Photo credit Don Voaklander

EDMONTON (CIS) – The Brock University Badgers have become the first school in CIS wrestling history to sweep the men’s and women’s national championship team banners in consecutive years, following their authoritative performance at the 2015 meet held in the University of Alberta’s historic Main Gym.

The Badgers clinched both the men’s and women’s titles even before Saturday’s gold medal matches got underway, but that didn’t stop the OUA powerhouse program from jacking up the medal count as they finished with a combined 14 medals, including six gold.

With the win the Brock women tied a CIS record of four straight banners, previously set by the Simon Fraser Clan and, with five titles overall, moved into a tie for second place with Calgary, one behind Simon Fraser.

The Badger men, meanwhile, extended their own national record by claiming their 15th CIS banner.

Four of Brock’s gold medals were won the women’s side, including Jade Parsons’ fourth straight in the 48-kilogram weight class, and her fifth CIS podium overall after she also collected silver at 51 kg in 2009 when she was named rookie of the year while competing for the University of Regina.

Also finishing on the top of the podium for the Badgers was Carlene Sluberski (55 kg), Indira Moores (59 kg) and Jessica Brouillette (63 kg). Sluberski has now won gold in each of her three CIS campaigns (55 kg, 51 kg, 55 kg), while Brouillette defended the 63 kg title she claimed as a rookie a year ago.

“We wrestled incredibly well this weekend. But, we didn’t come here focused on winning the team titles, or setting CIS records or any of that, we came here to perform as well as we could in our individual matches, and we knew if we did that, we would have success as a team,” said Brock head coach Marty Calder, who would later be honoured with the CIS men’s and women’s coach of the year awards.

“Our women were fantastic, I mean four gold medals; they were awesome,” Calder continued. “And outside of one or maybe two matches on the men’s side, I thought we were great on that side too. This was a great event, with a lot of really great wrestlers, and you could really see the parity in CIS wrestling right now. It is a great competition with really awesome coaches and athletes. It’s not easy winning these matches, or these banners, and I know how hard we worked to win them.”

Concordia’s Veronica Keefe was the only other female wrestler to successfully defend her 2014 gold medal, at 72 kg, with an injury win over Guelph’s Gracelynn Doogan. Also a CIS champion last season, Gryphon Kelsey Gsell was supplanted at the top of the 82 kg weight glass by Calgary powerhouse Holly Ellsworth-Clark.

Alberta’s Hayley Thomas finished off her CIS career on the highest point possible, as she claimed gold in the 51 kg weight class by defeating Brock rookie Emily Schaefer 8-0. Thomas, who hails from Whitecourt, Alberta, was named the CIS female wrestler of the year at the championship banquet after the meet, while the silver-medal wearing Schaefer was honoured with the rookie of the year award.

For the second consecutive season the male wrestler of the year honours went to Michael Asselstine, also from the U of A, who put on a dominant performance this weekend, including his 12-2 victory over McMaster’s Jason Buckle in the 61 kg gold medal bout. Asselstine, an Edmonton native who earned silver for Canada at the 2014 Pan-Am Games, was trailing Buckle 2-0 in the early going, but performed three straight gut wrenches to take a commanding 6-2 lead, and then racked up another six straight points to win his second straight CIS title. The fourth-year Golden Bear, who became only the second male to win back-to-back CIS MVP trophies, had previously earned a CIS silver in 2013 in the 65 kg category.

The Alberta sweep of the wrestler of the year awards represents just the third time that has happened in CIS history, following Lakehead (2012) and Simon Fraser (2008) as the other schools.

Ilya Abelev was the other big story in the men’s draw, as the UNB wrestler grappled his way to his fourth straight CIS gold medal in his fourth different weight class. A native of Ottawa, and former competitor for the Western Mustangs, Abelev previously won CIS gold in the 72 kg (2013), 68 kg (2012) and 65 kg (2011) weight classes, and on Saturday added the 76 kg class thanks to his defeat of Aleksander Soronov of the Winnipeg Wesmen.

