Mustangs pick up four individual golds and a 1st place team finish at the Ontario Open

11/30/2021 3:55:00 PM

By: Western Wrestling Team

Burlington, ON – Western wrestlers came home with ten medals and finished first overall in the team standings at the Ontario Open this weekend.

Leading the way for the Mustangs were Tejas Patel, Hassan Al-Hayawi, Thoams Fortier and Paige Baynham, all winning gold medals. Patel won gold at 54kg, Al-Hayawi added gold to his collection of two bronze medals from earlier tournaments in the 65 kg division, Fortier won gold in the 92kg division, and Baynham picked up her fourth medal and third gold by winning the 72kg weight class.

Other Mustangs who secured medals included Hannah VanderSlagt, Anthony Parker and Lucas DiPonio winning silver medals, Kendall Dettloff, Faith Telford and Duncan Blake picking up bronze medals.

“We had a really impressive showing at 57kg, capturing all three medals in the weight. The team wrestled hard through a tough tournament, and we had some great outcomes,”  noted Mustang Assistant Coach Madi Parks. “Overall, a really positive end to our first semester of competition.”

Western finished first overall as a team with 92 points, 23 points ahead of the second-place team.

“We had a really good showering by some of our veterans, notably Hassan Al-Hayawi winning the 65kg weight class,” commented Assistant Coach Steven Takahashi. “He had an outstanding tournament dominating his weight by winning 10-0 against all his opponents. This included the finals where he bested Cody Saunders, who he previously lost to in earlier seasons,”

This was the last competition of the fall term for the Mustangs, who have had an impressive showing so far.

“This was a great way for us to finish up the first term of competition. We have been improving since the first tournament at the start of November, and it is nice to see the hard work paying off,” said Head Coach Scott Proctor. “We will continue to train throughout December, and we feel like we are in a great position heading into the new year, and we are looking forward to the OUA and U SPORTS Championships at the end of February,”

Top Six Finishers
1^st Tejas Patel 54kg
1^st Hassan Al-Hayawi 65kg
1^st Thomas Fortier 92kg
1^st Paige Baynham 72kg
2^nd Lucas DiPonio 57kg
2^nd Anthony Parker 125kg
2^nd Hannah VanderSlagt 50kg
3^rd Duncan Blake 57kg
3^rd Kendall Dettloff 55kg
3^rd Faith Telford 68kg
4^th Ella Doornaert 65kg
4^th Emalea Drozdow 59kg
4^th Anthony Mastrogiacomo 70kg
5^th Vaikunthan Thanarajah 61kg
5^th Olivia Disimone 68kg
5^th Talha Ahmad 86kg
6^th Brayden Ambo 86kg