“I shit the bed,” said Dinos wrestler Elise Comeau. “I lost two close matches by two points.”
This is pretty much how the weekend went for the whole team. The women were blind sided by the Brock University Badgers who rose to the occasion and defeated Calgary by four points. The Dinos left the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championships with no individual golds in women’s wrestling and second place in the team competition in what was essentially a two horse race.
"When it came down to the head-to-head matchups, we got outwrestled several times," said Head Coach Mitch Ostberg. "I honestly thought we would have some individual golds."
Breanne Graham, Melissa Kind-ratsky and Brittanee Laverdure all lost their gold medal matches and Elise Comeau lost her bronze medal match as well. The Dino women came just four points shy of the team title and certainly expected to do better.
On the men’s side, the Dinos finished fifth but were able to win two weight classes with great individual performances from veterans Mike Stitt and David Kooperberg. Rookie Joe "Fro" Bentley was a pleasant surprise finishing second, and Calgary was able to hold with the big boys from Brock, Lakehead University and the University of Regina.
"I messed up my Lakehead guy better than Kooperberg messed up his," smiled a jubilant Bentley. "I dislocated his ankle."
Other strong performances included Kate Eckfeldt who finished third and veteran Hakan Kadir who finished fourth. Mat Farrell, one of the Dino medal hopefuls, injured himself at the Canada West Tournament and was unable to deliver at nationals.
"It was a heck of a tournament," reflected Ostberg when asked to sum up this year’s nationals. "Regardless of how we did, it was a great competition."
Beyond the Mat:
When asked about David Kooperberg’s gold-medal performance, Damon Booth was very forthcoming.
"He definitely did well and I’m definitely dating his sister."
Anthony Baldwin had words of wisdom as well.
"If I had been there we would have won," said the self-proclaimed Italian Stallion. "I’m talking about how incredibly tough I am."