GUELPH, Ont. – Just a few weeks out from the OUA Championship, the McMaster Marauders continued to impress throughout the invitational season at the Guelph Open on Sunday. McMaster picked up seven medals against competitors from across the country.
The No. 6 nationally ranked McMaster women's squad was led by second year Humanities student,
Serena Di Benedetto. The Hamilton, Ont. local won each of her matches in Guelph, enroute to the gold medal in the 53kg class. She won her quarterfinal and semifinal matches by technical fall and won by decision over a Saskatchewan wrestler in her gold medal contest. Di Benedetto led the Marauder women to a second-place finish where they were the top performing university program.
Macy Malysiak and
Tehani Blais both picked up silver medals on the Guelph mats. Malysiak, a fourth-year life sciences student, defeated a wrestler from the University of Saskatchewan and East Stroudsburg University to earn a spot in the 59kg final. She earned a silver medal after falling to another athlete from East Stroudsburg University. Blais, also earned a second-place finish in the 72kg weight class, picking up wins in three of her four matches.
A Kingston, Ont. local,
Natalie Vecchio picked up the Marauders' fourth medal of the day. Despite falling to her teammate in the third match of the day, Vecchio picked up three victories to secure the bronze medal.
The McMaster men, ranked 5th in U SPORTS, ended the competition with 30 points, the second best performance by any OUA team, just eleven points off the Brock Badgers who finished ahead of the Marauders.
Gregor McNeil, a second year from North York, Ont., won back-to-back-to-back contests over a Guelph Gryphon and two competitors from the EWC Bears by technical fall, to secure the gold medal in the 70kg class.
A second year anthropology student won by fall over a Queen's Gael in his first contest of the day before defeating an EWC Bear to earn a spot in the gold medal match. The Surrey, B.C. local ended the day with the silver medal.
Irman Kang was the final Marauder of the day to land on the podium, after battling back from a semifinal loss to earn the bronze medal.
Next Up
The Marauders will prepare to compete at the Western Open on Sunday January 28.
