The Dinos wrestling team went, saw, and almost conquered Thunder Bay as they entered Lakehead University’s National Dual Meets Sat., Dec. 3. The men placed a strong second while the women finished fourth in an extremely talented and difficult field.
The men competed in a tough five-team field that included the defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport champion Brock University Badgers, their divisional University of Alberta Golden Bear rivals, the McMaster University Mauraders and the Lakehead University Thunderwolf hosts. In the first round, the Dinos men fell to McMaster by a 21-19 decision. They proceeded to win their three remaining rounds, including comprehensively routing the defending CIS champs 28-16.
This preceded a 24-16 win over Lakehead and a close 23-22 victory over the U of A. Co-captains Joe Bentley and Beamer Comfort were perfect in the tournament, going undefeated in all of their matches while veteran Wilson Burnett was forced to withdraw, likely due to a recurring knee injury.
On the women’s side, the Dinos were pitted against traditional rivals, the Simon Fraser University Clan and University of Saskatchewan Huskies, plus the hosts and American teams, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats, Missouri Valley College Vikings and the University of the Cumberlands Patriots. In the first round, the ladies defeated Lakehead, and went on to beat Brock and the Vikings before dropping losses to the Wildcats in the final preliminary round and Huskies in the third place final.
A special event on the women’s side was the Canada-U.S.A. all-star showdown. Dino Justine Bouchard wore the maple leaf proudly as part of the Canadian side that defeated the Americans 22-10. Unfortunately, Bouchard lost her match in the 69 kilogram division.
The Dinos now prepare to travel to claim their next victory in Edmonton in January.