The SFU Clan men’s wrestling were on the road once again last Saturday, travelling to Colorado to wrestle at the Tracy Borah Duals at Western Colorado State University. The Clan had a disappointing team result in their first meet for the second half of the season, dropping three of their four duals to return home with a 1–3 record on the weekend.
When asked about their performance, head coach Justin Abdou made it clear that he was proud of his team’s performance. “[The] guys competed hard, despite the fact that we were competing with a depleted lineup where we were forced to start a freshman with very little experience at 165 lbs,” he said, adding that they “beat New Mexico Highlands and were very close with Western State and Colorado School of Mines.”
The Clan certainly were competing with a depleted lineup. Due to injuries, they were forced to automatically forfeit 141lbs and 149lbs respectively, surrendering six points to the other team for each weight class. Because of these forfeits, a lot of the matchups were closer than they may look on paper. Despite the disappointing result, they still managed to find some bright spots after the weekend.
“It was a great weekend for Velasquez and Molle, who both went undefeated,” Abdou said. “Morgan Smith also had a dominant tournament with his only loss coming up against a ranked Division I opponent.”
Smith has not lost to a Division II opponent this year. If he continues at this pace, he will be a force late into the season. Meanwhile, Velasquez finished the tournament without giving up a single takedown. His defence and toughness has won him his fair share of matches this season, and he has been one of the Clan’s most consistent performers.
These individual performances are impressive and are a key driver for the team in this second half of this season. Smith, Molle, and Velasquez all hope to be competing at the National Tournament along with their other teammates at the end of the season. Results like these will do well to build momentum over the next few months.
SFU will settle down for a week as they do not compete this weekend. This gives them time to work on any issues Abdou saw over the weekend, as well as take care of themselves.
You can look for them to get back on the mats against Warner Pacific on January 21 in Portland, Oregon.
