The Thunderbird’s wrestling team had a strong showing on Saturday, December 3rd finishing off the first half of the season at the University of Toronto Open. Both the men’s and women’s teams are currently ranked 8th in the U Sports national rankings, an outstanding feat as more than half the squad are first year student-athletes.

Coming home with 4 medals as well as multiple other placings, the Algoma team continued their string of solid performances this season. Taking home gold were Lilah Fraser (83 kg) and Kira Buck (72 kg), while Anthony Nighbor (76 kg) and Sullivan Valdez (57 kg) both won bronze.

Coach Trevor Manchester had this to say about the performance:
“The team had a strong finish on Saturday. We had a rough start in some of our matches, but were able to stay mentally tough and work though it. Lilah had a great day, winning her third gold of the year with a perfect 3-0 record. Kira wrestled confidently, finishing 2-0. Both Anthony and Sullivan show great resilience after some tough matches, finishing 3-1 and taking home bronze medals. Overall the team wrestled well, especially after a busy November. We will be taking the next month to correct our mistakes and be sure we are ready for the second half of the season.”

Results
Lilah Fraser – 1st at 83 kg
Kira Buck – 1st at 72 kg
Rebecca Vann – 4th at 53 kg
Anthony Nighbor – 3rd at 76 kg
Sullivan Valdez – 3rd at 57 kg
Grason Belton – 4th at 61 kg
Ashish Malik – 5th at 90 kg

Source: Algoma Thunderbird Athletics