The SFU women’s wrestling dual team opened their season in Oklahoma City, OK at the Cliff Keen Duals on October 24 and 25. Starting strong, the women won 43 of their 48 matches during the first day of the tournament.

However, the women would fall short of their goal on the second day of the competition, placing fourth overall in the tournament. Though it was not the outcome the women’s team had anticipated, wrestling coach Justin Abdou was not disappointed in their performance, keening in on areas for improvement.

“In our matches we gave up too many [extra] points.” said Abdou. “In the final dual the girls simply ran out of gas, [with] the girls wrestling their 10th match of the weekend.”

Accolades were also expressed by coach Abdou for senior Bailey Halvorson, 155 lbs, “[who] was solid all weekend, [competing] with poise and control, [wrestling] the way we expect our seniors to.”

Additional members of women’s wrestling traveled to Calgary for the Dino Open, where freshman Alyssa Wong won the 67 kg weight class, with mentionable performances from Maegan Kuruvita and Vanessa Gonzales. 

“For [their] first tournament of the season, it went how [one] would expect,” said women’s assistant coach Justina Di Stasio. “The girls showed their strengths when [winning], and showed the areas they need improvement on [within the matches] they lost. Hopefully we can correct some of these areas before our next competition.”

The women’s wrestling team then returned to Burnaby to compete in the Clan International, along with the men’s team.