Skylar Davis wins first gold medal of the season for the Clan
By Clay Gray
The Men’s wrestling team journeyed to Forest Grove, Oregon for their NCAA season opener. The Clan brought more than 10 athletes on the trip. There are 10 weight classes but they did not have competitors in the, 149-pound, 157-pound, and 174 -pound weight classes. However, head coach Justin Abdou said, “I expect to see the gaps fill in as the season continues and people settle into their weight classes.” Yet the Clan didn’t let the empty spots keep them from getting some positive results, with three athletes finding their way to the finals.
Freshman Sunny Dhinsastepped onto the mat in Forest Grove as one of two wrestlers representing the Clan at the 285 pound weight class. Dhinsa marched through his early-round matches, pinning three straight opponents on his way to the tournament’s semi-finals, where he squared off against Jacob Mitchell of Clackamas Community College. Dhinsa continued his dominance and advanced to the finals after overcoming Mitchell in a 10–2 major decision. In the finals, Dhinsa scored the only takedown of the match and a chance at standing on top of the podium. However, a mistake against Oregon State University’s team captain, Chad Hanke, cost Dhinsa the match and the gold medal. When asked about Sunny’s performance, Abdou said, “Sunny was very close to winning [his finals], and I think it was a step forward for him. He definitely went out with the right mind frame this weekend, and he wrestled well.”
Senior Manvir Sahota was one of three SFU wrestlers in the 184-pound division. Sahota started the day off with a bye into the quarterfinals, where he faced off against John Tuck of the OSU Beavers. A 6–3 decision over Tuck sent Sahota on to the Semis to battle another OSU wrestler, Brian Engdahl. Sahota managed to defeat Engdahl and advanced to the finals to tussle with yet another OSU grappler, Ty Vinson. The senior Beaver proved to be too much for the Clansman, besting Sahota 15–3. According to Abdou,“Manvir came out and had a decent performance, he looked really good his first two matches, but he came up against a real tough division one wrestler in the finals, and he just couldn’t quite get his offense going.”
Junior Skylar Davis was the sole athlete for the Clan at 125 lbs. Davis opened the tournament with a technical fall over Tyler Jensen of South Western Oregon. Davis’s quarterfinals match against Clackamas’s Stevan Knoblauch ended 50 seconds into the second period as Davis pinned for the win. The semi-finals pitted Davis against one of the Beaver’s freshmen, Joey Palmer, in a back-and-forth, high-scoring rumble ending with a 14–12 decision in favor of Davis. The 125 lbs. championship round was a showdown between Davis and Mathew Nguyen of SWO, where Davis seized a 3–0 decision making him the only gold of the weekend for the Clan.
The Clan’s men’s team travelled to North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for a duels tournament on Saturday, and then to Spokane, Washington for an open tournament on Sunday, while the Women’s team went to London, Ontario for the Herry Jeris Open. Results will be reported in the next issue of The Peak.
