(St. Catharines, Ontario) – Day 1 of a 3-day Championship weekend wrapped up with Junior men’s freestyle and women’s competition. Canada’s top junior wrestlers did not disappoint, showcasing impressive athleticism, strength, and passion as they vied for Canadian Championship titles.

The event saw four repeat Champions, with Jade Dufour from the Montreal YMHA Wrestling Club defending her 48 kg title, Alex Moore, also from the Montreal YMHA Club moving up a weight class to win the 84 kg title, Tianna Kennett from the Dinos Wrestling Club defending her 59 kg title, and Nishan Randhawa, representing the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club defending his 96 kg title.

“Wrestling Canada Lutte thanks the 2017 Canadian Championships Organizing Committee, Brock University and the Brock Badgers for being exceptional hosts so far,” says Don Ryan, President Wrestling Canada Lutte. “The outstanding competition today sets the stage for an exceptional senior portion of the Championships on Saturday”.

This is the first Canadian Championship of the new Tokyo quadrennial and will serve as the primary event for ranking athletes for junior and senior national team selections. These national team athletes will represent Canada at various events throughout the season, including the Junior and Senior World Championships and Francophonie Games.

As part of awards presentations, based on the previous season’s international results, the 2016 Junior Female Athlete of the Year was presented to Jade Dufour from the Montreal YMHA Wrestling Club. Dufour had an outstanding international season winning a bronze medal at the 2016 Junior World Championships in Macon, France. Jade’s Montreal YMHA teammate Alex Moore was presented the 2016 Junior Male Athlete of the Year award after winning the 2016 Junior Pan American Championships and placing 8^th in the 2016 Junior World Championships.

Based on ballots submitted during the competition, awards for Outstanding Junior Female and Male Wrestlers of the tournament were presented to Brock Wrestling Club’s Hannah Taylor and Montreal YMHA Wrestling Club’s Alex Moore.

Other awards presented include:

• Club Team Award Junior Women: Team Impact 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 match results from can be found at the following link: 2017_Jr_Sr_Results_FINAL

The action continues Saturday with Senior Women and Men’s Freestyle competition as well as the induction of Marty Calder and Bill Hogarth into the Wrestling Canada Lutte Hall of Fame.

The 2017 Junior /Senior Canadian Wrestling Championships are taking place at the Ian Beddis Gym at Brock University in St. Catharines, 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. Live scoring updates and webstreaming will be available on TrackWrestling.com.