Cassie Corbett (Beamsville, Ont.) of the women's wrestling team, Javier Tonita-Charriez (Regina, Sask.) of the men's wrestling team and Vanessa Keefe (Oyster Bed Bridge, P.E.I.) of the women's wrestling team have been named Brock University Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, March 1.
Travelling to Thunder Bay, Ont., for the Wrestling Canada Lutte U SPORTS Invitational Wrestling Championships, Corbett went undefeated en route to a gold medal in the 72-kilogram division, improving on her back-to-back silver-medal showings. In her Round 1 matchup, the Teacher Education major broke out a 9-0 lead against Myla Wilson of the Lakehead Thunderwolves and went on to win via decision 11-2. Facing the McMaster Marauders' Tehani Blais in Round 2, the 2025 U SPORTS silver medallist won a closely contested bout by fall 5-4. In her next two matches, the third-year student athlete did not give up a single point, defeating Felisity McDonald of the Algoma Thunderbirds and Clara Smithanik of the Calgary Dinos by fall at two minutes and 24 seconds and one minute and two seconds, respectively, to earn a spot in the gold medal match. Building on her momentum from Day 1, Corbett earned a dominant 11-1 win in the championship match over Alberta's Aaliyah Hartfelder by fall at 1:57 seconds into the contest.
Making his national championships debut, Tonita-Charriez went undefeated over the weekend, earning himself a gold medal in the 57kg bracket. In his first matchup against the Western Mustangs' Leo Kitambala, the Kinesiology major fell behind 2-0 early but battled back to earn a 12-3 decision. Facing Andrew Lewis-Garrway of the York Lions in Round 2, the first-year standout did not give up a single point, winning by fall at 1:50. His next two matches saw him win both by technical fall, defeating Evan Burch of the Guelph Gryphons just 1:22 into the match by a score of 10-0, then besting Deandrae Jabaybay of the Saskatchewan Huskies 12-1. These four victories on Day 1 earned Tonita-Charriez a spot in the gold medal match where he faced off against the Thunderbird's Brandon Carrillo. After falling behind 6-1 early, he battled back to take a 9-7 lead and ultimately secured a 9-8 decision victory.
Improving off her consecutive silver-medal showings the past two national championships, Keefe did not give up a single point over the weekend, earning her first career U SPORTS gold medal in the 68kg division. Round 1 saw the Kinesiology major defeat McMaster's Juliana Skaljin via technical fall 10-0 in just 1:10. The fourth-year student athlete matched up against Queen's Enija Plavina in Round 2, quickly winning 4-0 via fall at just 29 seconds into the contest. Building off her momentum, Keefe quickly defeated Saskatchewan's Alexis Lavers 10-0 by technical fall, earning her a spot in the gold medal match. On the other side of the mat was Alberta's Maria Sawiak. Keefe broke out to an early 4-0 lead and continued this dominance throughout, ending the match at 1:30 via technical fall 10-0.
