R.F. Staples’ Austin Tremblay pinned down a silver medal at the high-school provincial wrestling championships last weekend in Okotoks.
After easily defeating the competition in his first three matches at Foothills Composite High School, he struggled to overcome Calgary’s Matthew Lepke, an opponent he’d never wrestled before. He avoided being pinned, though, instead losing the match by points.
“I knew he was good, but I’ve never been in the same weight class as him before,” he said.
Tremblay was understandably disappointed with the second-place finish; he said he made some mistakes that cost him the match.
“I could have done a lot better,” he said. “Other than that guy, (the competition) wasn’t anything too spectacular.”
The other opponents he faced he had seen before, and knew he could beat them: he pinned two and won the third match by points.
“I’m pretty used to everyone who’s wrestling in Alberta,” he said. “I know them all pretty well.”
Tremblay said although he was unable to score any points against his opponent in the gold-medal match, he learned a lot about Lepke and looks forward to a rematch.
“I think that if we wrestle again I’ll do a lot better,” he said.
Tremblay has been dominating his 63 kg weight class all year, and has been exceptionally busy with tournament throughout the spring.
He came home with a gold medal from the Rural Wrestling Provincials in Edson Feb. 27-28, and hopes to win first place at an Alberta Open tournament March 16-17 in Ponoka.
“After that I’ll be going to Fredericton for nationals,” he said. The Canadian Juvenile National Tournament runs April 12-15.
Tremblay is no stranger to this high level of competition, having been very successful for the several years he has been wrestling. Last summer, he earned gold medal at the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops.
