U of R wins first national title
Mar. 3, 1997 - Regina Leader-Post
By Leader-Post Sports Staff
Dean Schmeichel went out with a bang.
Schmeichel, 25, won the last match of the meet – and the last match of his university career – to give the Regina Cougars the CIAU wrestling championship Saturday in Hamilton.
"It was really nice to win it in my last year, in my last match as a collegiate wrestler," Schmeichel said Sunday. "I couldn't have asked for a better way to go out."
Schmeichel beat Leo Kilimnik of the Brock Badgers 10-0 in just over a minute in the heavyweight division's final match. Schmeichel earned 10 points for the win while Kilimnik got eight for finishing second.
That two-point difference gave Regina a 70-67 win over the Badgers in the team standings. Had Kilimnik won, Brock would have won 69-68 and claimed its fourth straight national title.
Instead, the U of R earned its first CIAU title in any sport.
"It's something I thought was going to come with wrestling sooner or later," said Regina head coach Leo McGee. "We were second in '94 and '96. I knew it was just a matter of time before we got there."
Schmeichel said the pressure of having the team's hopes resting on his shoulders was good for him. It wasn't good for Kilimnik.
"I knew the scenario, but he didn't," Schmeichel said. "He was in the back all day warming up. When he came out, the announcer said the winner of the match would win the national championship. (Kilimnik) turned to his coach and gave him a look like, 'What?!'
"About five seconds in, I knew I was going to win. He didn't seem to want to be there too much."
Schmeichel was one of three Reginans to win gold.
The others were Fazel Anwar, who beat Brock's Chris Ashley at 57 kilograms, and Robert Lang, who defeated Russ Friend of the Calgary Dinosaurs at 61kg.
Lease Bertram (65kg), Sean Thompson (76kg) and Scott Schmidt (90kg) won silver medals for Regina. Scott General finished fourth at 72kg, Mark Fitzpatrick was fifth at 52kg, Joe Tesar was fifth at 68kg and Jared Kirkland was sixth at 82kg.
