Press Release - Island Novice
Post date: Nov 28, 2011 6:05:55 AM
Alberni Wrestlers Compete at Island Novice in Victoria
Wrestling teams from ADSS, EJ Dunn, and Neill Middle School travelled to Victoria on Saturday to compete at the Island Novice Wrestling Championships. The tournament marks the official start of the school wrestling season.
The Novice tournament is intended for athletes who are relatively new to the sport and there are restrictions as to who can compete. As a result a number of the Alberni wrestlers either did not travel to Victoria or travelled down to referee rather than wrestle in the tournament. Despite having only a portion of their wrestlers compete the local teams did very well.
EJ Dunn Middle School finished third in the Junior Boys Division. The Dunn boys were led by the gold medal performances of Anthony Ashby (41 kg), Aaron Badovinac (45 kg), and Tyler Drew-Adams (Light Heavyweight).
“I was really impressed with all our wrestlers”, commented EJ Dunn Coach Russ Bodnar. “These three wrestlers did amazingly well. Anthony and Aaron are brand new to wrestling. Their natural talent and determination allowed them to have success at their first tournament. That is pretty fortunate. For Tyler his hard work and dedication really showed through. He simply outwrestled his opponents. I am really happy with the group of kids we have at Dunn they are a great group to coach. It helps having two Alberni alumni that I coached coming back to teach and help coach with James and I. Makes me feel old but new teachers Andrew Edgell and Maureen Messenger are going to be great for the future of our program.”
EJ Dunn had six additional wrestlers place in the Junior Division to help them to their third place finish. Trevor Barker (3rd at 35kg), Quentin Young (4th at 78kg), Austin Patten (5th at 60kg), Jaylyn Keitlah (6th at 45 kg), Kerrick Frey (6th at 35 kg) and Brody Daoust (6th at 57 kg) all contributed valuable team points to help their team finish third.
Neill Middle School and ADSS also had wrestlers competing in the Junior Boys Division. Though small in numbers a handful of Grade 9 boys helped ADSS finish 8th in the Junior Division. ADSS boys were led by the silver medal performance of Logan Henson. ADSS wrestler Jared Beckett placed fifth in a tough 51 kilogram division. The Neill boys wrestling team was led by the fourth place finish of Aaron Prest (4th at Light Heavyweight).
ADSS has had a small number of boys compete and place 7th overall in the Senior Boys Division. Tristan Schulz had an outstanding tournament to claim the gold medal at 85 kilograms. Cody Stewart finished third at 80 kilograms and Johannes Kulich placed fourth at 66 kilograms.
On the girls side tournament officials elected to combine the Junior and Senior division to give more opportunity for competitive matches. Despite competing against high schools EJ Dunn was once again the top Alberni school finishing 5th overall with 19 team points followed closely behind by ADSS with 18 team points. Neill Middle School also had a small number of athletes compete but finished just out of the top placers.
Breylyn Hutchings (43 kg) from EJ Dunn and Lauren Barker (54 kg) from ADSS both went undefeated in route to claiming the gold medal in their respective divisions. Silver medalists from Alberni included Jessica Finlayson (43 kg) from Neill, Corrine Gough (46 kg) from Neill and Courtney Lescorbeau (57 kg) from EJ Dunn. Isabella Larsen from ADSS (3rd at 51 kg), Isabella Jones (4th at 46kg), Lily Finalyson (4th at 43kg), Morgan Dagenais (5th at 51kg) and Kennady Clarke (6th at 47 kg) wrestled hard in order to have their names noted in the results package.
Reflecting on the results from the day Neill Middle School coach Erin Anker had this to say, “all our wrestlers should be proud of how they wrestled. Many wrestled their first match ever. All of our wrestlers, including those that didn’t place, showed courage to come to this tournament and wrestle. You learn from every match and I know we will continue to get better. That why the in Alberni wrestling the tradition continues.”
Wrestlers from all three teams will be right back on the mats training this week in preparation for upcoming tournaments. On Saturday a select group of elite wrestlers will be travelling to SFU to compete in the Roberts Rumble. At the same time wrestlers from all levels will be travelling to Chemanius for the Cougar Invitational. Parents, wrestlers and program supporters interested in finding out more about upcoming wrestling events are encouraged to visit the club’s website www.alberniwrestling.ca.