It’s time for Hunter Lee to cram another major medal in the family trophy chest. The 20-year-old Flin Flon wrestler earned a podium finish at the Canadian Wrestling Trials in Niagara, Ont. Dec. 5-7, coming home with a bronze medal.
Up for grabs at this year’s Canadian trials tournament was a shot at joining Team Canada in the Summer Olympics next summer in Tokyo, with weight class winners qualifying for a Pan-American tournament serving as the final hurdle to Olympic qualification.
Wrestling in the men’s 86-kilogram freestyle weight class, Lee finished third of 15 wrestlers in the bracket following an up-and-down competition. After receiving a bye through the opening round of the competition, Lee beat Ioannis Narlidis 11-4 in a bout that went the full three minutes.
That win sent Lee to the third round, where he would face Carleton Ravens wrestler Alex Brown-Theriault. Brown-Theriault would come out on top, squeaking out a 9-5 victory over Lee, sending the Flin Flonner to the bronze medal bout.
Lee would wrestle Ameen Aghamirian from McMaster for one of two bronze medals on offer. That bout would end 15-9 and a victory for Lee.
Brown-Theriault would go on to lose to Brock Badgers product Clayton Pye in the tournament final.
Currently a junior with the Univ. of Saskatchewan Huskies program, Lee is currently the number one ranked wrestler in the men’s 90-kilogram freestyle classification in Canadian university wrestling, ranking ahead of Pye in the most current list. Hunter’s brother Carson, a freshman with the Huskies this year, is the third-ranked USports wrestler in the men’s 82-kilogram freestyle class.
