was selected as Brock’s comale athlete of the week, along with hockey player Sammy Banga, while Moores and swimmer Rachel Nogard shared female athlete of the week honours.
McMaster, silver; and Western, bronze; joined Brock on the podium in the men’s flight, while Guelph, silver; and Western, bronze; rounded out the top three women’s teams. Brock swimmers place eighth
Host Toronto, as expected, made the biggest splash at the OUA Swimming Championships, but the Badgers made their presence felt by winning two individual medals for the first time in 10 years.
Graduating team captain Rachel Nogard earned a silver in the 200-metre butterfly. The concurrent education major from Ancaster just missed a second medal with a fourth-place finish in the 100 butterfly, then finished sixth in 200 backstroke final.
Breaking a school record that has stood since 1998 in that event, Rachel finishes her OUA career holding school records in five different individual events and as part of three relay squads.
Jessie MacLean, a physical education major from Toronto, swam to bronze in the 50 freestyle sprint, setting a Brock record in the process.
Nogard and MacLean will represent the Badgers at the national championships Feb. 24-26 in Sherbrooke, Que.
They pair combined with Amileigh DuToit, sport management, Oakville; and Emma Loeschnik, public health, Markham; to break a 20-year-old school record in the 4-by-100 freestyle relay, placing sixth overall. Du Toit, MacLean, Nogard, and Sarah Maddock, kinesiology; Brampton; added another sixth in the 4-by-200 freestyle relay.
On the men’s side, concurrent education student Gokhan Bozyigit, Istanbul; was fast enough in the 1,500 freestyle to clinch at berth at the 2-17 U Sports National Championships. Bozyigit finished in the event and he was also a finalist in the 400 freestyle.