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
[There] were a lot of new guys on the team, but a lot of our rookies did pretty well. I was impressed with everyone.
Luken Lawson, fourth-year wrestler
McMaster Wrestling team
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.
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.
Luken Lawson, fourth-year wrestler
McMaster Wrestling team
Next, the Marauders will be travelling to Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 16 to participate in York University’s wrestling open.
In light of the recent suspension of many major tournaments such as the U Sports volleyball championships, we can reflect on one of the successful tournaments that took place from Feb. 21 to 22.
At the 2020 U Sports wrestling championship, we saw a few familiar faces break onto the podium. From the men’s team, the trio of Connor Quinton in the 68 kg weight class, Ben Zahra in the 76 kg category and Ameen Aghamirian in the 82 kg class each found themselves wearing silver medals when it was all said and done. Francesco Fortino in the 57 kg class got his hands on a bronze medal. This was considered an all-around success for the McMaster team and marks Zahra’s second year in a row getting silver at the highly competitive tournament.
Zahra, one of the three silver medal recipients and athlete of the week, shared his thoughts on the team's performance at the U-Sports championship. He was happy with how the team finished.
Benjamin Zahra - Wrestling
Benjamin Zahra
“I thought everyone’s performance at U Sports was very impressive,” said Zahra. “We had a lot of close wins, and it seemed like whenever a teammate of mine was a close match, they managed to come out on top.”
Although Zahra was happy for the success of the team, he wishes he had placed higher. Going into the tournament, he had kept the gold in his sights. Even though he fell just short of his goal, medaling in this major tournament is a big success—and Zahra knows it.
“Medaling at the U Sports Championships gave me a lot of confidence in my training and reaffirmed all the hard work I put in throughout the season,” Zahra said. “Although it wasn’t the medal I wanted, I am still proud of the effort and tenacity I brought into the competition and look forward to bringing those aspects of my wrestling into the Canadian Championships.”
A silver medal is a great accomplishment for any school team. To have been able to bring home three, like our men’s team did, is a significant success. U Sports silver medalist Quinton also spoke about the value that the team’s performance could have had in preparation for the Canadian Championships.
“I think U Sports taught our team a lot of valuable lessons that we’ve been able to look back on over the last week and it’ll be a great learning experience for all of us moving forward. The team is looking really good heading into the next part of our season, and I think we’ve got a lot of guys that are ready to take the next step to the international level after making some tweaks and preparing hard for our upcoming tournaments,” said Quinton.
Quinton spoke glowingly about how the wrestling program has not only allowed him to become a better wrestler but also greatly contributed to his growth as a person.
“As I come to the end of my third year, I think I have matured a lot in terms of my wrestling as well as my character,” said Quinton. “I think being a part of the McMaster program has been extremely helpful in my development. I’ve learned so many techniques and tactics that I’ve been able to use in my wrestling that have been key to my progress. The team and coaches have also put lots of focus on growing off the mats and have taught us to strive to be great people all the time.”
Unfortunately, due to the spread of the coronavirus, Wrestling Canada Lutte has postponed the U17 and U19 Canadian Championships, as well as the Junior and Senior Canadian Championships. This was a big event that wrestlers from around the country were looking to compete in. However, decisions such as this are necessary to mitigate the spread of the virus.
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