Dinos centering in on title

By John Leung Chung-Yin

The Dinos wrestling team came, they saw, and they held onto half of Fortress Calgary, but those dastardly marauders from the likes of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the Simon Fraser University Clan, the University of Alberta Golden Bears and the University of Regina Cougars took the other half of the fort.


While both the Dinos men and women put up valiant efforts to keep those dirty varmints from soiling our good carpet, only the women successfully defended the fort and came away with the Canada West title. The men fought bravely, but still let the opposition ride off with the title.


The women, led by the ever-feisty Krista “Killer” Wells and Brit Laverdure, ran roughshod over the competition throughout the four rounds. Both ladies struck gold in their respective weight classes.


However, more strong performances from Justine “Shortsleeves” Bouchard, Vanessa Wilson and the rest of the team was the primary reason the Dinos women came away with 39 points and the CW title.


The ever-pesky Clan came closest to the Dinos women, only three points back. The title win also earned Head Coach Mitch Ostberg Canada West Female Coach of the Year honors.


The men, led by co-captains Beamer Comfort and Joe Bentley, put forth quite an effort, with many outstanding individual performances. In the end, the invading forces crashed through and the Clan came away with 45 points and the win. The Dino defenders finished in a last-place draw with the Cougars.


However, gold medal performances from Bentley and Damon Booth and podium finishes for Comfort, Wilson Burnett and Huy Nguyen, coupled with a TSN Community Service award for Bentley more than made up for the disappointment.


Wells, Bentley and other select members of the team are off to St. Catherines, Ontario Mar. 4-5, where both the men and women will attempt to besiege Fortress Brock University with hopes to bump off all challengers and run over the defense to bring home a national championship banner. The Dinos will have some tough competition from the Brock University Badgers, ranked third in the country.