Fresh off winning the student union presidency, Emma Brightwell is looking to mirror her electoral success on the mat this weekend.
Brightwell is one of 10 Lakehead Thunderwolves athletes competing at the CIS Wrestling Championships, which begins Friday morning at the Thunderdome. She said she’s trying to not put too much pressure on herself, despite holding the No.1 ranking in the 82-kilogram class.
“I’m still just trying to stay calm and just focusing on my wrestling and what I have to do,” she said Thursday, getting set to weigh in on the eve of the competition.
“I’m trying to take it right now day-by-day. I find that’s the best way. I don’t try to look too far into the future. Today we take it by weigh-ins and then tomorrow we’ll take it match by match and however I do on Friday, we’ll see how it goes on Saturday. But I’m just going to focus on the day, the minute, the hour.”
Up to eight wrestlers are paired in each weight category, split into two four-person divisions. Each competitor is guaranteed three bouts on Friday, with the top two on each side per category advancing to Saturday’s final.
The next two finishers wrestle for bronze, with succeeding athletes fighting for fifth and seventh place.
Brightwell, who sat out the past two years battling injuries, returning to OUA competition in January, said as nationals approach, it’s starting to get intense for the Lakehead’s five male and five female wrestlers who qualified for the event.
“The emotions get pretty anxious for the tournament to come. But we get a lot closer as a team because we’re there for every single practice and we have the extra workout that we do, so we band together as a team to get that extra time.
“We try to make this goal happen together,” she said.
While it is a team sport, Brightwell and coach Brock Curtis know it won’t be easy to capture the team competition on either the men’s or women’s side.
With only 10 wrestlers qualifying, they’ll all have to finish high to take the title, as the wrestling powerhouses have athletes competing in most weight categories.
The women finished second at the OUA championships, qualifying Brightwell, Sara Cattani, Karleah Bonk, Kelsey Dayler, Jenny Pranger and Bre Beh for nationals.
The men were fifth, with Dustin Helwig, Preston Mikulasik, Jake Devlin and Scott Christian making the grade.
“I think we’re going to go in and wrestle as best as we can and just have fun. We’re not going to look at the final results. We’re hoping to do well, but in the end you’ve got to have fun with it,” Brightwell said.
Coach Brock Curtis couldn’t agree more, though he’s not sure who’s more nervous, himself or his athletes.
“My heart’s been in my throat all day,” he said, after the tournament-opening news conference at a north-side hotel.
“It’s just excitement I guess. Weigh-ins are coming up shortly and wrestling starts at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning."
Like Brightwell, he’s tempering team expectations, but not giving up hope of winning a title.
“It’s going to be difficult for us as a team because we only have five guys and five girls wrestling. There are 10 weight classes on the men’s side and eight on the women’s, so it’s going to be tough to compete against the teams that send 10 and send eight.
“But individually, definitely it’s a possibility. We’re in the running legitimately for a few gold, especially with Emma Brightwell and Preston Mikulasik. And Dustin Helwig I know is a bronze medalist last year, so he’ll be looking to improve on that.”
The Concordia Stingers, led by 2012 Canadian Olympian David Tremblay will attempt to defend their 2011 title won in Thunder Bay, while the Alberta Pandas, who didn’t win a single gold medal last year, will look to repeat on the women’s side.
