York University Lions wrestlers
Paul Nguyen and
Bailey Agard won silver medals in their weight classes at the annual York Open at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Sunday.
Agard's podium finish in the 51kg division helped the Lions finish in third place among OUA schools in the team standings, while the men finished in fourth place thanks in large part to the strong showing by Nguyen in the 57kg weight class.
Nguyen was dominant in his bracket. After a first-round bye, he defeated Luka Tchinashvili 12-0 in his first match and then took down Samuel Lockie from Lakehead in the semifinals. He was defeated by Western's Chris Nikolaou in the final to finish in second place.
Agard needed a narrow 13-12 decision to get through her first match against Arely Torres, the eventual bronze medallist, and then recorded an easy win over Hannah Vanderslagt from the Western Mustangs. She withdrew from the final bout with an injury after a busy weekend that also included competing at the Bill Farrell Memorial International Open in New York on Friday.
Also competing in New York was former Lions student-athlete and current assistant coach
Alexandria Town, who came away with the gold medal in the 57kg weight class at the international meet. She defeated Alma Valencia from Mexico in the final by a score of 14-3.
The Lions are now done OUA competition for the 2019 portion of their schedule and will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 11 when they head to St. Catharines, Ont., for the annual Brock Invitational.
Lions Results – Men
57kg –
Paul Nguyen – 2
nd place
57kg –
Tulio Hsu – 5
th place
61kg –
Gurnek Tak – 5
th place
68kg –
Balkaran Pabla – 4
th place
Lions Results – Women
51kg –
Bailey Agard – 2
nd place
72kg –
Mary Adarkwa – 4
th place
82kg –
Lynelle Vassell – 5
th place