By Amanda Hu
Talent: The Dinos wrestlesaurs had strong athletes on the men’s and women’s side this year. Mark Dewit impressed CIS and his coaches by playing with intelligent skill and using unconventional means to turn his opponents down. His efforts resulted in a gold at CIS finals. Gen Haley and Justine Bouchard also did the team proud, outwrestling the majority of their opponents. The team was at a disadvantage going into finals, as they didn’t have entries for all weight classes.
Effort: Both teams showed considerable effort going into nationals at home, but had lower than usual standings to show for it. With Dewit and Ryan Lannan placing first and second in their respective weight categories, the other men didn’t do as well and were overshadowed by Dewit’s laurels. The women seemed to make a unified attempt towards winning, shown by their end standings.
Coaching: Mitch Ostberg did a favourable job with the team, considering he was also burdened with the responsibility of hosting CIS finals. Ostberg took the disadvantages of numbers in stride and had some wrestlers flourish under the pressure of nationals. He was unable to steer the women into another first-place standing, but shouldn’t be marginalized, considering the team’s close finish.
Achievement: Though favoured to take first at nationals, the women had to settle for silver against SFU. This was a marked blow to the defending champs and not what they hoped for going into finals. The men finished fifth, partly due to having only two wrestlers medal during the tournament.
Grade: Ankylosaur
These thick-skinned animals had club-like tails for vicious fighting as well as armoured eyelids.