Sports

Clan grapple their way to titles

By Matt Lee

The Simon Fraser men’s and women’s wrestling teams completed the sweep at the Canada West championship, securing the titles two weekends ago.

For the women, freshman Victoria Anthony won the 48kg title while being named both the Canada West wrestler and rookie of the year. The ladies also got huge performances from Stacie Anaka and Danielle Lappage, who won the 67kg and 63kg weight classes respectively.

Laura Gordon and Hillary Greening took second place in the 55kg and 82kg weight classes, while Tessa Ma (51kg), Raissa Dickinson (59kg), and Sidney Morrison (72kg) all finished in third place.

Head coach Mike Jones also took home some honours after being named the Canada West coach of the year.

The women’s strong performance at the Canada West Championship was a huge rebound from their 2009 performance, when the women didn’t capture a single title in any weight class.

On the men’s side, senior Raj Virdi was one of seven gold medalists for the Clan as the team won six of the 10 weight classes to secure their seventh straight Canada West title. SFU ousted second-place Regina by 12 points.

Virdi was his usual dominant force in the 61kg weight class, cruising through his first two matches of the day before earning a 3-1 decision over Kirk Ackerman of Regina. His performance earned him the honour of being named the most outstanding wrestler in the tournament.

He was joined by teammate Mike Cappus, a 68kg rookie for the Clan who earned the conference rookie of the year award when he defeated Regina’s Gaelan Malloy.

Also atop the podium were Clan wrestlers Daniel Swain (65kg), Arminder Virk (72kg), Gurjot Kooner (90kg), and Ali Al-Rekabi (130kg). The coaching tandem of Mike Jones and SFU alum Justin Abdou shared the coach of the year award on the men’s side.

The strong performances by the men and women are a good sign that the Clan could once again be a force at the CIS national championships. Last year, the men’s team won their first-ever CIS championship and as a top club all year could make it a repeat performance.

SFU is set to compete in this year’s national tournament in Calgary on March 5 and 6.