Dan Kinvig, UFV Athletics
ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – The Alberta Golden Bears men’s team and the Saskatchewan Huskies women’s squad were the big winners as the 2019 Canada West Wrestling Championships wrapped up on Saturday at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
The Golden Bears took home the men’s team banner by the slimmest of margins – with 41 combined points, they nipped their Saskatchewan counterparts (40) by a single point. It was the 12th Canada West men’s crown in program history for the Alberta program, and their third in a row. The host University of the Fraser Valley Cascades finished third (33) to match the best finish in team history, and the Calgary Dinos (20) were fourth.
The Golden Bears saw four of their grapplers climb to the top step of the podium: Jordan Wong (57 kg), Nathen Schmidt (61 kg), Miles Kent (72 kg) and Nicholas Goleniec (82 kg). Other men’s division champs included UFV’s Brad Hildenbrandt (120 kg) and De’Andre Williams (68 kg); Saskatchewan’s Logan Sloan (54 kg), Hunter Lee (90 kg) and Liam Graham (100 kg); and Calgary’s McNeice brothers, Callum (76 kg) and Connor (65 kg).
On the women’s side, Saskatchewan’s victory was less suspenseful – they amassed 33 points for a relatively comfortable triumph over Alberta (25), Calgary (22) and UFV (14).
The Huskies had a quartet of gold medalists, with Alex Schell (48 kg), Maddie Haney (67 kg), Berit Johnson (72 kg) and Kiera Prior (82 kg) emerging victorious. Other individual winners included Alberta’s Farrah Taj (51 kg) and Krystin Paquette (59 kg); Calgary’s Tianna Kennett (55 kg); and UFV’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez (63 kg).
The major award winners were announced at the Canada West banquet on Saturday evening.
The men’s wrestler of the year was UFV’s Brad Hildenbrandt, who became the first Cascade to take home the honour. He’s a three-time reigning Canada West champion in the heavyweight division.
On the women’s side, the wrestler of the year award voting resulted in a rare tie, with Alberta’s Krystin Paquette (59 kg) and Calgary’s Tianna Kennett (55 kg) sharing the honour. Both finished atop their respective weight classes this weekend in Abbotsford.
Saskatchewan’s Logan Sloan and Alberta’s Katie Mulkay took home the male and female rookie of the year awards, respectively. Sloan won the men’s 54 kg title, while Mulkay was the silver medalist at 63 kg.
The male and female student-athlete community service awards were swept by the Dinos, with Emmanuel Olapade and Drew Persson taking home the honours.
Olapade is a leader in his academic, athletic and spiritual communities. Academically, he maintained a 4.0 GPA in his kinesiology studies last fall. He also finds time to coach wrestling with his former high school and club programs, and volunteers regularly at his church and at the Mustard Seed homeless shelter.
Persson volunteers as a coach with the Dinomites wrestling program and helps operate youth programs at Crank Gym in Calgary. She also served as a volunteer coach at the 2018 Alberta Winter Games. Outside of wrestling and sport, Drew is a volunteer at the Benalto Pro Rodeo and at the Bethany Care Centre in Sylan Lake and Eckville, Alta.
The conference’s coach of the year honourees corresponded directly with the teams that hoisted the championship banners. Saskatchewan’s Daniel Olver is the women’s coach of the year, and Alberta’s Owen Dawkins is the men’s coach of the year.
Canada West individual medalists will advance to the U SPORTS Wrestling Championships, Feb. 22-23 hosted by the University of Calgary.
INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
Male athlete of the year – Brad Hildenbrandt, UFV Cascades
Female athlete of the year (tie) – Tianna Kennett, Calgary Dinos and Krystin Paquette, Alberta Pandas
Male rookie of the year – Logan Sloan, Saskatchewan Huskies
Female rookie of the year – Katie Mulkay, Alberta Pandas
Female student-athlete community service award winner – Drew Persson, Calgary Dinos
Male student-athlete community service award winner – Emmanuel Olapade, Calgary Dinos
Men’s coach of the year: Owen Dawkins, Alberta Golden Bears
Women’s coach of the year: Daniel Olver, Saskatchewan Huskies
TEAM STANDINGS
Women
- Saskatchewan Huskies, 33 points
- Alberta Pandas, 25 points
- Calgary Dinos, 22 points
- UFV Cascades, 14 points
Men
- Alberta Golden Bears, 41 points
- Saskatchewan Huskies, 40 points
- UFV Cascades, 33 points
- Calgary Dinos, 20 points
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Women’s 48 kg
- Alex Schell, Saskatchewan
- Calista Espinosa, UFV
Women’s 51 kg
- Farrah Taj, Alberta
- SueAnne Harms, Saskatchewan
Women’s 55 kg
- Tianna Kennett, Calgary
- Amber Wiebe, UFV
- Alyx Paulson, Saskatchewan
- April Martinig, Alberta
Women’s 59 kg
- Krystin Paquette, Alberta
- Amy Bellavia, Calgary
- Emma Parker, Saskatchewan
Women’s 63 kg
- Ana Godinez Gonzalez, UFV
- Katie Mulkay, Alberta
- Vivian Mark, Calgary
- Angela Aalbers, Saskatchewan
Women’s 67 kg
- Maddie Haney, Saskatchewan
- Haley Heffel, Alberta
- Drew Persson, Calgary
Women’s 72 kg
- Berit Johnson, Saskatchewan
- Sydney Summach, Calgary
- Emma Olson, Alberta
Women’s 82 kg
- Kiera Prior, Saskatchewan
- Erin Geddie, Calgary
- Jessica Rabet, Alberta
Men’s 54 kg
- Logan Sloan, Saskatchewan
- Simren Brar, UFV
- Harris Valdes, Alberta
- Freddie Aziz, Calgary
Men’s 57 kg
- Jordan Wong, Alberta
- Parker McBride, UFV
- Remington Tschetter, Saskatchewan
- Liam Hogan, Calgary
Men’s 61 kg
- Nathen Schmidt, Alberta
- Brendan McKeage, Calgary
- Ali Rahguzar, UFV
Men’s 65 kg
- Connor McNiece, Calgary
- Jon Risto, Saskatchewan
- Kye Mills, Alberta
Men’s 68 kg
- De’Andre Williams, UFV
- Jakob Dormaar, Saskatchewan
- Devan Larkin, Alberta
- Emmanuel Olapade, Calgary
Men’s 72 kg
- Miles Kent, Alberta
- Micah Heide, Saskatchewan
- Amarvir Atwal, UFV
- Ty Nakano, Calgary
Men’s 76 kg
- Callum McNiece, Calgary
- Aidan McKeage, Alberta
- Trent Siemens, Saskatchewan
Men’s 82 kg
- Nicholas Goleniec, Alberta
- Karan Dhillon, UFV
- Julian Klinger, Saskatchewan
- Chase Paprocke, Calgary
Men’s 90 kg
- Hunter Lee, Saskatchewan
- Sunny Benning, UFV
- Lukas Kolobara, Calgary
- Mitchell Clarke, Alberta
Men’s 100 kg
- Liam Graham, Saskatchewan
- Parker Vandevelde, Alberta
- John Jacobs, Calgary
- Jason Bains, UFV
Men’s 120 kg
- Brad Hildenbrandt, UFV
- Kalin Langford, Saskatchewan
- Tyler Duguid, Alberta
- Joseph Duffy, Calgary