The men’s 57 kg gold medal tilt was a showcase of talent as well, with Western’s Steven Takahashi triumphing over Saskatchewan’s Dylan Bray. Takahashi, whose father won a Commonwealth Games wrestling gold medal in Edmonton in 1978, returned to the mat this season after missing last year’s conference and CIS championships with an injury. He had previously celebrated trio of CIS victories in the 54 kg weight class.

Saskatchewan’s Josh Bodnarchuk was awarded the CIS male rookie of the year award after he struck national championship gold in the 54 kg bout, defeating Concordia’s Trevor Banks.

NOTES: Before Asselstine, David Hohl of Manitoba was the only athlete to be named CIS male wrestler of the year in consecutive seasons, in 1993 and 1994. In 1993, he shared the award with teammate Glen Moore... Brock had also swept the team banners back in 2001-02. The only other school to accomplish the feat since women’s wrestling was added to the CIS program 16 years ago was Simon Fraser, in 2009-10...

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

NOTE: Tie-breaker is most gold, then most silver, etc.

Women
1. Brock, 54 points
2. Calgary, 38
3. Alberta, 36
4. Guelph, 33
5. Western, 23
6. Saskatchewan, 20
7. Regina, 17
8. Concordia, 14
9. UNB, 13
10. Lakehead, 12
11. Winnipeg, 12
12. Algoma, 8
13. McMaster, 8
14. St. Thomas, 5
15. York, 4
16. Laurentian, 3

Men
1. Brock, 66 points
2. McMaster, 56
3. UNB, 44
4. Alberta, 38
5. Calgary, 35
6. Winnipeg, 34
7. Saskatchewan, 34
8. Western, 28
9. Concordia, 25
10. Regina, 14
11. Guelph, 14
12. Fraser Valley, 12
13. Queen’s, 5
T14. Lakehead, 4 *
T14. York, 4 *
T16. Memorial, 4

* Lakehead and York remain tied with identical results.

INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS

Women
Outstanding wrestler: Hayley Thomas (51kg), Alberta
Rookie of the year: Emily Schaefer (51kg), Brock
Coach of the year: Marty Calder, Brock
R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Darrion Sterling (72 kg), UNB
Student-Athlete Community Service Award:  Urshian Khalid (63 kg), York
 
Men
Outstanding wrestler: Michael Asselstine (61kg), Alberta
Rookie of the year: Josh Bodnarchuk (54 kg), Saskatchewan
Coach of the year: Marty Calder, Brock
R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Spenser Burk (65 kg), Calgary
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Ali Koca (120 kg), York

FINAL INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

WOMEN

48 kg
1. Jade Parsons, Brock
2. Annie Monteith, Saskatchewan
3. Alyssa Cleaves, UNB
4. Valeria Ouelette, Western
5. Josée Tremblay, Calgary
6. Kaitlin Kucharski, Winnipeg
7. Natassya Lu, Guelph

51 kg
1. Hayley Thomas, Alberta
2. Emily Schaefer, Brock
3. Rachel Alder, Winnipeg
4. Kate Richey, Calgary
5. Alexandria Town, York
6. Nicole Mazzara, McMaster
7. Amanda Eng, UNB

55 kg
1. Carlene Sluberski, Brock
2. Madi Parks, Western
3. Cara Nania, Calgary
4. Cierra Carere, Guelph
5. Laryssa Barry, Saskatchewan
6. Emily Kessler, Winnipeg

59 kg
1. Indira Moores, Brock
2. Emma Horner, Lakehead
3. Alyssa Medeiros, Western
4. Cholena Horne, Alberta
5. Indhyra Linares, Regina
6. Lisa Brise, Saskatchewan
7. Brittany Dillman, UNB

63 kg
1. Jessica Brouillette, Brock
2. Natasha Doroodian, Algoma
3. Temitope Ogunjimi, Calgary
4. Krystin Paquette, Alberta
5. Alex Momy, Western
6. Sena Debia, Regina

67 kg
1. Alison Carrow, Guelph
2. Kayla Brodner, Regina
3. Brandy Perry, Alberta
4. Lorena Ellis, St. Thomas
5. Kelsey Dayler, Lakehead
6. Nicole Roach, McMaster
7. Cassidy Barnert, Calgary

