A local wrestler brought home a silver medal from a tournament last weekend, and says if she hadn’t suffered a concussion during the match she would have won the gold.
Kellie Galliford took second place out of the 18 wrestlers in her weight category at a University of Alberta open tournament from Feb. 4-5, and finished the final match despite being concussed early on.
“I pretty much got thrown on my head the first round, but I finished the match and lost by just a few points,” she said.
She said she knew right away she had been pretty seriously injured, but the adrenaline carried her through.
“It was quite the experience,” she said.
Leading up to the gold medal match, Galliford was undefeated, easily winning her three tilts.
“I pinned two of them, and one I just won by points,” she said.
She said competing against so many competitors made the victory that much sweeter. She has competed in tournaments where there are only three or four in the category, which makes a silver medal somewhat less impressive, she said.
“I was still mad, though, because I knew I could have gotten gold if I didn’t get hurt in the first round,” Galliford said.
The bigger and more important tournaments are still to come, however.
She will be wrestling in two national tournaments later this spring — one for the University team and one for the high-school age group.
“It’s kind of exciting, because I made both national teams,” she said.
The university tournament will be held in Edmonton, but the high school tournament will be held in Ontario so she will have to travel.
“I’ve trained a lot harder than last year, so I’m just more set to it,” she said. “Last year I took fourth, so I’m hoping to top that this year.”
Galliford added she will have to do some fundraising for the trip to Ontario, but is confident she will be able to make it happen.
She said she figures she will start by doing a bottle drive then go from there. Anyone interested in helping out can contact her at 780-348-5401.
