Canadian Olympic Trials

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Our trials are coming up December 15-18. Quinn has informed me that flowrestling is covering this event- should be awesome!

Canada has a pretty unique qualifying system which heavily favours last year's champion. The top 3 from last year's nationals are placed on a "ladder". Everyone else wrestles in a single elimination tournament. The winner of that tournament goes up against #3. The winner of that goes up against #2, and the winner of that wrestles #1 in a best-of-three.
I'll try to do a more detailed preview later, but here are our ladders:

55 kg
1. David Tremblay Montreal 2. Steven Takahashi LWWC 3. Promise Mwenga Black Bears

60 kg
1. Ryley Walker Saskatoon 2. John Pineda BMWC 3. . CJ Hudson Brock WC (Hudson was 2nd, but Walker was unable to go to worlds and Pineda beat Hudson in a "true second" wrestle off.)

66 kg
1. Haislan Garcia BMWC 2. Ryan Lue Guelph WC 3. Ryan Weicker Brock WC

74 kg
1. Matt Gentry BMWC 2. Cleo Ncube Montreal 3. Chris Prickett Guelph WC

84 kg
1. Jeff Adamson Saskatoon 2. Matt Miller Montreal 3. Alex Burk Dinos WC

96 kg
1. Khetag Pliev Team Impact 2. Korey Jarvis Guelph WC 3. Manjot Sandhu BMWC

120 kg
1. Arjan Bhullar BMWC 2. Sunny Dhinsa BMWC 3. Gurdeep Beesla BMWC

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Women's: interesting situation as several of Canada's best wrestlers, including 3x world champ Dugrenier (67 kg) and returning bronze medallist Macdonald (51 kg), are at non-Olympic weights. As far as I know they need to fight their way through the pool like anyone else, but I could be wrong. It'll be interesting to see who goes up or down.

48 kg: 1. Carol Huynh Dinos WC 2. Lindsay Prickett Guelph WC 3. Ashley McKilligan Saskatoon
55 kg: 1. Tonya Verbeek Brock WC 2. Brittanee Laverdure Dinos WC 3. Jazmyne Barker Dinos WC
63 kg: 1. Justine Bouchard Dinos WC 2. Danielle Lappage BMWC 3. Stacie Anaka BMWC7
72 kg: 1. Ohenewa Akuffo Tapout TC 2. Leah Callahan Dinos WC 3. Vanessa Wilson Dinos WC

Greco: Since Greco is largely self-funded in Canada, it's hard to predict who will show up for this one. Canadian greco wrestlers do go to the Olympics, but less commonly than in freestyle.

55 kg: 1. Promise Mwenga Black Bears 2. Gilbert Musonza 3. Vaughn Gandy Dinos
60 kg: 1. Vincent Cormier Black Bears 2. Mike Asselstine Bears 3. Mark Ballon Cattown
66 kg: 1. Shawn Daye-Finley Black Bears 2. Jack Bond Salisbury 3. Josh Proctor London
74 kg: 1 Connor Malloy Cattown 2. Walter McKrindle Guelph 3. Eric Jacobson London
84 kg: 1 Jeremy Latour Guelph 2. Addison Bree Bears 3. Jens Reuter Bears
96 kg: 1. Korey Jarvis Guelph 2. Scott Seeley Black Bears 3. Eric Fuenkes Black Bears
120 kg: 1 Sunny Dhinsa Burnaby 2. Charles Thoms Black Bears 3. John Fitzgerald Guelph

Might be some people dropping out from their ladder spots. Rumor has it Latour is up to 96, while Greco specialist Fuenkes is down to 84.

[quinn14]

Thanks for what you've already written. Honestly, thanks. But in my own selfishness, I am wondering what to look for in different wrestlers. Kinda like knowing to look for a blast double from Burroughs. If I see it, cool, if not, good defense. I may be the only one on here who likes to know what I am looking for, but if you got the time, let me (us) know. If not, that's cool too.

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I'll try my best.

