The Dogs’ Landon Squires earned his second consecutive silver medal at the national university wrestling championships March 3.

The Huskies wrestling squad grappled for eight medals at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling championships March 1-3 at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont.

Fifth-year wrestlers Ryan Myrfield, Landon Squires and Koren Pitkethly were all wrestling for a national title in their respective weight divisions on the final day of the event, but each were defeated in their final bout and had to settle for second spot on the podium.

For Myrfield, who was wrestling in the men’s 72-kilogram weight class, the silver medal was bittersweet. It marked his fourth appearance in the final bout, but the first time he has lost the gold-medal match.

Both Squires’ silver medal in the men’s 90-kilogram class and Pitkethly’s silver in the women’s 59-kilogram division matched the wrestlers’ outcomes from last year.

Also adding a silver medal to the team count was third-year, 57-kilogram wrestler Dylan Bray. This was the first time Bray has cracked the elusive podium after just missing it in both of the past two seasons by placing fourth and fifth.

Natasha Kramble finished her university career by taking the bronze medal in the women’s 48-kilogram division for the third consecutive year.

“It’s always nice to get on the podium and I feel like I did wrestle really well, but after three years you kind of wish your medal could be a different colour… especially with it being my fifth year.”

She was also honoured by the CIS with the female student-athlete community service award. The award recognizes Kramble’s volunteer work as a youth-group church leader, as a member of Athletes in Action in Saskatoon and with several charities.

Huskies Hannah Franson and Taylor Follensbee added bronze medals in the women’s 55- and 72-kilogram weight classes, respectively, while Samson Swan equalled the feat on the men’s 130-kilogram side.

As a team, Brock University, from St. Catharine’s, Ont., won the women’s side with a dominating 54-point tally. The Huskies women’s team finished unexpectedly high, placing fourth out of 14 squads with a total of 29 points.

“That was amazing for us,” said Kramble, the women’s team captain. “We were only ranked fourth out of five in Canada West… and then when we went to the CIS competition we placed fourth out of everybody.

“We got a lot more points than we were expecting, [more] than anyone was expecting us to get.”

The Huskies men finished the weekend in fifth place as the Alberta Golden Bears took home the men’s national banner.

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf