Bears and Pandas wrestling squads grab gold and silver at Canada West Championships

The Golden Bears and Pandas wrestling squads put up a dominant showing last weekend at the Canada West Wrestling Championships in Calgary in their final tune up before they host the National Championships.

The Bears were able to grab first place finishes overall, conquering the University of Saskatchewan Huskies by two points, while the Pandas came a close second to the University of Calgary by a difference of four points.

Although both teams are relatively young, consisting mainly of first and second year athletes, they did more than hold their own this weekend. The Bears defeated the University of Fraser Valley, who held the first place CIS ranking throughout this season.

Going into the last round of dual meets, both the University of Calgary women’s team (CIS ranked second) and the University of Alberta Pandas (CIS ranked third) were undefeated.

On the men’s side, none of the teams went undefeated in the dual meets during the Canada West Championships. This created a final ranking with a five point difference between the top three teams.

Improving upon earlier competition results this season, the Bears brought home seven individual medals, including a gold medal won by Mike Asselstine (61 kilograms). Adding to the success of the U of A wrestling team, the Pandas captured six individual medals, with two gold medals won by Cholena Horne (59 kilograms) and Hayley Thomas (51 kilograms).

Horne, a second year wrestler for the Pandas, won her first Canada West title in the 59kg weight class this weekend. Although she won this title individually, she gives full credit to her team who has carried her to where she is today.

“Its really important to be encouraging each other,” she said. “You want to win it for yourself, but also for (your teammates).”

Carrying on their successes from earlier this season and improving upon shortcomings, both teams proved their worth in the Canada West conference. Head Coach Owen Dawkins was especially happy with his team’s success.

“It was a fantastic championship,” he said. “It was truly a team effort (by both the Bears and Pandas) this weekend.”

Dylan Williams, a fourth year athlete on the Bears and a three time Canada West Champion, was discouraged by his performance, finishing in second place. Williams, having came off several knee injuries and a concussion this season, plans to focus on what’s next: the CIS championships.

“Injuries, that’s part of the sport right? You have to wrestle through it,” he said. “For CIS, I’m looking to win gold.”

Both teams will continue to work hard over the next few week leading up to the CIS championships hosted at the University of Alberta on Feb. 27 and 28. Based off of the results from this past weekend at the Canada West Championships, the Bears have qualified seven athletes to compete and the Pandas will be bringing six. The Pandas will be going into the championship with a current ranking of third place, with the Bears in fourth.