Brock, SFU to Defend National Titles at 2004 CIS Wrestling Championship

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03/05/2004


Ottawa (CIS) - Canada's best wrestlers meet at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont. this weekend for the 2004 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Wrestling Championship (March 5-6). The Brock University Badgers and Simon Fraser Clan are ready to defend their men's and women's National titles.    The 2004 Nationals get under way on Friday with the preliminary rounds (3). Three more rounds culminating with the finals are scheduled for Saturday (see complete schedule below).    For all the information on the tournament: www.brocku.ca/ciswrestling    Men's Preview    Last year the final men's placings went down to the wire with two points separating the top three spots. This season should be just as exciting as the top three Simon Fraser, defending champion Brock and Saskatchewan will be in the hunt for the CIS Crown.     The #1 ranked Brock Badgers will be looking to capture their sixth straight CIS title as they advance eight wrestlers to the Championship including five athletes from last year's squad, a former CIS Champion and two rookie standouts. The defending individual champions for Brock include Jamie Macari (57kg), Ryan Weicker (68kg) and Evan MacDonald (72kg), all of whom have gone up one weight class from a year ago. The tournament hosts also have two other wrestlers ranked #1, Clint Kingsbury (54kg) and Cleo Ncube (65kg), and two more seeded #2 in Adam Fera (82kg) and Mike Neufeld (90kg).    Simon Fraser, who is tied for first in the nation with Brock, advance nine wrestlers to the Nationals. Leading the way are four defending individual champions: Chris Harada (68kg), Danny Einhorn (82kg), Roozbeh Banihashimi (90kg) and Mikhail Adbul-Latif (130kg). SFU also has two individuals ranked #2 in their weight class: Jake Ledoux (61kg) and Nathan Rolfe (76kg).    #3 Saskatchewan advance six wrestlers led by #1 ranked Colin Wist (61kg) and Dan Dupuis (76kg). The Huskies also have two #2 in Ryley Walker (57kg) and Danny Jutras (72kg).    Concordia's David Zilberman (130kg) is also ranked #1 in his individual weight class.    Women's Preview  The top three nationally ranked women's teams are identical to the final standings from a year ago, which saw Simon Fraser capture their first CIS banner with Calgary taking home silver and Brock placing third.    The #1 ranked Clan will look to make it back-to-back titles as they advance wrestlers in each of the seven weight classes and are led by defending individual champion Emily Richardson (61kg) and defending silver medalists Sarah White (53kg) and Kristina Wolff (80kg). White goes into the Championship ranked #1 at 53kg. Also ranked #1 for SFU is Kathleen Takeda (48kg).    The #2 Calgary Dinos advance five athletes. Leading the way are Andrea Ross (57kg), Laura McDougall (65kg) and Breann Grahame (70kg), all ranked #2 in their weight class.    The #3 Brock Badgers advance five wrestlers this weekend including two-time defending champion Heather Sweezey (57kg) and rookie standout Stephanie Szmiett (48kg), who ranks #2. Szmiett was ranked #1 for the majority of the season.    Also ranked #1 in their individual weight class are two defending champions, Guelph's Tara Hedican (65kg) and McMaster's Pam Wilson (80kg), and a 2003 silver medalist, Saskatchewan's Megan Buydens (70kg).    2004 CIS Wresling Championship schedule (all times EST):    Thursday, March 4   2 pm Press Conference    Friday, March 5  10 am Round 1 Preliminary  1 pm Round 2 Preliminary  3 pm Round 3 Preliminary    Saturday, March 6  11 am Round 4 (Finals for 5th-6th-7th-8th)   12:30 pm Round 5 (Consolation Finals 3rd-4th)   2 pm Official Opening (Bob Davis Gym Brock University)   2:30 pm Round 6 (Championship matches 1st-2nd)   7 pm Banquet & Medal Presentation (Quality Hotel)    Saturday, March 6: Special Event  3:30 pm & 5 pm  Daniel Igali (Olympic Gold Medalist) wrestle-off for 2004 Olympics  Igali trails in the match 1-0 (best 2-out-of-3)