The Canadian Nationals (Junior and Senior)


Facebook Twitter

A view of the competition venue

The Canadian Nationals Championships took place this past weekend in St-Catharines Ontario at the Ian Beddis Gymnasium at Brock University.  The Junior-Senior National Championships are always the highlight of the Canadian wrestling season and are usually quite strong after an Olympic year.  Added to the fact that whenever the Nationals are held in Ontario, there's always strong participation from the Ontario and the Eastern Canadian clubs which makes for a strong competition.

Laurence Beauregard with the victory in her Bronze Medal final

Jade Dufour with the Double Leg Takedown

Laurence Beauregard 55 kgs Bronze Medal

Aly Barghout 120 kgs Gold Medal

Quebec clubs were in full force for the the competition as CLIC, KSS, Montreal YMHA and the Tristar Wrestling Academy sent representatives to compete at the Junior and Senior events in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman and the results were quite good.  From the Montreal YMHA on the Womens side, Jade Dufour continued her dominant form by winning all her matches to capture the Gold Medal at 48 kgs while Laurence Beauregard took home a Bronze Medal at 55 kgs.  Other top six finishers on the Girls side included Kaya Dube-Snow who took 4th at 51 kgs, Amanda Savard who was also 4th at 67 kgs and Alexandria Campbell who placed 5th at 72 kgs.  On the Junior Mens side also from the Montreal YMHA, Dylan Maclean took a Bronze medal at 55 kgs while Aron Orzack took a Silver medal at 74 kgs.  Alex Moore, wrestling at 84 kgs dominated the tournament by winning Gold as well as the Outstanding Wrestler Award for Junior Men while Aly Barghout, wrestling at 120 kgs also won Gold as well.  Jeremy Poirier, rounded out the Top 6 results by placing 4th at 96 kgs.

Aly Barghout with the Crossed Ankles

Alex Moore 84 kgs Gold Medal

Jade Dufour 48 kgs Gold Medal

Alex Moore wins the Outstanding Mens Wrestler for the tournament

In addition to this, Quebec placed second as province on the Junior Mens side while the Montreal YMHA repeated as the top club in the country by winning the team title for Junior Men.  Rounding out the honours for Quebec, Jade Dufour and Alex Moore were named the top Junior Athletes for the the 2015-16 wrestling season, thanks in large part to their tremendous performances at the World Junior Championships.

Alex Moore receives his Mens Junior Athlete of the Year Award (2016)

Dylan Maclean 55 kgs Bronze Medal

Jade Dufour receives her Female Junior Athlete of the Year Award (2016)

Montreal YMHA, Top Junior Mens Team in the country

For the Senior Nationals, the competition featured many top level matches as athletes from across Canada converged in St-Catherines.  The Senior Nationals featued Olympians, World Medalists and FISU Champions.  Both Quebec clubs, CLIC and Montreal YMHA had medalists at the Senior Mens and Womens Championships.  From CLIC, Gustavo Almira Espinosa won Bronze at 70 kgs.  From the Montreal YMHA, Guseyn Ruslanzada won Gold at 70 kgs while at 86 kgs, the Montreal YMHA swept the top two spots at 86 kgs as Jordie Steen won Gold and Alex Moore took Silver.  Finally, rounding out the results for the Montreal YMHA, Hamed Rowshani (97 kgs) and Frederique Choquette (120 kgs) won Bronze medals in their respective divisions.  Other Top Five finishers from Montreal YMHA included James Mancini (61 kgs) 4th, Vince De Marinis (65 kgs) 5th, Dajinder Singh (70 kgs) 6th and Aly Bargout (125 kgs) 4th.

Gustavo Almira Espinosa of CLIC in the 70 kgs Bronze Medal Final

Alexandria Campbell

Veronica Keefe goes for the pin

Jordie Steen

On the Senior Womens side from the Montreal YMHA, Linda Morais fought a tough battle with 2016 Olympian Michelle Fazzari and took home a Silver Medal while Laurence Beauregard also won Silver at 60 kgs.  Finally Veronica Keefe (69 kgs) and Alexandria Campbell (82 kgs) both finished off in the Bronze Medal position.

Frederique Choquette Bronze Medal 125 kgs

Linda Morais squares off against Michelle Fazzari 

Alexandria Campbell Bronze Medal 82 kgs

Guseyn Ruslandzada 70 kgs Mens Final

Montreal YMHA took second place honours amongst the Mens Divisions while at the Womens, placing 4th as a team.  For a small province in wrestling, Quebec acquited themselves well, proving that they were amongts the elite in the country.

Veronica Keefe Bronze Medal 69 kgs

Guseyn Ruslandzada Gold Medal 70 kgs 

Gustavo Almira Espinosa Bronze Medal 70 kgs 

Hamed Rowshani Bronze Medal 97 kgs

Linda Morais Silver Medal 58 kgs

In the Greco-Roman competition, CLIC and Tristar Wrestling Academy sent representatives to the tournament.  In the Junior Division, John Yeats from Tristar Wrestling Academy won Gold at 74 kgs while in the Senior Greco division, Phillip Barreiro placed second at 85 kgs while Thomas Barreiro won Gold at 98 kg, both fromTristar Wrestling Academy. From CLIC, Gustavo Almira Espinosa won Gold at 71 kgs.  Finally, John Yeats was named the outstanding wrestler for the Junior Greco Men.  Congratulations to all our Quebec athletes at the Canadian National Championships!

For the complete results from the Junior-Senior Nationals, click here.

 

 

Jason's Blog

 

SportAide

 

Athletic Bursaries