Jason Bains and Karan Dhillon led the way for the University of the Fraser Valley on the opening day of the U SPORTS wrestling championships in St. Catharines, Ont., both battling their way to gold medal matches.  

Bains (men's 100 kilograms) and Dhillon (men's 90 kg) both went a perfect 3-0 in their pool matches on Friday, punching their tickets to Saturday's finals at Brock University. 

Calista Espinosa (women's 48 kg) and Ali Rahguzar (men's 68 kg) both posted 2-1 records and will compete for bronze on Saturday. Amarvir Atwal (men's 76 kg) went 1-2, and is in the fifth-sixth placing match.

Bains's qualified for the finals in thrilling fashion. After winning his first two matches with relative ease via pin and tech fall, his third match of the day vs. Guelph's Job Reinhart was a barn-burner. Bains went up 4-0, but Reinhart – who also came in undefeated – rallied in the second round, reeling off 10 straight points to grab a huge lead with less than a minute to go. But Bains snagged Reinhart's leg and got him on his back for the pin with just 35 seconds remaining.

"I just told him take a deep breath, go in there and finish the match," coach Gurjot Kooner recounted. "He got a shot in on the guy's legs and got him on his back, and he's off to the finals."

Dhillon's closest match was his second of the day. Taking on Ignatius Pitt of the six-time defending national champion and tourney host Brock Badgers, the third-year Cascade battled his way to a 14-6 decision.

"Karan had a really good match against the guy from Brock," Kooner said. "He controlled the match at the start, then gave up a few points, but cemented it at the end to get to the finals."

Both Espinosa and Rahguzar suffered their lone losses of the day to opponents from Brock – Rahguzar to top-seeded Cruiz Manning, and Espinosa to Samantha Romano. Atwal, the Canada West men's wrestler of the year, had a tough draw and dropped decisions to Brock's Ty Bridgewater and Concordia's Guseyn Ruslanzada.

Saturday's matches for the Cascades are as follows. The championship is being webcast at USPORTS.live; fifth-place matches begin at 10 a.m., bronze medal matches at noon, and gold medal matches at 2 p.m. (all times Eastern).

• Men's 100 kg final: Bains vs. Clayton Pye, Brock
• Men's 90 kg final: Dhillon vs. Hunter Lee, Saskatchewan
• Women's 48 kg bronze: Espinosa vs. Kaleigh Prieur, Concordia
• Men's 68 kg bronze: Rahguzar vs. Devan Larkin, Alberta
• Men's 76 kg 5th/6th: Atwal vs. Pierre Arabadjian, Guelph