FRANCIS MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER; MARAUDERS CAPTURE FOUR CIS MEDALS
MARCH 4, 2006
ST. CATHARINES ON - Sheldon Francis captured the gold medal in 82 kg weight class at 2006 CIS Wrestling Championships. Stef Howorun was the top finisher for the women taking home silver in the 67 kg. Overall the men's team just missed out on a team medal placing fourth. Despite having only two female competitors in a tournament with eight weight classes, the women's team placed ninth out of 12 schools.
Francis opened the tournament easily defeating Alberta's Jens Reuter 2-0 (6-0, 7-0). After enjoying a second round bye he had no problems with Saskatchewan's Dan Dupuis pinning Dupuis in the third round after taking the first round, 6-0. Francis' third round win advanced him to the final, and setup a rematch of this year's OUA gold medal match with Brock's Adam Fera. Fera defeated Francis in the gold medal match at the OUA Championship two weeks prior. It was also Fera that Francis was supposed to face in the 2005 CIS gold medal match before he was forced to forfeit due to a serious injury. The first round of the final was tight, with Francis taking the round 4-3. He closed out the match taking the second round, 4-1, to win the gold. For his performance at the Championship, Francis was named this year's CIS Most Outstanding Male Wrestler.
OUA Champion Matt Miller had no problems advancing to the 68 kg final defeating Toronto's Ashkon Mousavian (8-2, 3-0, 1 pin), UNB's Ben McCarron (6-0, 7-0), and Alberta's Joe Harrington (3-2, 2-0). In the final he faced off against Joe Bentley from Calgary. Bentley won 8-3 and 2-0 to give Miller silver.
Dave Rennalls was the third medal winner for the Marauders. He defeated Lakehead's Andrew Elliot in the bronze medal match of the 76 kg. Rennalls proved resilient having been easily defeated by Elliot at this year's OUA Championship that earned Elliot OUA MVP honurs. Rennalls only lose of the Championship was to Concordia's Tyler Marghetis who went on the win the gold.
Just missing out on a fifth medal for McMaster was Mike Celli. Celli opened the Championship with a loss to bronze medallist Joe Slobodian from Alberta. He rebounded with a 2-1 (1-0, 1-4, 7-4) win against Simon Fraser's Isaac Wing. He was one win away from the bronze medal match, but a couple of controversial calls, on out of bounds push outs, saw Celli lose the match 2-0 (2-1, 3-2). He easily defeated Clayton Sereres from Lakehead to place fifth.
For the women, Stef Howorun breezed through her first three matches pinning Lakehead's Leah Daugherty and Memorial's Kerri-Ann Evely. She defeated Leah Callahan from Calgary 2-0 (5-0, 7-1) to advance to the gold medal final. Howorun faced off against a familiar foe in the Championship match, Saskatchewan's Megan Buydens. Buydens, the defending CIS Champion currently ranked #1 in North America for the weight class, had defeated Howorun on three prior occasions, most recently in the semifinals at the 2005 Senior Nationals. Despite her prior record against Buydens, Howorun wrestled an aggressive match and defended opposing attacks well. Buydens was only able to score points by forcing Howorun out of bounds, which she did enough to secure a 2-0 (2-0, 2-0) victory.
Results Summary | Full Results
In arguably the toughest weight class, defending CIS Champion Ellen Macro lost to the eventual CIS Rookie of the Year, Michelle Fazzari of Brock, for the third time this season. Fazzari, defeated Macro 2-0 (2-0, 2-0) in their third round match ending her hopes of a title defense. Macro lost 2-0 (4-0, 3-1) in the bronze medal match to Katie Patroch from Lakehead.