Manitobans come home, win medals, leave again

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This article was published 24/02/2017 (2616 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Caleb Rutner’s swollen, purple eye matched the colour of his singlet Saturday, but a slick shade of silver mattered most to the Winnipeg native.

The wrestler walked away from the U Sports university championships with a tremendous second-place showing in the men’s 68-kilogram weight class, the first time the proud member of the Western University Mustangs has medalled after being shut out in three previous nationals.

“It’s been a great experience, and the cherry on top is being able to do it in front of my home crowd. To be able to medal here is just unbelievable,” said Rutner, a St. Pauls graduate who moved to London, Ont., to do his post-secondary studies in history. “This is very sweet.”

He settled for silver after two gruelling three-minute rounds against Brock University wrestler Matt Jagas, who eked out a one-point triumph (3-2) in a tremendous finale.

“We have history, it’s our third time wrestling this year,” said Rutner. “The first time was in the Western Open. It was 14-14 and I won in the very last second of that match. Then, two weeks ago, I lost a hard-fought battle with him at the (Ontario University Athletics) championships.”

This one was, as they say, the rubber match. The 22-year-old has no regrets. “I’m satisfied. I definitely left it all out on the mat.”

Rutner returns to school with some war wounds to go with the hardware. On Friday, he took a heavy smack to the face but still registered a semifinal victory over an Alberta opponent to qualify for the final.

“There’s hand-fighting in wrestling and that’s to fight for position. It can get really scrappy, and I just took a hard head to the eye socket and it just ballooned up,” he said.

Another Manitoban is heading down the highway with a medal tucked away.

University of Regina kinesiology student Amber Wiebe, 19, from Morden, was awarded the bronze medal in the women’s 51-kilogram weight class.

“It’s an amazing experience,” said Wiebe, who won two of three matches Friday. Her scheduled opponent — Farah Taj of the University of Alberta — in Saturday’s third-place showdown pulled out because of injury.

“A lot of room for improvement,” she said. “Coming in last year as rookie, I can definitely say that I’ve improved a thousand per cent and that’s a credit to our coaches, but I still have a long way to go. Bronze is something, but it’s not everything.”

The University of Winnipeg Wesmen wrestling program, in just its sixth year, put on a first-class event at the Axworthy Health and RecPlex.

“Any time we can host an event like this, have it as well run and well supported by our community and our university, you can’t help but be happy with that,” offered Wesmen head coach Adrian Bruce.

 

— Jason Bell