Varsity Athletics | 3/2/2026 4:07:00 PM

York University Lions wrestler Samuel Awonuga has been named the York athlete of the week for the period ending Mar. 1, after a solid performance at the WCL U SPORTS Invitational Championships in Thunder Bay this past weekend.

Headlining a large crop of rookies for the Lions, Awonuga was York's best wrestler, finishing just off the podium in fourth place in the men's 125 kg category. He won his first-round matchup over Ibrahim Teaama of the Calgary Dinos, and bounced back from a second-round loss to Roger Li of the eventual champion Brock Badgers to defeat Jace Anderson of the Algoma Thunderbirds and advance to the bronze medal match. There, he was bested by Bjorn Nelson of the Alberta Golden Bears by fall after a spirited bout that lasted 5:20, leaving him just on the outside of the top three.

Though he missed out on a medal, Awonuga did come into some hardware at the championships. He was named the winner of the Men's Fair Play Award. The first-year kinesiology & health science major from Toronto, Ont., becomes the first men's wrestler in York history to win the award, with the only other Lion to win it being Alexandria Town on the women's side in 2017-18.