With eight wrestlers competing, Concordia University will send a strong group to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships at University of Alberta in Edmonton on Friday and Saturday.
On the men’s side, Concordia will have six wrestlers spread out over the 10 weight classes. It will be difficult to pick up enough points to challenge for the overall title, but there should be several strong individual performances.
Leading the way will be Trevor Banks of Charlottetown, P.E.I. This will be his fourth CIS championship and after fifth-place finishes at 54 kilos in 2013 and 2014, he’s committed to bringing home a medal.
Also watch for second-year man Vince De Marinis at 65 kilos. He won a silver medal at 61 kilos in his rookie debut last year.
Rounding out the team are: Chris Kinsella (76 kg), Bassel Bou Moughlabay (57 kg), Dima Gershanov (72 kg) and Cristian Mandari (68 kg).Concordia finished sixth in the men’s competition in 2014.
The Stingers won the team championship in 2011 and 2012 bringing the total to eight titles for Concordia since 1984.
On the women’s side, Concordia will have two competitors this year. Veronica Keefe (72 kg) is back with the Stingers. It will be her fourth appearance at nationals. She won her first gold medal in 2014. She was a silver medallist in 2011 and won a bronze in 2012.
The final representative on the women’s side is newcomer Thérèse El-Lati (82 kg).
The wrestling team is coached by Victor Zilberman who has run the Concordia program since 1977. He has guided his athletes to 65 gold medals and eight team titles at the nationals. Since 1980, Concordia has won 137 medals. In addition nine Concordia athletes have been named the outstanding wrestler at the CIS tournament, and Zilberman has been named Coach of the Year on five occasions - in 2012, 2011, 2006, 1986 and in 1984.
