Four members of the Concordia Stingers wrestling team - Tyler Marghetis, David Zilberman, Tim Wadsworth and Jon Rioux - won gold medals at the Canadian university championships hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., last Friday and Saturday.
Marghetis at 76 kilos won his fourth straight medal. He was a gold medallist in 2004 and 2005. As a rookie in 2003, he won a silver medal. Heading into the nationals, he'd won five university events and finished second at the Guelph University meet. The Pure and Applied Math major is a three-time CIS Academic all-Canadian. He was also named one of eight top academic athletes by the CIS last fall. He was the highest achieving male student-athlete out of Quebec.
Zilberman, a heavyweight, won his third straight medal at the Canadian championship. He won a silver medal in 2005 and a gold medal in 2004. This year, he finished first at four university competitions and he has one second-place finish. He also represented Canada at two international events this season, including a first-place finish at the Sombo World Cup in Nice, France last November. The four-time juvenile and junior national champion hopes to represent Canada at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He finished second in qualifying for the 2004 Athens Games.
Wadsworth at 65 kilos picks up his first gold medal at nationals. He won a silver medal as a rookie at the championships last March. He was a member of the national under-23 team and has represented Canada at several international competitions, including the Acropolis International in Athens in 2004 and the World University Games last summer in Turkey. On the university calendar this year, Wadsworth has finished first at six of seven tournaments.
Jonathan Rioux, the newest member of the Stingers, won his first CIS medal. At 90 kilos, he has won seven of eight university competitions this season. He previously represented the University of New Brunswick. He has an impressive résumé of accomplishments at national and international events, including the Canada Games and at the Commonwealth championships. All four wrestlers earn first team all-Canadian status in addition to their gold medals.
James Mancini, a second-year wrestler, won a silver medal in the 61-kilo competition, while fifth-year veteran Tony Ronci ( 68 kg.) earned a bronze medal. Mancini is now a member of the CIS second all-Canadian team. Finally, Serguei Guevorkian at 72 kilos finished seventh. The seven wrestlers helped Concordia collect 56 points and place second in the men's team championship.
Men
1. Brock (59 points) 2. Concordia (56) 3. Simon Fraser (46) 4. McMaster (39) 5. Alberta (31) 6. Saskatchewan (30) 7. Lakehead (27) 8. Regina (26) 9. Calgary (21) 10. UNB (16) T 11. Western Ontario (12) T 11. Guelph (12) 13. Toronto (4) 14. McGill (1)
