Clan women’s finish fifth in Oklahoma City
By Clay Gray
Simon Fraser’s women’s wrestling team travelled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for their first dual tournament of the year, placing fifth. The dual format varies from the traditional bracket format, in that teams went head to head in pool play and then cross over for medal round.
The trip began with some challenges. Due to miscommunications, SFU arrived a day late to the venue. However, this wasn’t a problem for the rest of the 16 teams in attendance; they simply let SFU wrestle all six of their matches in one day. Jones’ women rose to the challenge and won five of the six preliminary duals for a shot at fifth place. Head coach Mike Jones said, “As a coach, you always want them to be better, but we performed better than I thought we would. Since we only had nine athletes make weight, we ended up forfeiting a weight class, and that hurt us a little bit.”
Even though the Clan had to pack two days of wrestling into one, four women went undefeated: Justina DiStasio, Danielle Lappage, Gina Carpenter, and Darby Huckle. Three athletes had only one loss: Nikkie Brar, Laura Gordon, and Jenna McLatchy. Sidney Morrison lost twice, and Laura Wilson suffered three losses. Darby Huckle, who is entering her first year on the dual team said, “I felt like I wrestled well. It was the first tournament, there was nothing to lose, so why not go all-out. But there are always things that I felt I could improve.”
The mat pack started the day strong by toppling teams from Cumberland, King’s College, and Lindenwood-Bellville. However, the Clan hit a stumbling block in Lindenwood-St. Charles, which knocked them out of a chance for a top three placement. SFU didn’t let the defeat get to them, as they rebounded with a convincing win over Wayland Baptist, which pushed them through to the dual for fifth place. The Clan grappled Jamestown in the fifth place showdown, which was really more of a throw-down, as the Clan only allowed one match to slip through their fingers.
The Clan rolls on to their next competition, which is taking place in the Central Gym this Friday and Saturday. It will also be the season opener for the men’s wrestling team. SFU has been hosting this tournament for over 36 years, and the men’s wrestling coach, Justin Abdou says, “Some of the male athletes to look out for are Sukhan Chahal, Skyler Davis, Alex Stemer, Brock Lamb, Manvir Sahota, and Gurjot Kooner. These guys all had successful seasons last year, and are looking to start this year strong.”
