On the strength of outstanding performances by Vince De Marinis and Jordan Steen, the Concordia men’s wrestling team finished third at the CIS championship hosted by Brock University on the weekend.
De Marinis, a third-year competitor from Pierrefonds, Que., won a gold medal in the 65-kilo weight class. He won three straight preliminary matches on Friday and then defeated Brock’s Zack Falcioni in the first-place match on Saturday.
The Finance student won a bronze medal in 2015 and a silver medal as a rookie in 2014.
Steen of Tecumseh, Ont. also won a gold medal. He defeated UNB’s Grayson St. Laurent in the 90-kilo final on Saturday. Steen also won three preliminary competitions the day before.
This is Steen’s third medal at nationals. He was a bronze medallist in 2014 and the previous year he won a gold medal and was named the outstanding rookie in CIS men’s wrestling.
Also contributing to Concordia strong performance were: Trevor Banks, bronze medal at 54 kilos; Dima Gershanov, bronze medal at 72 kilos; Petr Prokopiev, fourth place at 82 kilos and Francis Carter, fifth-place finish at 68 kilos.
Concordia picked up 41 points for a third-place tie with Guelph University. Brock won the team championship with 80 points and McMaster University was second with 52. Fourteen universities were represented at the national championship.
On the women’s side, Concordia collected 13 points to finish in ninth place out of 16 universities.
Linda Morais was exceptional winning her third gold medal in four appearances at CIS nationals. This year she defeated Brock’s Indira Moores in the 63-kilo final. The Tecumseh, Ont. native won her previous golds in 2012 and 2014. She was a bronze medallist in 2013.
Finally, rookie Jade Dufour contributed to the women’s point total by finishing in sixth place in the 51-kilo competition.
