The York University Lions wrestling team took to the mats at the 2019 OUA wrestling championships in Guelph, Ont. at the Gryphons Athletic Centre on Saturday. As a team the Lions achieved seven top-5 finishes but it was Shevonne Witter-Watts who shone the brightest as he brought home the silver medal in the men's 57 kg category.
 
Witter-Watts defeated Francesco Fortino of the McMaster Marauders in a tight match 17-15 to advance to the gold medal final. In the final he met up with Ligrit Sadiku of the perennial powerhouse Brock Badgers and lost by a score of 11-0 to wind up in the silver medal position. The medal at the conference finals is a first for second-year wrestler Witter-Watts, as he finished in fourth-place in his rookie season last year.
 
With the silver medal finish, Witter-Watts has qualified for the U SPORTS championships which will take place in Calgary, Alta., on Feb. 22-23.
 
Other top-five results on the men's side included fourth-place finishes for Nashane Ralph in the 61kg category and Trevonn Paul in the 65kg category and a fifth-place finish for Dennis Chvedov in the 76kg category.
 
Rookie Mary Adarkwa led the Lions on the women's side with a fourth-place finish in the 72kg category, followed by Christelle Lans (67kg) and Lynelle Vassell (82kg) in fifth-place and Gurleen Tak (48kg) with a seventh-place finish.
 
Overall the men's team finished in sixth-place in the team standings with 33 points, and the women's team finished in eighth with 15 points.
 
In addition to the results on the mat, rookie Shadab Rohalia was awarded the OUA Community Service Award. Rohalia, a Schulich School of Business student from Rawalpindi, Pakistan also competed on Saturday and finished in eighth-place in the 90kg category.
 
Lions Results – Men
54kg – Paul Nguyen – 6^th place
57kg – Shevonne Witter-Watts – 2^nd place
61kg – Nashane Ralph – 4^th place
65kg – Trevonn Paul – 4^th place
68kg – Tulio Hsu – 6^th place
76kg – Dennis Chvedov – 5th place
82kg – Jasman Gill – 8th place  
90kg – Shadab Rohalia – 8th place
120kg – Peter Tsarev – 6^th place
 
Lions Results – Women
48kg – Gurleen Tak – 7^th place
67kg – Christelle Lans – 5^th place
72kg – Mary Adarkwa – 4^th place
82kg – Lynelle Vassell – 5^th place
 
Men Team Standings
1. Brock - 102.0
2. McMaster - 73.0
3. Lakehead - 61.0
4. Western - 44.0
5. Guelph - 38.0
6. York - 33.0
7. Algoma -19.0
8. U of Toronto - 16.0
 
Women Team Standings
1. Brock - 71.0
2. Guelph - 46.0
3. Lakehead - 42.0
4. Western - 40.0
5. McMaster - 24.0
6. Queens - 19.0
7. Algoma - 17.0
8. York - 15.0