Of the eight members of the Concordia Stingers wrestling team who competed at the CIS national championship in Edmonton on the weekend four made it to the podium.
Veronica Keefe won the gold medal in the women’s 72 kilos weight class. It is the second straight gold medal at nationals for Keefe.
She won all three of her preliminary matches on Friday. The following day in the first-place match, she won by injury default over Gracelynn Doogan (Guelph Gryphons).
Rookie Thérèse El-Lati finished in fifth place at 82 kilos. She took one of three preliminary contests and won by fall over Demi Swann (Laurentian Voyageurs) in the fifth-place match.
With just two wrestlers competing, Concordia picked up 14 points to finish eighth out of 16 teams at nationals. The Brock Badgers won the team title with 54 points.
Silver medallist Trevor Banks (54 kg) led the men’s team’s efforts. He won his first medal at nationals after a couple of fifth-place finishes the last few years. He rolled through his three preliminaries before losing the gold medal match by decision (9-6) to Josh Bodnarchuk (Saskatchewan Huskies).
A Concordia bronze medal came from Vince De Marinas (65 kg). He won by tech fall over Cody Osborne (Alberta Golden Bears) in the third-place contest.
Dima Gershanov (72 kg) earned a bronze by tech fall over Richard Balfour (Western Mustangs) in his final.
Also contributing points to the Concordia men’s team were: Bassel Bou Moughlabay, seventh place at 57 kilos; Cristian Mandari, seventh place at 68 kg; and Chris Kinsella who finished eighth at 76 kilos.
With 25 points, the Concordia men finished ninth out of 16 teams. Brock won the men’s title with 66 points.
