Kippenhuck Named MUN Athlete of the Week
Matt Kippenhuck was chosen as the MUN Athlete of the Week for March 8 after his performance at the 2010 CIS Wrestling Championships in Calgary. Kippenhuck had a busy first day of the tournament; having to wrestle three matches on Friday. Kippenhuck was in tough early, as he was matched against eventual silver medalist Ryan Blake of McMaster. Kippenhuck would drop all matches on Friday, but not without a fight. Not giving up the fall in the first round of his matches, the Charlottetown, Labrador native wrestled through two rounds with each opponent. The fourth year competitor would then wrestle for 7th and 8th in Saturday’s match. Going up against Ben Rowbothan of Brock, a team with 13 CIS team titles, Kippenhuck knew his match was going to be tough, but not out of his reach. Wrestling through two rounds, Matt lost by points to result in an 8th place finish. Although the season ended in a sour fashion, Kippenhuck has shown many improvements in the competitive level of wrestling over the course of the year, and have gained the experience to make further improvements for next year.
Kippenhuck was later nominated for the Molson Coors St. John’s Athlete of the Month for February.
MUN at CIS 2010
Matt Kippenhuck and Jon Smith of the Sea~Hawks wrestling team headed to the University of Calgary on March 4 to compete at the 2010 Canadian Interuniversity Sport Wrestling Championships. They claimed a spot at the nationals by finishing in the top two in their respective weight classes at the AUS Qualifying Meet in February.
Wrestling at his second CIS Wrestling Championships, Kippenhuck, a fourth year wrestler from Charlottetown, Labrador, wrestled at 68kg. While making his debut on the CIS Wrestling Championships scene, Smith, a rookie from Mount Pearl, wrestled at 130kg.
The championships got underway with preliminary rounds on Friday, March 5. Kippenhuck and Smith both wrestled three matches in the preliminaries. The results of those three matches determined what place they wrestled for on Saturday. Both Kippenhuck and Smith would loose all their matches on Friday, but not without a fight. Not giving up the fall in the first round of their matches, both Kippenhuck and Smith wrestled through two rounds with all their opponent.
This lead to Saturday, where both wrestlers were left to wrestle for 7th and 8th. Going up against Ben Rowbothan of Brock, a team with 13 CIS team titles, Kippenhuck knew his match was going to be tough, but not out of his reach. Wrestling through two rounds, Matt lost by point to accept 8th place. For Smith, he was up against his rival, Mike MacDonald of UNB. This was the third time this year Smith and MacDonald came head to head on the mat. Losing to MacDonald twice before Jon knew he had to wrestle tough. Taking this approach for his first round, Jon went out and won the first round 4-0. However, this wouldn’t be good enough to win the match with MacDonald coming back to win the second and third rounds to win the match 2 rounds to 1.
Both wrestlers saw many improvements in their level of wrestling over the course of the year, and have gained the experience to make further improvements for next year.
UNB Open / Jr. Easterns
Robbie Zadra of the MUN SeaHawks received the Subway Memorial University Athlete of the week on Feb.1st. This honour comes after his outstanding finishes at the UNB Open. An impressive rookie, he has made waves for the Sea~Hawks wrestling team with his silver medal performance in the Junior Eastern Canadian Championships. With five other wrestlers competing in his weight class, coming into the weekend at 76 kg, Zadra was a force to be reckoned with on the mat, losing only to the eventual gold medalist. As the youngest on the team, the Barrie, Ontario native also grappled with wrestlers from UNB and the Metro Amateur Wrestling Club (MAWC) in the senior age group. His closest match was against MAWC, where the final score was three to three in the favour of the opponent; earning him a 7th place finish. This would be the last tournament before the CIS Qualifiers back at the University of New Brunswick later this month, where the top two in each weight class qualify for CIS Championships in March. (Article from MUN SeaHawks Athlete of the Week summary)
In total 6 MUN athletes attended the UNB Open on January 30th. With Robbie Zadra continuing to compete in the Jr. Eastern Canadian Championship on the 31st where he won his silver medal in the 76kg. Highlights from the UNB Open are: 61 kg Matt Kippenhuck (Bronze), 68 kg Jeremy Spence (6th), 72 kg Ronald Earle (4th), 76 kg Robbie Zadra (7th), 90kg Ryan Nichols (4th), 130kg Jon Smith (4th)
Concordia Open (October)
MUN competed at Concordia Open on Sunday October 25. Coach, Kerri-Ann Evely stated that, all in all, everyone wrestled strong and held their own. Six match wins (4 by falls and 2 by pts) and an additional 2 rounds won for Memorial University Seahawks. It was a successful tournament for the rookies, gaining lots of competitive experience and learning the ins and outs of wrestling. She looks forward to the remainder of the season. Those competing were: 61kg Matthew Hill (6th), 65kg Matthew Kippenhuck (9th), 65kg Adam Coady (5th), 72kg Justin Dunphy (?/6th+), 76kg Robbie Zadra (11th), 100kg Ryan Nichols (7th), 130kg Jon Smith (Bronze). In addition, Lindsay Oldham, 48kg, from Ontario (training with MUN and hoping to compete with MUN next year) wrestled as a Carbonear Sentinel. Oldham placed 4th in the tournament. Evely looks forward to having her continue training with the team and competing as a seahawk next year.
