This weekend, the women’s wrestling team traveled to Calgary, Alberta to compete in the University of Calgary’s annual Dino Open. The team was able to get some exhibition matches in on Friday night as a warm up, with the actual tournament taking place on Saturday. Many teams from all over Canada and some parts of the United States were in attendance.
With a solid performance by the Clan, they were able to bring home quite a few medals. Freshmen Alexia Seal, and Jenna Garcia placed first in their respective weight classes, along with redshirt freshman Lauren Mason. Some other standout wrestlers were freshman Alyvia Fiske, sophomore Chloe Rogers, and returning Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) champion and senior Payten Smith, all taking second. In 2015, Smith wrestled 2016 Olympic champion Erica Wiebe in a close and exciting match for the finals that had the whole crowd on their toes.
Head coach Justin Abdou told The Peak, “We took a mix of young girls, freshmen, redshirt freshmen, [and] a few older girls, and they all wrestled well. We got to see some of them compete for the first time, and had some Friday night exhibition matches. There was a lot of good, and a lot to work on. The team showcased that we are fit and aggressive. However, we did make some technical errors that can be fixed.”
Abdou also talked about some highlights, which included “Seal, Garcia, Mason coming out on top as champs. Also Smith’s four-point throw of the reigning Olympic champ.” Afterwards, Abdou discussed next week’s tournament: “We get to compete on Saturday in our own gym, which doesn’t happen very often, it will be a good show .”
The no. 1 ranked Clan team is off to a great start in their long season, and has consecutive tournaments in the coming weeks. They are coming into the season with 11 new recruits, and seven returning All-Americans. Hard at work, they will prepare for the coming tournaments to showcase their skills and prove themselves as the best.
Coach Justina Di Stasio commented that “we have a great group of girls, and it’s a good start to familiarize, and set a base for where we are and where we need to go. [There will be] some good, some bad, and for the rookies, a good taste of university wrestling. We have tournaments every weekend until November 24, and I think we will make a lot of improvements from then to now with all the mat time, and that is really exciting with this team.”
Next week, the women’s and the men’s team with host the annual Clan tournament at home, starting in the morning on Saturday, November 4.
Lauren Mason is a member of SFU’s women’s wrestling team.
