The Westlock Wrestling Club is off to a good start this season, having completed two back-to-back tournaments early in December.
Three wrestlers from the club took part in the Ho Ho Ho tournament Dec. 9-10 at Bowness High School in Calgary, and seven took part in the 25th annual Wetaskiwin Classic Dec. 2-3.
While the results of the tournaments weren’t ideal in every case, coach William Norton said he’s been impressed with the skills the wrestlers have demonstrated so far this year.
“I’m very pleased with the wrestlers we have and the way they’ve been learning,” he said, adding this is the first year the two tournaments were on consecutive weekends. “I think a lot of our wrestlers were pretty tired; it’s a lot to do in a couple weeks.”
The wrestlers at the Bowness tournament were all up against some stiff competition, and only Gloria Rempel was able to make the podium, coming away from the tournament with a bronze medal.
“She ended up winning one and losing two, but because of her domination in her match she ended up being in third place,” Norton said. “She just scored more points than her opponents did.”
Austin Chaffee was wrestling very well throughout the tournament, Norton said, but a knee injury in his semi-final match, leaving him with a sixth-place finish.
“It was kind of a disappointed loss because he was wrestling very well, but those things happen in sport,” he said.
The third competitor, Montana Rempel, lost out fairly quickly in the double-elimination tournament, but Norton said she wrestled reasonably well for a rookie and picked up some valuable lessons.
“She’s a rookie this year and she learned some very valuable rookie lessons,” he said. “She made a few bad moves that ended up costing her the match.”
At the Wetaskiwin Classic tournament the weekend before, seven wrestlers participated with many coming away with medals.
That tournament is split into more divisions, with distinctions made between junior and senior wrestlers, as well as between novice and elite.
“It’s broken down into people who’ve wrestled before and those who haven’t,” Norton said.
“Basically if you’ve medaled at any tournament in any year, then you’re now considered elite.”
Gloria Kerr earned a gold medal in her category, beating out teammate Samantha Grove, who took home a silver medal.
“It would be nice if they both could get gold,” Norton said, adding those matches are always interesting because while the coaches normally shout advice throughout the match, in this situation they chose to stay silent.
Montana Rempel took home a silver medal in her category, as did her sister Chyna Rempel, another rookie.
Chyna’s silver was especially noteworthy since she competed in the elite division as a rookie and still made such a strong showing.
In the senior high elite category, all three Westlock wrestlers had strong showings.
“The surprise of the day was Ryan Battaglini,” Norton said. “He did exceptionally well; he only placed fourth but he probably wrestled the best he has in his entire career.”
Battaglini is the only Grade-12 wrestler with the club this year, and Norton said it was nice to see he’s off to a good start this season.
Haley Heffel also ended up with a fourth-place finish, losing in the semi-finals to the national champion from Saskatchewan then losing the bronze-medal match to her nemesis, the same wrestler who beat her during the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops last summer.
Finally, Austin Chaffee took home bronze medal from the Wetaskiwin tournament, losing only one match, and that one to the wrestler who ended up winning gold.
Norton said that since the club’s numbers are relatively low this year, there is still plenty of opportunity for rookie wrestlers to get involved with the club — the next tournament isn’t until the end of January.
For more information about the club contact William or Jessie Norton at 780-349-5642.
