Cougars make important step
Mar. 4, 2008 - Regina Leader-Post
By Tim Switzer
It was 10 years ago that the University of Regina Cougars men's wrestling team won its second of back-to-back Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships.
Today, the team seems to be heading back in that direction.
"This team is back and we're going to be a contender for the next few years down the road," said U of R head coach Leo McGee. "A lot of the kids have to develop a stronger work habit and now they can understand what they need to do and that they'll be able to compete with anybody."
The men's team captured four medals -- three silver and one bronze -- at the CIS championships in Calgary over the weekend and finished fourth overall. All seven of the Cougars wrestlers at the meet are eligible to return next season.
Alex McStay, who will be a fifth-year grappler next season and the elder statesman on the team, knows just how much it would mean to the Cougars to win a national title. The titles won in the '90s stand out in the minds of all Cougars athletes as they are two of only three won in any sport in the history of U of R athletics.
"That's a really elite team and it would be something nice to be a part of," said McStay, a silver medallist at nationals this year. "Every day, I get to look at those banners and hope I can one day do that."
McStay, fellow silver medallists Jeff Jones and Cory Horsburgh and bronze-medallist Peter De La Cruz are all expected to be back with the Cougars next season, as are the other participants at the national meet -- Chad Bates, Jarret Coels and Justin Eckert. The Cougars roster also boasts several other men, such as Jason Church and Kyle DuMont, that should be able to compete at the national level.
"I really like the group and the way it's coming together," said McGee. "Sometimes in sport, you have a lot of guys that like to hang around and be on a team. I've had to slowly eliminate those guys. I want a group that wants to get back to the very front end. The environment is starting to come together."
That is how McGee built his previous national-championship teams. Led by the likes of Lease Bertram and eventual Olympian Dean Schmeichel, the Cougars won six straight Canada West titles from 1994 to 1999.
Through his seasons with the Cougars, McStay has heard much about those championship teams.
"Leo makes reference to them always throughout practice," said McStay. "He picks good times to talk about teams and he uses that team to point out how to overcome different problems. He uses it in a very motivating way. It's never thrown in our faces at all."
McStay would like to be the subject of such stories some day. Fourth-place finishes for the U of R team at the Canada West and CIS meets this season may help him and the rest of the Cougars to do that. The Cougars were expected to place higher than fourth at the conference meet, but were not expected to do nearly as well at nationals.
"A lot of us were really rattled about how we finished at Canada West and it really showed in our training the last couple weeks," said McStay. "We were really hard on ourselves and made sure that wouldn't happen again.
"We really made an impression on everyone this weekend with a big placing at the CIS. This is going to be real beneficial in attracting more talent and getting everyone motivated for the following year. This is just going to make people want to do more because (a national championship) is in sight."