STRATHCONA COUNTY, Alb. – Western's Madi Parks and former Mustang Steven Takahashi travelled to Alberta last weekend to take part in the Olympic Wrestling trials.
 
Parks, a co-captain at Western, won two matches in the pool tournament competition but was eventually eliminated by Brock's Jade Parsons while Takahashi won the Greco-Roman 59 kg division, defeating number one ranked Dylan Williams in two straight best of three matches.
 
It was a gutsy performance by Takahashi, who suffered a lower body injury in the Freestyle competition the day prior versus challenger Aso Palani. Palani won that match 5-9 against Takahashi, who was seeded 2nd behind the eventual winner in John Pineda.
 
Takahashi normally competes in Freestyle but opted to challenge in Greco Roman, which is restricted to an upper body style of wrestling that prohibits using or attacking the legs. Last year's Male Athlete of the Year found success by staving off Williams' strong offensive top-ground attack, preventing his opponent from executing his lifts from the "parterre" ground position.

Still, Takahashi is no stranger to the Greco Roman event. He has previous Greco Roman national titles and a background in judo, which also includes several transferable throws. One of those is the "shoulder throw," one of Takahashi's top scoring moves. Furthermore, several coaches with London-Western have a GR background including, Dave Spinney, Laszlo Adamko, and Said Golbakhi.
 
Despite his victory, Takahashi hasn't qualified yet, as Canada has not yet qualified any weight classes in Greco-Roman. Thus, each winner will need to enter the Olympic Games qualifiers in the upcoming months. The first is the Pan American Olympic qualifier in Frisco, USA, from March 4-6, 2016. The top two countries at that event will earn a trip to Rio.
 
Results
 
Freestyle Women
53 kg
Madi Parks (did not place)
Win 8-7 vs. Emily Kessler (Wesmen WC)
Win 8-2 vs.  Farah Taj (Bears WC)
Lost 5-9 vs. Jade Parsons (Brock WC)
 
Greco-Roman  59kg
1st Place - Steven Takahashi
 2nd Place - Dylan Williams of Bears WC
Round 1 - Steven Takahashi (London Western WC) won by decision over Dylan Williams (Bears WC) (Dec 11-4)
Round 2 - Steven Takahashi (London Western WC) won by decision over Dylan Williams (Bears WC) (Dec 4-2)