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A pair of wrestlers are the most recent Brock University athletes of the week.
Aaron Fabiano, a second-year political science student from Windsor, went 3-0 at 54 kilograms in his first Ontario University Athletics championship appearance to help Brock capture its 14th straight OUA men's wrestling crown on the weekend.
Winning top female honours was Alana King of Scarborough. The fifth-year business administration major went 3-0 at 48 kilograms to lead Brock to its eighth OUA women's crown in school history. The former Governor Simcoe student was named the OUA's outstanding female wrestler.
Marty Calder was named the men's and women's coach of the year.
The Brock men qualified eight of the 10 weight classes for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships, mining six golds, one silver and one bronze. Brock's women qualified seven of eight CIS weight classes pinning three golds, three silvers and one bronze.
Earning gold medals on the men's side were: Fabiano; C.J. Hudson (61 kilograms); Peter Simons (65 kilograms); Paul Rabjohn (82 kilograms); Alex Brown-Theriault (90 kilograms); and, St. Catharines native Mike Neufeld (heavyweight).
Eric MacKinnon (68 kilograms) won a silver medal and Brad Trimble (76 kilograms) took home bronze.
Gold medal winners on the women's side were King, Jessica Bondy (55 kilograms)and Michelle Fazzari (59 kilograms)
Liz Sanli (51 kilograms), Debra Jehu (72 kilograms) and Jocelyn Dresser (82 kilograms) captured silver medals while Celeste Contant Rodrigues (63 kilograms) took home the bronze.
Canada
K-BAY Wrestling Club
A number of local Barrie high school wrestlers will be competing in the Ontario Winter Games being held March 5 to March 9 in Collingwood.
More than 3,000 athletes and coaches, in 23 sporting disciplines from the entire province will be competing.
The amateur wrestling competition will be held at Collingwood Collegiate Invitational on March 7 to March 8. Through a series of qualifying wrestling tournaments this past season, the following male and female students from Barrie's K-BAY Wrestling Club, have been invited to participate in this prestigious event. Those include Charlotte Clement (Barrie North Collegiate), Nick Rowe (Barrie North), Matt Harlow (Bear Creek Secondary School), Wesley Burbidge (Bear Creek), Nick Morrison (Bear Creek), Devyn Cain (Bear Creek) and Brandon Stewart (Bear Creek).
Other local high school students who have been invited are Alanah Bailey (Barrie Central Collegiate), Amelia Martin (Barrie Central) and Jessie Twigg (Barrie Central).
K-BAY wrestlers held their own at the Dynamo Open and Matmen Youth wrestling tournaments the past two Saturdays, with many wrestlers making the semifinals or finals.
The Kempenfelt Bay Athletic Clubmembers travelled to St. Benedict's High School in Cambridge for the Matmen youth tournament, with members Sukhraj Gill placing second and Sandeep Gill fourth.
Also, at the Dynamo Open, Tyler Rowe and William Chandler placed first, Matthew Ings finished third and Wylie Agowissa sixth in their respective weight groups and divisions.
Female wrestlers will put their
skills to the test in the first Maine High School Girls' Wrestling
Invitational, which will be held today at Mt. Blue High School.
Only Maine female athletes are eligible to compete in the non-profit
event, which meets Maine Principals' Association guidelines.
"We have seen girls wrestling come a long way in a relatively short
time," said Arvid Cullenberg, who is the meet organizer.
"There are some remarkable female wrestlers with talent in this state.
"This is a chance for them to shine in their arena."
Girls have been allowed to join male wrestling teams for the past
several years in the Pine Tree state.
Over 50 girls, representing 27 schools, have pre-registered. Weight
Classes will be determined by grouping entries, and all seeding will be
drawn. It will cost $15 per wrestler, and schools with four or more
wrestlers competing will pay $60.
Wrestling will begin at noon. Medals will be given to first and second
place for each weight class. A team trophy will also be awarded.
There are several colleges that offer women's wrestling, and the United
States Girls' Wrestling Association is gaining momentum. In fact, two
former Mainers - Jenn Wormwood of Oxford Hills and Deena Rix of
Marshwood - have each won multiple USGWA national championships.
They also placed third and second, respectively, in a Class A high
school state meet.
"There is plenty of girls who wrestle," said Cullenberg, who is a
certified wrestling official. "I've seen several who had great mat
sense. They toss opponents a head and arm and use great hip work. In
the end, she lost two matches and was done.
Here is an athlete who has most
likely worked as hard as any guy and walks away empty handed."
She and others like her deserve their day in the sun."
North Carolina
First Flight wrestlers
J.C.Mitchell and J.D. Cunningham and Manteo wrestler Shane Brinn each
earned a berth at the 1A/2A North Carolina State Wrestling Championship
by finishing in the top four spots at the East Regional tournament on
Feb. 16.
