As most of Clan team’s fall campaigns nears a close, the wrestling teams are just beginning their 2013-14 seasons, which run from early November until late March, with the men’s team being the final winter squad to begin competition for SFU.

Kicking off the season with a bang, the men’s and women’s teams hosted the SFU International tournament on Burnaby Mountain, an annual tournament featuring high-level competitors from across the USA and Canada. Clan athletes had the chance to wrestle many older athletes with international experience at the meet, as they hosted club and collegiate teams alike, starting their 2013-14 seasons with some tough competition.

“The SFU International is always great and brings excellent competition to our athletes,” said senior Justina DiStasio, who placed second in her weight class on the women’s side. “We have freshmen wrestling very experienced adults with years of international and collegiate competition under their belts which is a great learning experience for our teams as they develop.”

On the men’s side, Arjun Gill of Surrey, BC was victorious at 96-kg as he went undefeated in his first tournament of the year, wrestling in the open category. The tournament featured matches in both open and college weights, as Morgan Smith won the college 78-kg weight class and Ryan Yewchin won his match at the college weight of 100-kg. The junior wrestled eight matches in three different weight classes over the weekend placing second at 90-kg and fourth at 96-kg behind his teammate, Gill.

At 55-kg Sukhan Chahal and Skylor Davis placed second and third for the Clan while Dhillon Hume and Cody Coombes both had third place finishes at 61-kg and 78-kg respectively, resulting in many top finishes for the Clan in their first time hitting the mats in 2013.

The Clan women also had strong showings, wrestling in their third tournament of the season and first non-dual of 2013. Jenna McLatchy was the Clan’s sole victor on the weekend as the senior won the college weight of 82-kg besting the other five girls in the field. Fellow seniors Justina DiStasio and Nikkie Brar both had second place finishes in the open competitions 72-kg and 51-kg respectively. DiStasio suffered her first loss of the season after winning ten matches straight for the Clan side.

“It’s tough losing, but it helps you see where you need to improve,” explained the Burnaby native. “Even at our dual in Oklahoma where we struggled in the final a couple weekends ago; the losses showed us what we need to improve on for the remainder of the season to be just as successful as last year.”

The 2012-13 Clan women were Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) champions last season in both the team competition and dual championship and, despite losing four winning seniors from that campaign, the new talent in 2013-14 will be looking to equal or better those results.

Freshman Mallory Velte placed third out of 11 competitors at 59-kg at the SFU International, while Laura Anderson and Monika Podgorski had sixth place finishes at 55-kg and 67-kg to round out the Clan contingent.

Meanwhile, across the continent, Clan senior and internationally recognized American wrestler Helen Maroulis won her exhibition match against Venezuela’s Marcia Andrades, an opening match to the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic. The WCWA champion and member of Team USA earned an 8–0 victory winning the match in a technical fall with 15 seconds remaining in the first period. She will rejoin the Clan’s schedule moving forward.

With winning results this early in the season, both Clan team’s will be fighting all winter long for wrestling supremacy as the women look to repeat as double national champions. The men will look to improve on their 2013 NCAA campaign which saw two wrestlers compete at their first ever NCAA Division II championships and junior Skylor Davis place third, earning All-American honours. Davis will look for another chance to compete at the championships, and with hard work and determination, the Clan will be able to send a larger contingent to the 2014 championships.