TORONTO - The McMaster wrestling teams traveled to the TMU Open on Sunday for the second event of the OUA wrestling season. The Marauder women, the No. 7 nationally ranked program in U SPORTS, finished in first place at Sunday's event. The No. 5 Marauder men finished in seventh spot. McMaster earned seven medals at the event, including two golds.

Serena Di Benedetto and Tehani Blais led the way for the Marauders women's wrestling team, picking up gold medals in their respective weight classes. Di Benedetto, a second-year from Hamilton, earned a semifinal victory by technical fall over a Brock Badger before defeating an Algoma Thunderbird by technical fall in the gold medal match. Di Benedetto secured her first 53kg gold medal finish of the season with the Marauders. In the 72kg class, Tehani Blais was dominant, picking up three straight wins enroute to the gold medal.
 
Natalie Vecchio earned herself a silver medal in the 72kg class after falling to her teammate Blais. Olivia Lichti and rookie Mayumi King were the other two Marauders to secure second place on the podium in the 59kh and 56kg classes, respectively. Vanessa Fonrose recorded the lone bronze medal of the day for McMaster.
 
The women ended the competition with 44 points, two points ahead of last year's national champions, the Brock Badgers, and 23 points ahead of the bronze medalist Western Mustangs.
 
In the men's competition, the Marauders finished the day in seventh spot with one medal, a silver from Howard Moffat in the 90kg class. The Sarnia, Ont. local won by technical fall over a wrestler from Lakehead and then went on to beat a Western Mustang in the semifinal. Moffatt fell 12-2 in the gold medal match but still returned home with silver.

Next Up 

The Marauders will return to Toronto this weekend for the York Open on Sunday November19th before hosting the Ontario Senior Open in Burridge Gymnasium on November 26^th to close out the calendar year.