Gryphon grapplers start season strong

The Gryphon Wrestling started off the GMAA Regular season with a couple of lopsided wins over Beurling Academy and Lakeside Academy on Friday, December 4. The Gryphons won 51-14 over Beurling and 46-18 over Lakeside.

Nick Chabanne-Salbaing, Noah Wade, Ali Shahabi and Justin Hebert led the way for the Gryphons.

With such a large team, and since perennial champion Kahnawake SS has already lost in dual action to Loyola, this promises to be a great season when it resumes after the holidays at Westwood HS (Hudson) on January 13, against Westwood and Massey Vanier.

The Grade 7-8 Wrestling Gryphons also shone on the weekend with a pair of gold medals at the 2009 Regional Final for the Jeux du Quebec Judo Tournament at Stanislaus High School in Outremont.

Alex Moore (42 kg) and Ianni Metrakos (70 kg). won gold medals for the Gryphons.

The SHS Middle School Wrestling Tournament is our next event, and will be held in the Macaulay Gym on Friday, December 11 starting at 1:00.

Quebec Open

The Wrestling Gryphons started off the season with an outstanding effort, bringing home three gold medals from the annual Quebec Open, held in Pierrefonds, Quebec on Saturday, November 28.

Twenty-two Selwyn House students competed in the tournament, which featured over 300 competitors from Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

Alex Moore (42kg Bantam), Stephan Smirnov (57 kg Novice) and Fayez Elian (39 kg Novice) led the way with gold medals.

Ali Shahabi (76 kg Cadet/Juvenile), Lias Borshan (47 kg Novice), and Pierre Emond (HWT Novice) won silver medals.

Salvatore Vaccarino (76 kg Novice) and J-C Azzopardi (57 kg Novice) won bronze.

As usual, the Quebec Open was one of the toughest competitions of the year, with a number of provincial team members from all provinces, as well as several medalists from the recent 2009 Canada Games, participating.

The next competition will be Friday, December 4 at Beurling Academy, against Beurling and Lakeside Academy.