Verbeek captures gold at Olympic Trials

WINNIPEG - Brock University's Tonya Verbeek captured gold at the 2011 Olympic Trials in Winnipeg this past weekend. With the victory, Verbeek will make her third appearance at the Olympic games this summer in London, England.

Verbeek, who was the No. 1 seed at 55kg, defeated Brit Laverdure in two straight matches by a combined score of 5-0. She will now represent Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games which takes places July 27th through August 12th.

In the finals at 48kg, Brock's Jessica MacDonald lost in two straight to the defending Olympic Gold Medalist Carol Huynh by a combined score of 4-0. MacDonald posted victories over Lindsay Prickett (3-0), Ashley McKilligan (8-0) and Natasha Kramble (12-0).

Also representing Brock on the final day were C.J. Hudson and Ryan Weicker. At 60kg, Hudson lost 4-0 to John Pineda who went on to capture the weight class. Weicker lost 2-0 to Ryan Lue who finished second overall at 66kg behind Haislan Garcia.