The Marauders earn 13 medals and the top spot at the McMaster invitational in a dominant start to their season  

The McMaster wrestling team took on their first season meet of the year at the McMaster University  invitational held on Oct. 30. Hosted at the university’s own Burridge gymnasium, the Marauders came away with multiple medals across different weight classes from both the men and women’s divisions. Overall, the team pulled away with a first place victory, scoring 85 points to edge past the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas who managed 84 points in the contest.  

Following their home opening dual meet against Alberta on Oct. 29, the Marauders entered their regular season high off of last year’s silver medal performances at the Ontario University Athletic Championships. Featuring rosters packed with youth and talent, both the men and women teams dominated the McMaster invitational with outstanding matches on the mats.  

On the women’s side, athletes Ligaya Stinellis, Serena Di Benedetto and Macy Malysiak secured gold medals for the 50kg, 53kg and 56kg events respectively. A three-time competitor for Team Canada and a new recruit for the team this year, Di Benedetto won by technical fall over Taylor Mcpherson for an impressive start to the season. Stinellis and Malysiak, who landed podium placements at their individual events during last year’s championships, also delivered strong performances for the Marauders.  

Individual success at the meet aside, it was very important for members, such as Malysiak, to take advantage of the regular season for the team’s growth, development and playoff preparation. They managed to do just that, making the most of the meet. 

“Like our coaches say, everybody wants to win, but you sometimes want to put yourself in uncomfortable positions and situations so that you can learn from them. All these tournaments are just a learning block before the big ones,” said Malysiak. 

“Like our coaches say, everybody wants to win, but you sometimes want to put yourself in uncomfortable positions and situations so that you can learn from them. All these tournaments are just a learning block before the big ones.”

Macy Malysiak, women's wrestling team

Rounding out the other medalists, Betty Huang, Similoluwa Jayeoba and Tehani Blais captured three more silver medals for the women’s team. Vanessa Fonrose also added a bronze medal for her performance in the 76kg matches. 

Leading the charge for the men’s team, Gregor McNeil took home the team’s lone gold, winning by injury default against Mahir Sabat from York University in the first place 61kg match. Francesco Fortino, Irman Kang and Jonathan Vecchio also earned three silver medals for the maroon and grey team. Finally, both Gianluca Fortino and Howard Moffatt ended with third place finishes in the 65kg and 90kg matches respectively.  

Along with Di Benedetto, McNeil is also a first year recruit for the McMaster wrestling program with past experience on Team Canada. Of the 13 total medals won by the Marauders, six were won by athletes in their debut season with the wrestling program. Such achievements speak volumes to the team’s future potential. 

“I honestly am just consistently excited because this is the best recruitment class that we’ve had for a long time . . . I do think that we are achieving more than we have in the past and so I think that this is going to continue on in the long run,” said Stinellis.  

“I honestly am just consistently excited because this is the best recruitment class that we’ve had for a long time . . . I do think that we are achieving more than we have in the past and so I think that this is going to continue on in the long run.”

Ligaya Stinellis, women's wrestling team

After the meets, both the men and women’s teams rank high atop the U Sports wrestling power rankings. On the leaderboards, the women came second place in the country while the men finished in third.  

The Marauders will soon travel to Toronto, taking the mats at the Toronto Metropolitan University invitational on Nov. 13. Later in the winter, they will take on the OUA wrestling championships on Feb. 11 and the U Sports championship held from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26.  

With seven more meets still on their schedule, both teams will have plenty of time to prepare for the postseason title run in 2023.  

Photo C/O Ligaya Stinellis

McMasters men’s and women’s wrestling teams went to the Ontario University Athletics Wrestling Championships to compete in Guelph on Feb. 1 and 2. The tournament consisted of ten of the top wrestling programs across Ontario, the Algoma University Thunderbirds, Brock University Badgers, the University of Guelph Gryphons, the Lakehead University Timberwolves, the Queen’s University Gaels, the Ryerson University Rams, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the Western University Mustangs, the York University Lions and your own Marauders. With medals on the line, Mcmaster stepped up to the occasion and armlocked the competition, coming home with a respectable haul of hardware.

Even though the championship has been historically dominated by Brock University, the Marauders medaled in eight individual weight categories. The men’s team finished with a total of 66 points, earning them second overall in the tournament. Points are scored by pulling off maneuvers that all have a different weight in the point system. The maroon and grey totalled four bronze, two silvers and two gold medals.

For the past five years, Brock University has held the OUA Wrestling Championships banners for best overall performance in men’s and women’s wrestling. This year alone they received ten of the 19 gold medals up for grabs, but with nine left on the table they allowed McMaster to get a few of their own.

Ben Zahra, in the 76 kg weight class, and Ameen Aghamirian, in the 82 kg weight class, were the Marauders draped in gold on Sunday. Zhara’s dominant performance led to him being declared the OUA Male Athlete of the Week on Feb. 3. 

Previously, Zahra had earned silver for three consecutive years at the tournament, but was never able to break the top of the podium.This year, however, he finally cracked the code and took home gold.

“Placing second for the past three years at OUAs really fuelled me throughout this season. When I was able to come out on top at OUAs this past weekend it really gave me confidence in my training,” said Zahra.

He won three tech falls, outscoring the opponent, in the pool rounds to start the day as he took down Queen’s, Toronto’s, and Algoma’s performers in the 76 kg weight class.

Having performed in the OUA regular season with such dominance, he earned a shot at the title match against the previously undefeated in the OUA regular season Ty Bridgwater of the Brock Badgers dominant wrestling team. The match was a close one as Zahra narrowly won by a margin of eight to five in his favour. On top of this performance, he was honoured with the title of the OUA’s Outstanding Male Wrestler of the year.

Zahra’s unbeaten day and breakthrough performance was a terrific way to end his fourth year in the OUA with the Marauders squad, before potentially heading to Canadian Junior/Senior Championships.

While Zahra delivered one of the more impressive performances, let’s not forget about the other medalists in the men’s category. Francesco Fortino was the bronze winner in the 57 kg weight class. Trystan Kato also took home a bronze medal in the 72 kg weight class. The silver winners were Connor Quinton in the 68 kg weight class and Bradley MaGarrey in the 90 kg weight class. 

Two of the women’s team contenders who earned a bronze medal are Simi Jayeoba within the 63 kg weight class and Joelle Vanderslagt in the 67 kg weight class. It is important to recognize that the women’s team is outnumbered 20 to five by the men’s team, making their two medal mark impressive. 

The women’s team ended up with 40 per cent of participants placing with medals and the men’s team finished with 30 per cent of their participants placing with medals. With almost half of the women’s team and just under a third of the men’s team placing on the podium, it is clear that the program has a good shot to continue their success at nationals on Feb. 20-22. 

 Zahra said, “going into the U Sports Championships I am looking forward to just competing and really leaving it all out there on the mat no matter the result. I’m also looking forward to watching all my teammates compete and show their skills on the national level.”

 

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