Getting re-started…
We are currently moving our old webpage to this location and it will soon be taken over by a new “webmaster”. We appologize for the gap in NL wrestling information during this process.
You’ll notice that this page has been streamlined, as there are no longer pages for ‘Documents’, ‘Officials’ or ‘Gallery’. The NLAWA documents can now be found on the ‘About’ page. For officials information (rules and rule changes) we urge you to now use the CAWA webpage. For pictures, please visit or join the Newfoundland Wrestling Facebook group, as this is where the majority of wrestlers are now sharing pictures.
Please remember to change any bookmarks you may have to this new page, and check back later this season for results on the major SSNL tournament, MUN SeaHawks results, and stories from the NL Winter Games!
SSNL Provincials 2009
Carbonear Collegiate hosted the 2009 SSNL Provincial Wrestling Tournament on May 1 – 2. Eight male and five female teams participated, with a total of 64 athletes fighting it out on the mat. Regions represented include St. John’s, Avalon, Central East and Western Region. All in all, it was a great day with a lot of great matches. We are hoping that the attending athletes (as well as those who could not attend) will seriously consider trying out for the 2009 Canada Summer Games Team. There is a lot of talent in our province, so go ask your coach about the tryouts!
Top Three Male Teams (Point Tally)
1 Carbonear Collegiate (68)
2 Templeton Collegiate (14)
3 Jane Collins Academy (10)
Male Team sportsmanship award – Jane Collins Academy
Top Three Female Teams (Point Tally)
1 Carbonear Collegiate (33)
2 Templeton Academy (12)
3 Stephenville High School (11)
Female Team Sportsmanship Award – Templeton Collegiate
5th place at Cadet Nationals
Congratulations to Josh Hynes and coach Jason Quilty on a fifth place finish at the Cadet/Juvenile National Championships! The Championships were held in Fredricton, NB, this past weekend, with Josh competing in the 69kg weight class. NLAWA presedient, Randy Ralph, commented that it takes a lot of training and effort to place this high in a weight class at the National level. Josh has done very well, and we are optimistic that his training and work ethic will pay off during the 2009 Canada Summer Games in PEI this summer. Congradulations again Josh!
Stars and Legends Awards Gala
The Sport Newfoundland and Labrador Stars and Legends Awards Gala took place Saturday evening, March 28. Provincial Annual Awards were presented in seven categories recognizing the best athletic achievements in Newfoundland and Labrador during 2008. The winner of the “Margaret Davis Memorial Award” 2008 Junior Female Athlete of the Year is Victoria Ralph. The Carbonear native won a bronze medal at the National Wrestling Championships and was named, for the second straight year, as the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association (CAWA) Atlantic Championships. A well deserved award for 2008, Victoria has shown us that she still has what it takes this year as she earned two gold medals while wrestling with the Memorial University SeaHawks. Congratulations Victoria, we look forward to watching what you can do in the coming years.
MUN SeaHawks Wrestler of the Year
The 2008-2009 Wrestler of the year is 5th year wrestler Carla Bryant! We have had the pleasure of watching Carla wrestle with the NLAWA from the very start as she dominated her way though the High Schools and became a force to be reckoned with at the university level. Carla is as fierce a competitor as you will ever meet, putting her time in at the gym and in the combat room, and we see that it pays off in her results. Carla consistently led the wrestling team this season, where she was on top of the competition in the AUS, and recently qualified for her 5th CIS Championship. Carla was a strong competitor this season as she placed first at the Concordia open, third at the UNB open, and second at the CIS qualifier, earning her a spot at the National Championships in spite of a painful shoulder injury. And despite this injury, she fought hard and came home with a 6th place finish at the CIS Championships in Calgary. Congratulations Carla and best of luck in the future.
New Dates for SSNL Provincials
Tenitive dates for the SSNL Provincials have been set. The tournament will still be held in Stephenville, and will take place on May 1st / 2nd. This makes the 2008/09 season significantly longer than previous years, however, it could not be avoided due to the scheduals of other SSNL sports. The NL Canada Games coaches also hope that by extending out the regular season, athletes from our province will be better prepared for the Summer Games.
