Doornaert Wins Gold, Mustangs have a strong showing at York Open

The Western wrestling team travelled to the Toronto area for the second weekend in a row to compete at the York Open on Sunday. Travelling with a smaller team, the Mustangs continued their strong start to the season with several impressive performances. The Mustangs returned home with four medals and another four wrestlers who placed in the top 6. Leading the way for the Mustangs was 4th-year wrestler Ella Doornaert who won gold in the 63kg class. Ella had a great semi-final match against a strong opponent from Brock. Ella executed a perfect shoulder throw in the match to help secure the win. “It was nice to see Ella win her first University tournament,” commented Head Coach Scott Proctor. “She has been working extremely hard over the past few years, and it is starting to show in her wrestling. She is executing moves that she has been working on, and she has a much better understanding of the tactics involved in close matches”. The Mustangs’ other medal winners were Paige Baynham picking up her third medal in three tournaments by winning a silver medal, and Hannah VanderSlagt and Kendall Dettloff, both winning bronze medals. “I think the team showed how much they’re improving this weekend and closing the gap on tough opponents. They’re looking good going into the last tournament of this term this Sunday,” noted assistant coach Madison Parks. The first term’s final tournament, the Ontario Open, is this Sunday, November 28^th, in Burlington.

Top Six finishers

1^st Ella Doornaert

2^nd Paige Baynham

3^rd Hannah Vanderslagt

3^rd Kendall Dettloff

5th Duncan Blake

5th Vaikunthan Thanarajah

5th Ronald Peter

5th Tate Levesque