72 kg
1. Veronica Keefe, Concordia
2. Gracelynn Doogan, Guelph
3. Olivia DiBacco, Brock
4. Hilary Goble, Calgary
5. Molly Bouchard, Alberta
6. Darrion Sterling, UNB
7. Dalynn McKay, Regina
8. Grace Bannerman, Toronto

82 kg
1. Holly Ellsworth-Clark, Calgary
2. Kelsey Gsell, Guelph
3. Marlen Figueroa, Alberta
4. Megan Nelthorpe, Saskatchewan
5. Theresa El-Lati, Concordia
6. Demi Swann, Laurentian

MEN

54 kg
1. Josh Bodnarchuk, Saskatchewan
2. Trevor Banks, Concordia
3. Sam Jagas, Brock
4. Mario Tran, UNB
5. Chris Waltner, Lakehead
6. Steven McCarville, Alberta
7. Eric Renaud, Western
8. Freddie Aziz, Calgary

57 kg
1. Steven Takahashi, Western
2. Dylan Bray, Saskatchewan
3. Brian Cowan, Brock
4. Dylan Willams, Alberta
5. Elvir Uzomovic, Guelph
6. Roland Yong, Calgary
7. Bassel Bou Moughlab, Concordia

61 kg
1. Michael Asselstine, Alberta
2. Jason Buckle, McMaster
3. Zack Falcioni, Brock
4. Peter Shannon, Queen’s
5. Sam Dietrich, Regina
6. Nathan Galan, Saskatchewan

65 kg
1. Nick Rowe, Brock
2. Spenser Burk, Calgary
3. Vince Demarinis, Concordia
4. Cody Osborne, Alberta
5. Omar Ahmed, McMaster
6. Andy Sanford, UNB
7. Mitchell Berenz, Winnipeg
8. Ethan Smith, Western

68 kg
1. Chris Garneau, McMaster
2. Andrew McKenzie, Brock
3. Drew Belanger, Alberta
4. Caleb Rutner, Western
5. Lucas Hoffert, Regina
6. Tyler Buchan, Calgary
7. Cristian Mandari, Concordia

72 kg
1. Ahmed Shamiya, McMaster
2. Tyler Rowe, Brock
3. Dimitry Gershanov, Concordia
4. Richard Balfour, Western
5. Kyle Horvath, Calgary
6. Malcolm Meekins, Saskatchewan
7. Brock Munro, Winnipeg
8. Ian James, Memorial

76 kg
1. Ilya Abelev, UNB
2. Aleksander Soronov, Winnipeg
3. Connor Hodgins, Calgary
4. Ben Bradford, Guelph
5. Eric Steffler, McMaster
6. Hidde Van Der Kamp, Alberta
7. Alec Bauer, Western
8. Chris Kinsella, Concordia

82 kg
1. Grayson St. Laurent, UNB
2. Joban Phulka, McMaster
3. Matrixx Ferreira, Brock
4. Dan Humphrey, Guelph
5. Andrew Johnson, Saskatchewan
6. Dennis Sutton, Memorial
7. Ben Christopher, Winnipeg
8. Makoto Honda-McNeil, Alberta

90 kg
1. Finn Higgins, Winnipeg
DQ. Riley Otto, Western
2. Nick Proctor, Calgary
3. Ignatius Pitt, Brock
4. Kevin Barrett, McMaster
5. Brad Hildenbrandt, Fraser Valley
6. Matt Short, UNB

100 kg
1. Andrii Vorontsov, Brock
2. Alex Thoms, UNB
3. Jacob Luczak, Regina
4. Daniel Oloumi, Alberta
5. Andrew Balach, McMaster
6. Kyle Bonk-Dann, Western
7. Baldwin Asala, Calgary

120 kg
1. Kyle Nguyen, Winnipeg
2. Manheet Kalhon, Fraser Valley
3. Jacob Phillips, Saskatchewan
4. Thom MaCrae, UNB
5. Ali Koca, York
6. Ahmed Ramadan, McMaster