The University of Saskatchewan Huskies wrestling team saw success at the University of Calgary Dino Invitational on Oct. 29, and will now be looking to expand their success going forward.

Four athletes came home from the Dino Invitational with medals. Andrew Johnson (82-kg) captured gold for the Huskies, with Josh Bodnarchuk (61-kg) securing silver. Also medaling were Nathan Galan (65-kg) and Kiera Prior (82-kg), each bringing home bronze.

The next tournament for the Huskies will be the Cougar Open on Nov. 19, held by league rivals the University of Regina Cougars.

Huskies wrestlers hit the mat during a practice.

Since the Huskies began  holding practices with the start of classes, they had two months of training under their belts before attending the Dino Invitational. Daniel Olver, coach for both the men’s and women’s teams, reflected on the tournament.

“We had mixed results. I’d say we didn’t come out on top or didn’t meet where we want to be. We’ve basically been reflecting on what wasn’t working and what was. Just trying to shore up the deficiencies with the wrestlers and maybe change the mindset of how they enter a match,” Olver said.

Bodnarchuk also weighed in on how he felt, personally, following the invitational tournament.

“Since it’s early on, it’s as good as it would be. There’s definitely a lot of things to work on, definitely a lot of things to improve moving on forward. We just had the [Dino Invitational] so taking results away from there, there’s definitely things I need to improve,” Bodnarchuk said.

Bodnarchuk is in both his third year with the Huskies and in the College of Education. He has been wrestling since the age of five, giving him 15 years of experience under his belt. Bodnarchuk explained why he has continued with the sport for so long.

“I have a lot of close friends around the wrestling community now. It’s just a good environment to be in, the Huskies wrestling room. Everyone is so positive, so welcoming and really anyone can join so it’s just a fun environment to be in,” Bodnarchuk said.

According to Olver, wrestling has a large social aspect to it, which helps make it more enjoyable despite the toll it takes to compete.

“Wrestling is a very, very difficult sport. It’s mentally exhausting, every single day you’re on the mat getting taken down, slammed to the mat [and] trying to get back up again. It’s an extremely difficult sport and if you’re not enjoying the social part of it, you’re not going to last long,” Olver said.

Olver added that the Huskies bring social aspects with them even in their travels to tournaments, saying that the team will hold rock, paper, scissors tournaments on the road that get quite lively.

However, the social aspect of wrestling is not its only positive attribute and Prior, a second-year student in the College of Arts and Science, shared her own personal reason she has been competing since she was in grade one.

“I just love the sport. I love the contact. I love the push and the drive you need to compete in this sport, it’s just amazing,” Prior said.

Olver shared his love for coaching as well, stating that his favourite thing is seeing his wrestlers succeed.

“Seeing them execute a move that they have been working on in the practice room in a match, from setup to takedown, that’s probably the most exciting thing when I see that because it shows that my coaching is actually paying off. I get really excited over that,” Olver said.

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Jack Thompson / Staff Writer

Photo: Caitlin Taylor