Yesterday, the York Open male and female wrestling tournament took place at the Tait MacKenzie Centre at York University with 37 teams across Canada competing.
Montreal Wrestling Club’s (non-university team) male athletes collectively earned the highest team score across all weight classes with 36 points. They had 5 athletes competing; Jason Luneau and Guseyn Ruslanzada getting the most team points with 10 each in their respective weight class. Luneau won first place in the 65 kg weight class and Ruslanzada won first in the 76 kg weight class. In terms of total match points during the tournament, both men made it into the top 20. Ruslanzada placed 7th with a total of 46 points and Luneau placed 16th with a total of 36 points.
The team had the 3rd best winning percentage of the day; 0.83%. Their male athletes won 19 matches and lost 4. Although they had the most points as a team, they came in second for total match points with 198, coming up short to Lakehead University who earned an outstanding 218 points. Montreal WC had the second most tech falls in the least amount of time with 11, closely behind Team Impact who had 12.
In terms of university teams, the males on the University of Alberta team placed second with a team score of 27 points. Alec Montoya earned 10 team points and came in 1st place in the 54 kg weight class. Montoya was 26th overall with 32 total match points. As a whole, the team had 120 total match points which earned them a position in 8th place and won 16 of 22 matches with a winning percentage of 0.72%.
Brock University was the top scoring team for the female athletes who earned 32 team points across their weight classes. They had two first place winners as well; Julie Steffler earned 10 team points in the 59 kg weight class and Shauna Kuebeck earned 9 team points in the 82 kg weight class. Kuebeck earned the most total match points out of all the female wrestlers with 34 points and Steffler finished 36th overall with 9 points.
Brock tied for first for most pins in the least time with the University of Guelph and Concordia U wrestling teams, all earning a total of 6 pins. They also had 6 tech falls in the least time, 2 earned from Kuebeck, and were at the top of that category as well. Overall they earned 110 total match points and came out on top of all other teams in the tournament.
Although the York Lions wrestling team had home mat advantage, only 2 of their 7 athletes competing in the tournament won medals. Both athletes finished second; Paul Nguyen in the male 57 kg weight class and Bailey Agard in the female 51 kg weight class.
It was a very successful tournament, especially for Montreal WC’s male team and Brock University’s female team who left university wrestling fans wondering what will come next.