SASKATOON – When he joined the University of Saskatchewan Huskies wrestling squad in 2014, Josh Bodnarchuk had one simple goal.
“Being the young underdog I just wanted to go in head high and see if I could take down some older guys,” he said.
These days Bodnarchuk is many things but underdog is not one of them. Not after a debut season in which he won both Canada West and CIS gold, and multiple rookie of the year awards.
“It was really great. Being really young, it was great to get my first CIS experience, never mind a national title,” said the former Holy Cross Crusader. “I’m really excited to possibly get some more.”
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Wrestling may be a sport of individual combatants, but it takes teamwork to train a champion. Bodnarchuk credits his first-year training partner, Dylan Bray, a fellow Canada West champ and CIS silver medallist last season, with helping him achieve so much success in his rookie season.
“Without him I wouldn’t have got to where I was last year. I consider him one of my main mentors, especially going in so young and kind of not knowing what I was doing.”
“It’s only his second year but he’s up there,” said Bray. “He’s a good natural athlete and he has so much room to grow.”
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That potential is a tantalizing prospect for Huskies head coach Dan Olver, who believes there are even bigger things in store for the young wrestler.
“We’re always chasing that Can West title and he’s a guy that we know we can count on,” Olver said. “We can bring other people in around him who can feed off that energy, so it’s definitely exciting. We want to take him beyond those four years as well, to do even better things.”
“I definitely see myself pursuing the Olympic dream,” added Bodnarchuk. “But I just want to take it one year at a time and hopefully get on a few national teams.”
For now Bodnarchuk is focussed on helping the Huskies bring home a Canada West championship.
“I still consider myself someone that can go in and wrestle the best I can and hopefully the results will take care of themselves.”
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