Lakehead Wrestling Heads to OUA’s

The OUA Wrestling Championships happen this Saturday in Sault Ste Marie, hosted by Algoma University. The Lakehead Thunderwolves are sending a dozen wrestlers to test their strength and tact on the mat against the best of the OUA, including the reigning CIS champs from Brock.

Catch the Action Live:
All matches are being streamed live. Please click on the below links to stream the OUA Wrestling Championships mats. The draw for the tournament will be released later on Friday evening.

• Mat 1 (OUA.TV)
• Mat 2 (YouTube)
• Mat 3 (YouTube)

Coach Francis Clayton sees the weekend as a test of will and effort for his team.

“Unlike in most sports, in wrestling there’s not as many stats to track, there’s no ‘personal bests’, as such, that we aim to improve upon,” commented Clayton. “Wrestling is about effort, and I want our athletes to show full effort, start to finish, until the referee says the match is done. I want our wrestlers go forward and never stop.”

Lakehead’s women’s team is currently ranked 10th in the CIS, although they will be sending just four wrestlers to compete this weekend. Lakehead’s #10 rank has a lot to do with Emma Horner, who won a CIS silver medal in the 59kg last season. This year she’s won the Ontario Senior Championship and the York Open. Dana Campbell has also looked strong in the 82kg division. Kelsey Dayler also went to the CIS tournament last season, placing 5th in the 67kg. Heather Brousseau rounds out the Lakehead women’s team at OUA’s, with Mandy Toope unable to compete due to injury.

In terms of team goals at OUA’s Clayton explained, “We had three athletes qualify for CIS last year, and they’re all here again, so, I’d like those three to qualify, that’s our team’s starting point. Then past that I’d like to have three more qualify for the national championships, so six would be our goal. If we could have all 11 of our wrestlers challenge for a medal, to all be Top 4, that would be a success.”