Double victory for Stingers
The Stingers men’s and women’s wrestling teams brought home a total of nine medals and the men’s team title from the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) wrestling championships in Thunder Bay, Ont., February 24 and 25.
The win is Concordia’s first national win in men’s wrestling since 1990. The men earned six medals, including gold medals for David Tremblay and David Zilberman.
On the women’s side, all three Concordia competitors won medals. Nikita Chicoine won her first gold medal in four national championship appearances. Veronica Keefe was a silver medalist and Elisabeth Williams won a bronze. The women’s team finished seventh out of 13 in the team standings.
In addition, coach Victor Zilberman was named the CIS men’s wrestling Coach of the Year, for the fourth time.
Men’s basketball team headed to nationals
Closer to home, the Stingers men’s basketball team captured its fourth Quebec men’s basketball crown in seven years with a 77–67 victory over the Laval Rouge et Or in front of a capacity crowd at Concordia on March 4.
Concordia forward Evens Laroche led the charge with 15 rebounds and 19 points, including 11 of his points in the final 30 minutes to help erase a 42–31 Laval lead at halftime.
The Stingers put on a strong defensive display led by fourth-year guard Decee Krah, who was tasked with shutting down Laval’s Xavier Baribeau, a top offensive threat who was held to only four points. Krah also picked up 18 points in the win.
Finishing with a 12–4 record, Concordia will represent the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) conference at the CIS national championships in Halifax, March 11 to 13. The Stingers are seeded seventh amongst the eight finalists in the tournament.
The championships will be televised on TSN2. The Stingers, led by Head Coach John Dore will face the Carleton Ravens on March 11 at 7:15 p.m (local time). Keep track of the championship games here.
The provincial championship comes on the heels of second-year guard Kyle Desmarais being named RSEQ co-MVP (along with Laval forward Jérôme Turcotte-Routhier). Desmarais was second in scoring in the conference with a 19.3 points-per-game average. He averaged 5.3 rebounds a game.
The RSEQ also named Krah and fourth-year forward James Clark as all-stars. Krah was fourth in league scoring with a 16.1 points-per-game average. He also led Quebec in three-point shooting with 49 three-pointers in 16 games and a .422 average. Clark averaged 11.8 points and 5.3 rebounds a game.
Related links:
• Concordia Department of Recreation and Athletics
• Canadian Interuniversity Sport