Gaels earn sixth place finish at Queen's Open
posted by: Queen's Wrestling

11/22/2010 9:50:01 AM
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 21, 2010) – The Queen's Gaels wrestled their way to a sixth place finish as hosts of the Queen's University Open Wrestling Tournament on Sunday at the Athletics and Recreation Centre.

Joel Smith of Smith Falls, Ont., was the top Gael on the men's side with a second place finish in the 54 kg division, while Kellie Heney of Munster, Ont., led the women's team with a third place showing at 59 kg.

Feodor Snagovsky was the only other Gael to secure points with a 4th place finish at 76 kg. Over one hundred wrestlers from Ontario and Quebec were on hand.

Smith won three of his four matches, losing only to Zack Falcioni of the Brock Wrestling Club in the third round of a close match. Smith had won the first round, 3 – 1, and then lost the second and third rounds by margins of 4 - 5 and 1 – 3.

Though Smith lost the gold medal match by decision, he actually scored more overall technical points in his weight class than Falcioni, having won two of his matches in spectacular fashion by pinning his opponents for a Fall or Grand Superiority. Falcioni, on the other hand, only won his matches by decisions on his way to the top of the podium.

Heney, a third year veteran, stayed strong in all her matches and relied on her “tried and true” throwing skills. Her only losses came from the highly regarded Ludmila Cristea, a Moldovian national currently training in Montreal and Brock's, Natasha Chang.

“We made a lot of progress today,” said Gianni Vecchio, Head Coach of the Queen's varsity team. “Everything's a building process as we work towards our ultimate goals at the OU's and CI's (Ontario University Athletic and Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships)”

Queen's rookies, Yi Quan Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., (Women's 63 kg) and Sammie Singh Brampton, of Ont., (Men's 82 kg), though unable to advance beyond the preliminary rounds, proved to be sources of optimism for the Gaels. Both first year wrestlers endured hard fought defeats, but made significant gains to build off in future competitions.

For Coach Vecchio getting the first year athletes to be more mentally prepared will need reviewing. “With more experience they'll calm down and become less rigid,” said Vecchio. “They need to be relaxed so they can react effectively and work the technique.”

Brock Wrestling Club took the team gold (85 points) with an unstoppable combined force of club and varsity wrestlers – the largest in the field. The Guelph Wrestling Club came in second with 42 points, while Montreal's YM-YWHA Wrestling Club finished third with 26 points.