At 55 I'm not too informed on the specific techniques each guy uses but they are all fast, active guys. Takahashi is being hyped as the "next big thing" by a lot of people, very active wrestler. Got pinned in the finals last year when Tremblay re-rolled his arm throw. Mwenga is a pretty good Greco guy. Other top contenders are Aso Palani, who has a very akward style, and Frank Mensah, who is just flat out fast.

At 60 kg, Walker is a big strong guy who has great cardio and wrestles very smart, great positioning. Good double legs, never stops moving. Pineda is a slick, technical wrestler (who also seems to get into a lot of scraps) who likes to shoot single legs and has great gutwrenches. Hudson is the long lanky type, enormous for the weight class, likes to get into scrambles. Other top contenders are Mancini, who wrestles a very delibarate, technical style with a lot of single legs, and Cormier, who is fun to watch because he likes arm throws and other upper body techniques. Pretty wide open weight.

At 66 kg Garcia is a heavy, heavy favorite. Sometimes accused of stalling, but crazy fast when he wants to be. Great leg attacks, great scrambler (esp, from defensive clinch) and very scrappy (some would say dirty). On top he just kills people by throwing in legs and high gutting them. I don't know much about Lue. Weicker is a veteran who is fun to watch, his specialty is front headlock and chestlock throws. The "pool" matches in this weight should be killer, tons of great wrestlers, but I'd bet on the ranked guys to be in the finals.

74 is arguably our best weight with guys who are quite experienced internationally. Gentry beats Ncube regularly, and Ncube beats Prickett reguarly. Gentry wrestles a high pace, clean smoth shots, and is very good at controlling the head and upper body of his opponents. Very smart positional wrestler. Ncube is athletic and wide open, lots of shots from far out, big throws, and some nasty anke laces and power halves on top. A bit inconsistent, but has beaten a lot of good international and American wrestlers when "on". Prickett is a long lanky guy, very good on top with gut wrenches, legs, and west point rides. The wild card is Evan Macdonald, who sat out last year's nationals with injury. My favorite Canadian wrestler to watch. Very aggressive, heavy handed, high tempo style (think Iowa wrestling) with big double legs and and throws, also good on top with laces and gut wrenches. Was probably better at 66 as he is pretty short for this weight, but he as a winning record over Gentry and Ncube Gentry did win handily the last time they wrestled though.

At 84 some of the best matches may happen in the pool tournament. Travis Cross who hasn't wrestled for a couple of years may be coming back. He is a big, strong guy who likes to control wrists and shoot ankles. Very "in control" and never quits, our #1 guy for several years before he stopped wrestling. It is rumored Russian Tamarlan Tagiev may get his Canadian citizenship. He has been just killing most Canadians the past few years in open tournaments, he pinned Cross in a cradle after falling behind early. On the ladder #3 Alex Burk is a huge fan favorite for his wide-open, reckless, almost "spastic" style- think Lang/Caldwell Likes to roll around, attack from bottom, and generally try stuff others wouldn't. Is well known for a sweet fireman's carry. I don't know much about #2 Miler except he used to be a 66 kg guy Our #1 Adamson has been doing pretty well in American and internatinal tournamenrs. Technical wrestler who likes to shoot low singles and doubles, good mat awareness and positioning, not very big for the weight but very strong.

96 will be a very competitive weight class. All the top guys have beaten each other, though Pliev usually wins. I just hope this one isn't' decided by clinche. Pliev is a very smooth wrestler, great picks and throws, makes it all look easy. However, he is happy to win low scoring matches . Pretty undersized for the weight. Jarvis is a big strong grinder, lots of people don't seem to like his style, but he is great at winning ugly. I haven't seen Sandhu wrestle much, but when he's not wrestling Pliev and Jarvis he usually scores a lot of points. I'd be suprised if anyone but these three is in the finals.

at 120 Sunny Dhinsa also comes with a lot of hype, he just graduated high school and he is wrestling a ton Extremely strong for a kid, linesman build, likes to bodylock and bear hug and pins a lot of guys with it. Bhullar, the long time Canadian champion, had been much maligned for his boring style but he is very effective with push outs and opportunitic shots. He beat Dhinsa pretty handily in a very physical match at least year's nationals. The Canadian forum people are pretty excited about a rematch. I don't know much about the other guys, but I'd be shocked if it isn't a Dhinsa/Bhullar final.

