(Fredericton, NB) – After the first day of full competition at the 2016 ASICS Junior / Senior Canadian Wrestling Championships at University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, junior champions were crowned and awards presented to outstanding junior athletes, clubs and teams for 2016.

“Wrestling Canada Lutte thanks the 2016 Canadian Championships Organizing Committee, University of New Brunswick and the Black Bears Wrestling Club for being great hosts so far,” says Tamara Medwidsky, Executive Director Wrestling Canada Lutte.

Today’s junior competition is the primary selection event for the Junior National Teams which will represent Canada at several international events leading up to the 2016 Junior World Championships.

As part of the awards presentations, Wrestling Canada Lutte presented the junior awards for 2016. Based on the previous season’s international results, the Junior Female Athlete of the Year was presented to Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos from the Team Impact Wrestling Club. Stone-Papadopoulos had a stellar international season, winning a gold medal at the TO2015 Pan Am Games, a bronze medal at the 2015 Junior World Championships, and placing 5^th at the 2015 Senior World Championships, qualifying the 63 kg weight class for the Rio Olympics for Canada. The Junior Male Athlete of the Year was presented to Nishan Randhawa of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club who also had a great season with a gold medal at the 2015 Junior Pan Am Championships and a bronze medal at the 2015 Senior World Championships.

Based on ballots submitted during the competition, the Outstanding Junior Female and Male Wrestler Awards were presented to: Tianna Kennett of the Dinos Wrestling Club & Alex Moore of the Montreal YMHA Club.

Other awards presented included:

• Club Team Award Junior Women: Brock Wrestling Club
• Club Team Award Junior Men’s Freestyle: Montreal YMHA
• Provincial Team Award Junior Women: Team Ontario
• Provincial Team Award Junior Men’s Freestyle: Team Ontario

A complete list of results from junior preliminaries and finals can be found at the following link: https://wrestling.ca/2016-junior-senior-canadian-championships/3594.

Saturday’s competition will see the senior athletes vying for Senior Championship titles as well as ranking for National Team positions. Saturday will also see the induction of a new athlete and builder in the Wrestling Canada Lutte Hall of Fame.

The 2016 ASICS Junior /Senior Canadian Wrestling Championships are taking place at the Aitken Centre at the University of New Brunswick, as sanctioned by Wrestling Canada Lutte. Junior and senior competition includes men’s freestyle, greco-roman and women’s wrestling.

Follow the senior competition live at www.sportscanada.tv/wrestlingcanada