Mitchell had the best finish as he rode three victories to the
103-pound championship match. He was a perfect 2-0 in his Friday
matches, pinning Lejeune's Zach Bergeron and defeating Trask's Ralph
Marion 12-7.
This set up his semi-final match up with Rosewood's Olivia Neal, the
No. 1 seed in the tournament with more than 100 career wins. Neal took
an early lead, but Mitchell recovered with a thrilling upset to score
the 8-6 decision victory. Neal is one of three female wrestlers on
Rosewood's squad.
This set up his semi-final match up with Rosewood's Olivia Neal, the No. 1 seed in the tournament with more than 100 career wins. Neal took an early lead, but Mitchell recovered with a thrilling upset to score the 8-6 decision victory. Neal is one of three female wrestlers on Rosewood's squad.
Virginia
EASTVILLE --2/20/08
Northampton downed Franklin, 57-15, Friday night in the final wrestling action before this Friday's Eastern Shore District Wrestling Tournament.
Northampton will host the district tournament this Friday. The first matches will begin at 5 p.m. Team and individual district championships will be determined at the tournament.
Northampton is the defending district champ and looked every bit the part in Friday's match against Franklin. The Jackets took advantage of six Bronco forfeits.
Mandi Barnes (112), John Hickman (135) and Ryan Rock (152) recorded falls for the Yellow Jackets, while Thomas Ward (285) earned a decision.
Barnes, the first female wrestler to win a district title and participate in the state wrestling tournament, pinned Franklin's Rosie Sing in the 112-pound weight class. Barnes is usually faced by male wrestlers, but took control of this female wrestler from Franklin early for a first period pin.
Maine
For the second straight season a wrestler from York High School won a state championship and earned a berth at the prestigious New England Championships.
For the second straight year, the wrestler was a Gauthier.
However, this time sophomore Billy gets family bragging rights, not his older brother, Ray, a senior.
Billy Gauthier won all three matches in his 125-pound weight class at Saturday's state championships at Mountain Valley High School, defeating Ellsworth's John Gordon in the championship bout.
"He (Billy) was really excited," York High School wrestling coach Wally Caldwell said. "He worked hard and battled his weight the whole season. He was always very careful with his weight, probably more than anybody on the team. He probably sacrificed a little more than the others on the team."
Gauthier started the season at the 131-pound weight class, but recently moved down to 125 for a better chance of winning a state championship.
Caldwell thought the 131-pound class was more competitive, calling Ernie Matthews of Mountain Valley "a great wrestler."
"I told Billy that if he wanted to win a state championship, maybe going 125 was his ticket," Caldwell said. "He realized that too. He committed to dropping down about a month ago and it really worked out well for him."
Gauthier is the fifth Wildcat to win a state championship, and first sophomore. Other York wrestlers to win state titles include Brian Carl (twice), Sean Bradburn, Mike Cicero and Ray Gauthier.
Caldwell said the older Gauthier, who later lost in the state championship in the 171-pound division, was the first to congratulate his younger brother.
"Ray couldn't have been happier," Caldwell said. "He was really glad for his brother. There really is a great connection between the two of them."
Each state champion will advance to the New England Championships on Friday, Feb. 29 in Lawrence, Mass.
"Billy can really wrestle at the level of his opponent," Caldwell said. "He really has a wide range of styles. He's really aggressive and smart. It makes him tough to beat. He doesn't make many mistakes, which is critical in this sport. He wrestles well on his feet. Hopefully, he can go down there, win a couple of matches and see what happens. The whole experience can is only going to bode him well for next year."
Gauthier is now 33-4 on the season.
"He's been very consistent over the past month," Caldwell said. "Consistency is his forte. He stays true to what he's good at. He's a very unique wrestler and really has the full package for such a young wrestler."
Senior Nick Mercurio, at 215 pounds, won his first two matches, but ended up losing 5-0 to PJ Richards from Hermon in the championship.
"It was close for the first two periods, but Nick then got turned over," Caldwell said. "Nick did a fine job. He had a phenomenal day. Not to win his last match is tough for him, but he did a great job this season."
Mercurio, who started wrestling as a sophomore, went 39-3 this season and had more than 80 wins in his varsity career.
Ray Gauthier was pinned by Belfast's Mike Roleson just 1:43 into the match. Gauthier was quickly up 7-1, but was caught on his back and couldn't escape.
Gauthier went 38-4 on the season and ends his career with a record of 120-26, the most wins in school history.
"Ray was just phenomenal the past four years," Caldwell said. "He was a focused kid for four years, but was a special kid who worked hard, and in this sport, you don't get there (the top) if you're not. He was just relentless."