For Greco generally speaking, the guys from UNB will be the best in classic greco technique; the guys from Alberta will use upper body throws and gut wrenches, and the guys from Ontario are great freestyle wrestlers with limited Greco training. Two guys to watch are Jack Bond and Scott Seeley as they love to reverse lift and throw for 5.


videos:
SCHULTZ: Garcia (CAN) dec. Fujimoto (JPN), 66 kg FS finals - YouTube Garcia, Dave Schultz finals
Wrestle off for Canada's 66Kg Olympic Spot- Round 2 - YouTube Garcia vs Ncube
Mike Poeta (Lehigh Valley) vs. Cleo Ncube (Canada) at NYAC International - YouTube Ncube vs Poeta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJLotKbxkY Pineda vs Moore, Sunkist
Evan MacDonald vs. Matt Gentry - YouTube Macdonald vs Gentry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jil7...eature=related Macdonald vs Gentry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNA4q...F6A7CA30080C41 Tagziev vs Cross, Pliev vs Jarvis
Arjan Bhullar winning gold 2010 Commonwealth Games - YouTube Bhullar commonwealth games final

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Trials Predictions Losts of discussion for those who are interested, but you might have to create a profile to browse the OAWA forum.

I think registration is now complete, but I'm not sure where to find a list of enterants. Rumor has it that the Russian Tagziev now had Canadian citizenship and will be competing at 84.

WebCast - Canadian Wrestling Qualification Trials webcast

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Brackets are up on wrestling.ca

Tagziev, Cross and Brown-Therian all entered at 84 in the pool!

No Mwenga or E-Mac, don't know why, unless Mwenga is doing Greco only.

[quinn14]

They are streaming it live on flo right now if anyone is interested.

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My review of the finals (posted it on the oawa forum):

Lots of great finals. Adamson/Cross and Dugrenier/Bouchard were pretty epic, as well as showcases for the current set of rules- everything went down to the wire. Adamson looked great beating the former champ with a crotch throw out of a long scramble. Dugrenier looked like someone who's cut an ungodly amount of weight but she gutted it out.

Tremblay/Palani was pretty wild as well, lots of scrambles, lots of interesting calls from the officials and abolutely no emotional control from Palani Carol very much relied on her tactics and experience to beat a much bigger Macdonald, both girls were good but Carol was just a bit better. Calahann had some wild matches against Akuffo, crazy back-and-forth with Akuffo laughing all the time, right up until she got pinned and the Calgary cheering section almost brought the house down.

Pineda, Garcia, Pliev all won pretty comfortably. Garcia really abused Ryan Lue. The heavyweight final was just awful- six clinches in a row, unreal. Bhular managed to kick free of one and that was it. I don't usualy advocate for more referee involvement but this was was an exception. Dhinsa got warned almost every round for slapping and for fleeing, and Bhullar wasn't much better. Six rounds of this and no caution points seems excessive.

Greco:
55- Promise over Muzonga with repeated reverse lift throws.
66 kg- Bond over Daye-Finley in wild 3-period matches with both guys exchanging big moves.
74- Daynes over Malloy, nothing on the feet and big lift-and-throws from the ground,
84- Fuenkes over Reuter, not much on the feet, pin with greco conbinations on ground.
96- Jarvis handily over Frank Deer- Deer spiked his head pretty hard on a throw attempt, finished out the match without obvious issues, but then got carried out on a stretcher after the medics looked at him. Concussion?. Hope he's OK.
120- Dhinsa over Nicholson, dominated on feet and on ground with gutwrenches.

I'd hard to award "outstanding wrestler" when the top seeded guys wrestle only twice and the others have more matches, but I was most impressed with Adamson, Cross (came up through a brutal pool and fell one match short), and Callahan. Daynes had some great lift-and-throws. The Golden Pylon award obviously goes to Bhullar and Dhinsa.

[AnklePicker2]

Any videos posted anywhere?

I logged into flo just in time to see Bond celebrating like a crazy person in the 66kg Greco final. Didn't get to see any actual matches...