Seven members of the Concordia Stingers wrestling team won their weight classes at the AUS/QSSF qualifying tournament hosted by the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton on Feb. 18.
The regional victory entitles each wrestler to a berth at Canadian university national championships which will be held in two weeks in St. Catharines, Ont. Led by Tyler Marghetis, one of the CIS‚s top 8 academic all-Canadians in 2005, three of the athletes were national medallists last March and are returning to defend their accomplishments. Marghetis is looking for his fourth straight CIS medal at 76 kilos. He was a gold medallist in 2004 and 2005 and, as a rookie in 2003, he won a silver medal. There are high expectations for David Zilberman, a heavyweight from Montreal who won a silver medal at the CIS championship last year.
In 2004, he earned a gold medal and was named the outstanding male rookie. Tim Wadsworth, 65 kilos, also won a silver medal last year as a rookie. Rounding out the team that will represent Concordia at the national championships hosted by Brock University on March 3 and 4 are: fifth-year veteran Tony Ronci (68 kg.), second-year wrestler James Mancini (61 kg.), newcomer Sergei Guevorkian (72 kg.) and Jonathan Rioux (90 kg.).
The wrestling team is coached by Victor Zilberman who has guided his athletes to more than 39 gold medals and six team titles at the nationals. Since 1980, Concordia has won 81 medals and six team titles at the CIAU/CIS wrestling championships. In addition five Concordia athletes have been named the outstanding wrestler at the CIAUs, and Victor Zilberman has been named CIAU Coach of the Year on two occasions - in 1986 and in 1984.
