Marauders kick off Wrestling season in dominant fashion

McMaster hosted the first wrestling open of the season, where the Marauders performed outstandingly

The Marauders women’s and men’s wrestling teams dominated their first open on Sunday, Nov. 3. The competition featured 40 teams across Canada, with the Marauders collectively finishing in first place. 

The women’s team took home three gold medals while the men secured two bronzes and a silver.  Fourth-year engineering student and member of the team, Luken Lawson, praised the team, especially the younger competitors.

“[There] were a lot of new guys on the team, but a lot of our rookies did pretty well. I was impressed with everyone," said Lawson

On the men’s side, Sarpartap Lally took home the silver while both Lawson and team member Irman Kang won bronze. Lawson’s performance stood out, competing in eight matches throughout the day and winning seven of them, resulting in him being named a Marauder athlete of the week.

“I knew it was going to be a long day . . . but I was pretty impressed with my performance. My coaches were pretty impressed [as well] with how I was moving and I felt really fast,” said Lawson.

Lawson, who is in his fourth year of competition, acknowledged there were still things he wanted to work on. But, he was glad he could go out there and both have fun and take home a medal. After a long day of competition, the exhaustion did not hit him until the next day.

“I was running off of a lot of adrenaline during the day and I was looking forward to the next match. I wasn’t really feeling [tired] until the next morning where I spent a couple extra minutes in bed,” said Lawson.

There will be five more opens ahead of the OUA championships, which will be on Feb. 8. To qualify for the championships, a team must compete in at least two opens, which the Marauders have already done.

According to Lawson, while the team’s performance in these opens does not matter in terms of making it to the OUA championship, it does helps with seeding. If team members place high in the opens, they will not have to face some of the tougher wrestlers early during the OUA tournament.

With their most recent performance, they have a lot to look forward to. The Marauders earned 73 points to place atop the standings. The women won 54 of those points, finishing in first place, while the men contributed 19, finishing in fourth.

Lawson pointed out the increased focus of this year's team and praised the culture of comradery they’ve developed thus far. “Our team is really close this year, especially with the mentality we all share. I found that we are very focused; there’s not much chit-chatter in practice, but after practice we like to joke around,” said Lawson.

Next, the Marauders will be travelling to Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 16 to participate in York University’s wrestling open.