The University of Saskatchewan Huskies compete within the Canada West Universities Athletic Association conference as part of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. In order to win a CIS championship, which is top honours in the country’s university athletics, teams must qualify and win their conference’s playoffs, and win the CIS playoffs — the only exception in qualifying for playoffs is that the host school automatically competes. Other conferences in the CIS include the Ontario University Athletics, the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec and the Atlantic University Sport.

Coming off the 2010-11 season, the Huskies saw a few of their teams put up their strongest showings in history. This year, a few of the Huskies’ teams have rosters in place to win conference championships and some star players to break national records. Other teams, of course, will finish at the bottom of their division as they have young rosters and are rebuilding for the future.

Wrestling

Losing the best varsity wrestler in Canada can’t possibly help the Huskies men’s wrestling team this year.

Daniel Olver won both the all-around male athlete and male athlete of the year awards at the Huskie Salute last year. After winning the Canada West and CIS championships in two different weight classes during his final two years as a Dog, he is now pursuing a path to Canada’s national team. Without him, the team is unquestionably weaker.

However, with the addition of two rookies in the heavyweight class, the men will still be competitive in the Canada West.

The Huskies have not had a natural heavyweight in a long time — most often, smaller wrestlers bulk up to compete in the class but still lack the natural size and strength of a born heavyweight. Navi Dulat and Donovan Dale will come in this year as first-years to fill that spot.

Dulat, from British Columbia, was the junior national champ at the 2009 Canada Games and Donovan Dale is a junior national silver medalist who also plays football for the Saskatoon Hilltops.

Theo Dow, who won silver in the Canada West last year as a rookie, is expected to have a great year.

In terms of veterans, conference and national champion Ryan Myrfield will take over as captain while Landon Squires, also a Canada West champ, will look to medal at the CIS level this year.

On the women’s side, the team will be strong. While they graduated a captain and conference medalist Lindsay Olver — Daniel Olver’s wife — the women still have a group of experienced wrestlers who could potentially bring a Canada West title to the U of S.

Canada West champion and CIS bronze medalist Natasha Kramble will take over as captain. She will look for a national gold medal along with Koren Pitkethly, who won silver at the CIS level last year, and Kathleen Kent, who won bronze.

Katie Dutchak comes in as one of the most notable rookies. The former captain of the Holy Cross High School wrestling team received a scholarship to compete at college level rodeos in the United States but chose instead to stay in Saskatchewan.