A Clyde athlete has returned from the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops with a gold medal around his neck after out-wrestling the competition.
Austin Tremblay’s victory was especially remarkable since he went up a weight class for the event, taking on athletes at 63 kg rather than the 58 kg he’s used it.
“It was a lot harder than what I expected, because I went up a weight class for this tournament,” he said. “They were all a lot bigger than me, because they probably weighed about 69 kg and cut down.”
Despite the relative size difference, Tremblay went undefeated at the event, which fell into two categories.
The first part was a team tournament, in which wrestlers in each weight division compete against the corresponding opponents in order to determine the top team. Team B.C. won the gold in that event with Alberta picked up the silver, but Tremblay dominated his category.
His first match was against Saskatchewan, and it is fair to say the match was a blowout.
“I didn’t get scored on in that match,” he said. “I won by points, but both rounds lasted only about 30 seconds, because they were 6-0 and 6-0.”
A round can be called short in favour of one competitor if the point difference is great enough.
His second match was against Manitoba, which also went decidedly in Tremblay’s favour.
“I didn’t get scored on against him, either, and I pinned him in the second round,” he said.
His third and final match of the day was against B.C., which was not nearly as easy for him as the first two.
“It was one of the harder matches; it was 1-0 for me in the first and 1-0 for me in the second,” he said. He earned his point in each round by breaking his opponent down to his knees and getting around behind him.
The individual competition took place the next day; he wrestled against Saskatchewan again, with the wrestler who was second in the team competition, earning two wins and one loss.
That match was substantially harder for Tremblay, as his opponent had a better idea of what to expect. He won fairly easily nonetheless, earning the right to bring home a gold medal.
This ends the wrestling season for Tremblay, who has been training more or less straight through since October.
“It feels pretty good. There was a lot of training before, but it was definitely worth it,” he said.
Tremblay said he will return to the mat in October when the season starts up again, and expects to compete in high-school and provincial tournaments throughout the winter.
