York University Lions wrestlers Alexandria Town and Ali Koca both finished in fifth place in their respective weight classes at the CIS championships at the University of Alberta in Edmonton on Saturday (Feb. 28).
 
Town (Scarborough, Ont.), the first York women's wrestler ever to compete at the CIS championships, finished fifth in the 51kg division with an overall record of 2-2 at the event.
 
She won her final match by a score of 10-0 over Nicole Mazzara from the McMaster Marauders to finish fifth. In the round-robin portion of the tournament, she went 1-2 with a victory over Amanda Eng from the UNB Varsity Reds and losses to eventual gold medallist Hayley Thomas from the Alberta Pandas and Kate Richey from the Calgary Dinos.
 
Koca (Richmond Hill, Ont.), who won the OUA gold medal to qualify, placed fifth in the 120kg weight class with an overall record of 1-2.
 
He went 0-2 in the round robin with losses to Thom MaCrae from the Varsity Reds ad Manheet Kalhon from the Fraser Valley Cascades. He closed the championship with a 10-0 win over Ahmed Ramadan from the Marauders.

At the end of the championships, Koca and teammate Urshian Khalid (Mississauga, Ont.) were named the male and female recipients, respectively, of the CIS wrestling student-athlete community service awards. For Khalid, it is her second straight year receiving the honour.