“Concordia’s Best Kept Secret”: Stingers Wrestling

Concordia Hosts Its Annual Invitational Wrestling Tournament

SportsMohammad Khan — Published November 8, 2022 3 minutes

A tight-knit crowd of parents, relatives, former wrestlers and wrestling fanatics lined up the sidelines as coaches and wrestlers prepared for the tournament on Nov. 6.

Local, regional and national wrestlers from various clubs such as Vanier College and Carleton University came to square off against Concordia’s prestigious team. Known to have a formidable wrestling reputation, Stingers wrestling continued to carry this legacy that morning.

As the tournament barreled along, wrestlers Sophia Bechard and Amanda Savard clinched the gold, winning first place in the 59 kg and the 67 kg weight divisions respectively.

Wrestlers Connor Church, Conor Currie and Kiana Boschitsch came in close second places at 76 kg, 100 kg and 72-76 kg divisions respectively.

Alexia Sherland took the bronze in third place in the 72-76 kg weight division.

Women’s

1st Place - Sophia Bechard of Concordia  59kg

1st Place - Amanda Savard of Concordia  67kg

2nd Place - Kiana Boschitsch of Concordia 72-76kg

3rd Place - Alexia Sherland of Concordia 72-76kg

Men’s

2nd Place - Connor Church of Concordia 76kg

2nd Place - Conor Currie of Concordia 100kg

Head Coach David Zilberman reminisced on Concordia’s rich wrestling history that few are aware of. The tournament has been hosted annually for 32 years.

“Concordia’s wrestling team has been around since the 70s,” said Zilberman. Wrestling at Concordia has won seven national championships and has also had dozens of olympians, national champions, and world medalists.”

“We had a Concordia alum in the Tokyo Olympics,” continued the head coach. “Another Concordia wrestler who just took a bronze medal at the world championships in Serbia, also an alum. It’s a very high level and this is Concordia’s best kept secret.”

Zilberman was excited for the season ahead, which involves many road tournaments across the country. He expressed having high hopes for his team.

“It’s a great development tournament, we have a lot of young athletes coming here to compete. Our Concordia team is young and developing, this is just a great opportunity for them to wrestle,” Zilberman added.

Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Stingers wrestler Connor Church, has been taking part in the sport since the ninth grade, joining Concordia last year. 

“It’s been an amazing experience, taking me to the next level as a wrestler. When I came here I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, I was really fresh and had not competed a lot,”  Church stated. “They made me into a much better wrestler. I’d like to say thank you to everyone here at Concordia and Montreal Wrestling Club.” 

Although coming in second place, Church is optimistic about the road ahead.

“[The tournament] didn’t go as planned, I ended up placing second, I definitely wanted to get the gold but I learned a lot of valuable lessons today and I improved overall as a wrestler so I am grateful for that […] I’ll take what I learned here and apply it to the next tournament.” 

Concordia Wrestling will be throwing it down next Sunday, Nov. 13 at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

This article originally appeared in Volume 43, Issue 6, published November 8, 2022.