Members of the Brock men's wrestling team travelled to Vancouver and Hamilton, respectively, for their first competition of the season. 

The Badgers competed at both the SFU Open in Burnaby, BC on Saturday, Nov. 2 and the McMaster Open on Sunday, Nov. 3. 

In total, the Badgers came away with three first-place finishes and three other podium placements. 

At the SFU Open, Garette Saunders won a gold medal in the 61-kilogram category, defeating Drake Buechler of the Saskatchewan Huskies by technical fall 10-0. 

To get there, Saunders won three consecutive matches by technical fall, only giving up two points total. 

Teammate Yazdan Farokhizad also won a gold medal at the meet, winning three total matches all by technical fall in the 92kg weight class. 

In the final, the Tehran, Iran product bested Bohdan Titorenko of The Roc Wrestling Club by 12-1.  

With other members of the Brock Wrestling Club, the Badgers placed second overall.

Rounding out the Badgers' podium finishes at the SFU open was Roger Li who earned a bronze in the 125kg event after defeating Bjorn Nelson of the Edmonton Wrestling Club by technical fall 10-0.  

The next day at the McMaster Open, Hamzah Al-Qayse and Matteo Romano led the Brock results. 

Al-Qayse finished second to Liam Menard of Concordia in the 72kg category with a 10-0 technical fall loss while Romano earned silver after falling by technical fall 10-0 to Brayden McInroy (Young Guns RNWC) in the 57kg weight class. 

In the team standings, the Badgers captured seventh with 16 and only trailed sixth-place Matmen Wrestling Club by one point.

Up next, the Brock men's wrestling team travels to Toronto for the TMU Open on Sunday, Nov. 10.

BROCK MEN'S WRESTLING TOP SIX RESULTS AT 2024 SFU OPEN 
61kg (1st) - Garette Saunders (Brock) 10-0 technical fall win over Drake Buechler (Saskatchewan) 
92kg (1st) - Yazdan Farokhizad (Brock) 12-1 technical fall win over Bohdan Titorenko (The Roc Wrestling Club) 
125kg (3rd) - Roger Li (Brock) 10-0 technical fall win over Bjorn Nelson (Edmonton WC) 
**non-Brock varsity wrestlers who are on the Brock Wrestling Club are not featured in the individual results. Full results are available here.** 

BROCK MEN'S WRESTLING TOP SIX RESULTS AT THE 2024 MCMASTER OPEN 
57kg (2nd) - Brayden McInroy (Young Guns RNWC) 10-0 technical fall win over Matteo Romano (Brock)
68kg (5th) - Mason Mastroianni (Brock) 10-0 technical fall win over Thomas Fahner (London-Western WC) 
72kg (2nd) - Liam Menard (Concordia) 10-0 technical fall win over Hamzah Al-Qayse (Brock)

TEAM STANDINGS AT THE 2024 SFU OPEN 
1 SFU, 125 
2 Brock WC, 57 
3 Edmonton WC, 47. 
4 Dinos WC, 41 
5 Saskatchewan, 38 
6 London-Western WC, 34 
7 Guru Gobind Singh WC, 31 
8 Coast WC, 18 
9 UNAT WC, 16 
10 Evergreen WC, 14 
11 The Roc WC, 13 
12 Canadian Mal WC, 11 
13 Guelph WC, 11 
14 Rustom WC, 10 
15 DC Wrestling WC, 7 
16 BMWC, 5 
17 Carleton, 3 
18 Unat, 3 
19 Nanamo WC, 1 
20 Island, 0 
21 Saskatchewan WC, 0 
22 UBC, 0 
23 Western Washington, 0  

MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS AT THE 2024 MCMASTER OPEN 
1 Montreal WC, 36  
2 Algoma University, 20.0  
3 University of Toronto, 20  
4 McMaster University, 19  
5 University of Guelph, 8  
6 Matmen WC, 17.0  
7 Brock University, 16  
8 GTA Alliance RTC, 13  
9 Western University,13  
10 London-Western WC, 11  
11 York University YORK 11  
12 Algoma WC, 10 
13 Central Toronto Wrestling Club, 10 
14 Concordia,10  
15 Young Guns RNWC, 10 
16 Warriors WA, 7  
17 Carleton University, 5  
18 Hamilton WC, 5  
19 Independent WC, 5  
20 Team Xtreme WC, 5  
21 No Club Affiliate, 3  
22 Team Impact WC, 2  
23 Team Discipline, 1 
24 Brock WC, 0  
*Note 16 other clubs competed and finished with zero points. Full team scores are available here.*