High School Wrestlers do well at Provincials

Elise Ingram won the gold, and several other local wrestlers secured top 10 finishes at the Provincial High School Wrestling Championships held at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) Forum in Vancouver, February 23-24, 2024. Elise, a grade 9 student at Jackson, won four matches on the way to her gold medal!

Coaches Greg Seed and Gerry Beauregard accompanied 14 wrestlers to the provincials, three from Salmon Arm Secondary (Sullivan) and 11 from Jackson. The team travelled to Vancouver on Thursday morning to attend the weigh-in at the PNE Forum later that afternoon. Seed commented on the amazing competition, stating, “There were 660 wrestlers participating at the event so that made it pretty awesome.” He also praised the team’s hard work and sportsmanship, saying, “The team worked hard to get to the Provincials and were great representatives of their schools.”

In addition to Elise’s gold, Grade 10 student Isabella Rodriguez competed well, securing a fifth place finish in her weight category.

Grade 12 Student Emma Muddiman also had a successful year in wrestling. Despite a setback in her first match, she bounced back to win the next two matches. She lost the fourth match and finished seventh, narrowly missing out on a medal.

The team is comprised of Emma Muddiman, Vanessa Bakewell, and Fipher Hanson from Salmon Arm Secondary (Sullivan), and Koda Gunn, Carter Schmidt, Landon Birkett, Daniel Laroche, Sam Muddiman, Keiton Goodman, Peytton Luque Rodriguez, Elise Ingram, Keira Jaeger, Isabella Rodriguez, and Kate Beutelspacher from Jackson.

At the provincials, the team received support from SAS wrestling alumni and past winners, including Eve Maxwell, who won a gold medal, Most Outstanding Match, and Most Outstanding Athlete at the BC High School Wrestling Championships in 2022. Also present were Hayden Lazar and Elijah Lazar, who won provincial gold in 2020, along with parents of current and former wrestlers. Seed noted, “Elijah was able to join us on the Friday at the provincials and give some insight and suggestions for improvement.”

On Feb. 10 the local wrestlers competed in the Okanagan regionals. Results from the weight classes are as follows;
Sullivan – 1^st Emma Muddiman, 1^st Fipher Hanson, 2^nd Vanessa Bakewell
No Boys competed
Jackson – 1^st Isabella Rodriguez, 2^nd Kate Beutelspakcer, 4^th Reegan Schmidt, 2^nd Keira Jaeger, 2^nd Ginger Anderson, 3^rd Saskia Simpson, 1^st Peytton Rodriguez, 1^st Elsie Ingram 
Boys – 1^st Landon Birkett, 2^nd Carter Schmidt, 4^th Nic Davies, 5^th Tayden Lafortune, 3^rd Kirby Cudmore. 2^nd Koda Gunn,1^st Lucas Anderson, 1^st Keenan Dicker, 2^nd Sam Muddiman,3^rd Keiton Goodman,1^st Daniel Laroche

Seed stepped up to coaching in 2022 when longtime community coach Ray Munsie, a retired teacher and wrestling coach from the Lower Mainland, had to step down due to health reasons. Despite having limited knowledge about wrestling, Seed, who is also the school’s career education teacher and rugby coach, has learned a great deal. He has been joined by Gerry Beauregard, a former wrestler and retired SD83 Operations Maintenance Foreman. Seed acknowledged, “We still have lots more to learn but we are looking forward to next year.”

Seed and Beauregard won’t have much downtime as they are also rugby coaches taking a group of 22 girls and 19 boys to Grand Cayman Island for a rugby tournament from March 13-25. While there, the group will also enjoy activities such as swimming with the turtles and stingrays and participating in a surfing session.