Senior Dan Towers, at 135 pounds, placed third, pinning Cornelius Wood of Belfast in 1:37. Towers went 2-1 on the day, finishing his career with 101 wins.
Alex Hymanson (145) and Ben Hecht (160) both placed fourth. Caldwell was pleasantly surprised with Hecht's regional championship and getting to the state tournament.
"That's a person we didn't expect to score a lot of points at that level, but he won regional, and went 2-2 at state," Caldwell said.
Rhea Goyetche (103) went 1-2, while Jim Cassotis (140) and Anthony Gonzalez (275) both went 0-2.
Caldwell will bring Goyetche, Melissa Hanley (110) and Cami Kristjansdotter (118) to Mt. Blue High School tonight for the inaugural Maine Girl's Invitational Wrestling Tournament.
"That should be awesome," Caldwell said.
Area wrestling teams set for state tourney
The GHSA state wrestling meet gets under way today at Gwinnett Arena in Atlanta as nearly 100 area wrestlers, representing six schools in Southwest Georgia will be competing for both individual and team honors.
While few will argue that Lee County’s traditionally strong program — which won Region 1-AAAA hands down yet again this past weekend — has the greatest shot of going the deepest, there’s no overlooking Region 1-AAA champs Westover. The Patriots are led by 140-pound titlist Ryan Cauley, along with teammate and region finals runner-up Brannon Scott (152), both of whom finished in the Top 10 at the state tournament in their respective weight classes in 2007. Additionally, Westover produced four more region champs this season in addition to Cauley — David Metz (119 pounds), Dylan Snapp (130), Colby Faircloth (135) and Chris Snyder (heavyweight) — and second-year Patriots coach Kevin Fretwell hopes his team can build on their strong state showing from last year.
“We took 12 guys last season who qualified, and we’re taking 13 now this season, so we’ve already shown some improvement,” Fretwell said Tuesday evening, less than 24 hours before his team was set to board a bus for Gwinnett, where wrestling will begin at 7:30 tonight. “Right now, the guys are pretty peppy, pretty excited. They seemed refreshed (after winning region) and emotionally revived, so I expect us to do well.”
From Monroe, which finished second to Westover in the region tournament and upsetting usual power Cairo (third place), the Tornadoes have two wrestlers to watch in particular, and one that everyone likely will be talking about.
Region champs Chris Chambers (125) and Wendell Pringle (189) are no doubt looking to add to their success at state while Monroe’s 103-pounder — female wrestler Sandriana Cribbs — should turn a few heads when she takes the mat as the reigning region titleholder at her weight class. Cribbs, however, won the division in a walkover, meaning she will take the mat at state somewhat untested, but looking to add to a what already has turned into a stellar Monroe season.
Led by Dexter Malone, Monroe has emerged in the latter part of the year and is a team “that can do some things,” according to Fretwell, who coached the Tornadoes program two years ago and has been impressed with their progress this year.
And closing out Region 1-AAA is Dougherty, which finished a close fourth behind Cairo and Monroe at the conference meet last week and will be led at the state tournament by region champs Kharee Postell (112) and Nichols Mulkey (215).
Out of 1-AAAA, Lee County will be led by four of its five region champs from Saturday’s tournament in Leesburg, where the Trojans dominated from start to finish, beating second-place Thomas County Central by nearly 60 points. Brandon Paustian, who won the 1-AAAA title at 103, will not make the trip after opting to concentrate on his classwork instead of missing three days of school, according to coach Phil Maxfield. However, the Trojans will be led by region champs Dennis Eckles (130), Jonathan Hyde (152), Danny McCray (145) and Conner Cloud (160).
Maxfield, whose team has won the region title and advanced wrestlers to state every year but three since he took over 15 years ago, says he expects the Trojans will once again be a force to be reckoned with as long as they don’t get unfavorable draws.
“Just like every year at these things, it’s literally the luck of the draw,” said Maxfield, whose team won’t open up the state meet until Thursday, giving way to Class A-AAA, which open today. “Right now, I’d say Dennis has the best shot to make it a long way because his draw looks good, opposed to some weight classes where you have four or five top state placers from last year all lumped on one side.
“It makes for exciting wrestling, but when you have one of your kids in that mix trying to fight his way through, it can be a nightmare (way to end the season).”
Maxfield is taking 12 wrestlers, whom — like all the rest of the GHSA classes with qualified wrestlers making the trip — were one of the top four finishers in their respective weight classes during last week’s region tournaments.
Alongside Lee County in 1-AAAA will be Bainbridge, which finished fourth at the region tournament, and will be paced by titleholders Timothy Greene (135) and Reuben Reynolds (heavyweights). Americus-Sumter, which was last at region, did not have any region champs, but still qualified several
wrestlers for state.