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It took 11 years of close calls and near misses before Simon Fraser University won its first NAIA wrestling championship in 1988, despite developing many Canadian national champions and Olympians in those early years.
Led by head coach Mike Jones, the Clan ended a four-year championship run by Central State (Oklahoma) in Tacoma, Wash. Dan Payne (heavyweight) and Ed Sernoski (150-pounds) won NAIA titles while seven Clan wrestlers earned All-American honours: Norm Spence, 118-pounds (7th); Craig Roberts, 134 (2nd); Chris Wilson, 158 (3rd); Gianni Buono, 167 (2nd); and Scott Bianco, 190 (7th). Mike Jones was named NAIA Coach of the Year.
The 1988 team went 15-2-1 in dual meets and Sernoski won an astonishing 73 matches, the most wins ever by a wrestler in a single season. The 1988 team featured seven future Canadian Olympians— Payne (1988), Wilson (1992), Roberts (1996), Bianco (1996), Greg Edgelow (1992), Selwyn Tam (1992), and Tom Petryshen (1992). PHOTO GALLERY
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