Report from the High Performance Coordinator

FLOQ News Release April, 2016

QUEBEC WRESTLERS’ PERFORMANCE – 2015-16 COMPETITIVE SEASON

The FLOQ has had an outstanding season and all of its members should be proud of the work and achievements of the coaches and athletes this year. It is a truly remarkable achievement, especially given the small numbers we have, in comparison to the other provinces. The following accomplishments highlight our season:

1. Two Quebec wrestlers made the Olympic Team. Dorothy Yeats won the Olympic Trials and qualified for the Olympic Games by winning the Pan Am Qualifier, while Cleo Ncube won the trials and will be competing to qualify the weight class.

2. At the Junior National Championships in Fredericton, NB, the Montreal Wrestling Club won the Men’s Team Title for the first time in many years. Alex Moore was awarded the MVP of the championships. Three wrestlers, Alex Moore, Guseyn Ruslanzada and Frederick Choquette qualified to compete at the Junior World Championships in France in August.
On the Women’s side, at the Juniors, Jade Dufour won the Junior National Championships and will compete at the World Championships in France. Laurence Beauregard had an outstanding nationals, winning silver medals in both Juniors and Seniors.
Quebec placed fourth as a province in the Women’s division and 2nd as a province in the Men’s division.

3. At the Senior National Championships in Fredericton, the Montreal Wrestling Club tied for 1st place in the Men’s Division with the Burnaby Mountain (Vancouver) Club. Jordie Steen was named the Outstanding Wrestler for men.
In the Female division, with one gold medal from Linda Morais and two silver medals by Veronica Keefe and Laurence Beauregard, the Montreal Wrestling Club placed second as a club.
Quebec placed 2nd in both Men’s and Women’s divisions, an outstanding achievement and our best-ever.

4. At the Juvenile National Championships in Calgary Aly Barghout and Aaron Orszak won Gold and Kaya Dube-Snow Silver. The MWC finished second as a team in the men’s division.

5. At the Junior National Championships, in Greco Roman, Tri-Star wrestlers Johnny Yeats won a gold medal, and Nicholas Wilson won Silver. John Yeats also won the Canadian Olympic trials for his weight. I would like to congratulate John for his win at the trials and wish him good luck for his international competition at the junior level.

6. At the Canadian University Championships, Concordia University’s Men’s Team placed 3rd, which is an outstanding performance, considering that we get very few recruits from outside Quebec.

7. Congratulations to Kanawake Survival School for its silver medal at the Junior Nationals from Nolan Terrance and Club de lutte Inter-Concordia’s bronze medal from Chris Kinsella at the Senior Nationals at 70 kg.
8. Special congratulations to Coach Dominique Choquette for Patriotes wrestler Frederick Choquette winning a gold medal at the Junior Nationals this year. Last year, it was Julien Choquette who won a gold medal at the Cadet Nationals. Over the years, Dominique has consistently produced many national champions in different age groups, including Carl Rainville (Pan Am Games Silver Medalist), many times national champion Nikita Chicoine, Karianne Lacoursier-Roberge, Isaac Chicoine and several others.

9. Congratulations to Coach Jason Chen whose athlete Francis Carter won a bronze medal in Fredericton. In addition to two-time Canadian Champion Carter, Jason has also produced Juvenile National Champion Chris Gates.

This year’s national championships saw medals from MWC, Patriotes de St-Cesaire, Kahnawake and CLIC, by far our best performance ever and we had the most clubs ever producing medals at the National Championships.

Congratulations to all Quebec wrestlers and coaches for outstanding performances in 2016.