Haley Heffel is once again a wrestling champion.
Heffel was the only member of the R.F. Staples wrestling team to come home with a medal from the March 7-8 provincial tournament in Calgary, winning gold in the girls’ 61-kilogram division.
Joining Heffel at the tournament were Paige Lemmen, who finished in sixth place in the girls’ 47-kilogram division, and Heather Galliford, who competed in the girls’ 61-kilogram division.
In addition, the team earned itself a plaque after finishing second overall among 3A girls’ teams with 11 points, two points behind Parkland from Edson.
With those overall results, coach Meaghan McKenzie said the weekend was a successful experience.
“It was pretty exciting,” she said. “The girls were really looking forward to getting out and trying their best.”
While many of their competitors at provincials were new to the girls, there were some whom the girls had wrestled against at the Rural Provincial meet in Hinton in February.
“It was nice that they could go and say, ‘OK, you know, this is where she got me last time; this time that’s not going to happen,’” McKenzie said.
With only one of the team members winning a medal, she said there was a fair amount of disappointment to be had. Despite that disappointment, she said the girls never backed down and have indicated they plan to use their experiences as motivation.
“Because they were disappointed, they seemed very motivated that next year when the tournament comes around again they’re going to kick butt at it,” she said.
It was a long weekend, with the wrestlers at the arena all day for two straight days, McKenzie said. On Friday, weigh-in was in the morning, and they didn’t get to leave until around 9 p.m. On Saturday, the day started at 8 a.m. and didn’t end until 8 p.m.
“It was two really long days and a lot of really exciting competition that we were watching through other wrestlers on other mats,” she said.
The tournament was the first time both Galliford and Lemmen had competed at the provincial level, and McKenzie said it proved to be quite the learning experience.
“It was definitely an eye-opener in terms of the calibre of competitors that Alberta has,” she said.
She added that learning experience will bode well for the future of both Lemmen and Galliford’s wrestling careers, as they now have an idea what to expect at future tournaments.
“Until you’re there you don’t really know what it’s going to be like,” McKenzie said.
They can also take that insight and use it to improve their training and encourage their teammates to push themselves to have a similar experience in the future.
