Ranchero wrestlers at nationals!
Congratulations to Sam Muddiman and Kynan Dicker who took part in the Canadian High School Wrestling Championships in Vancouver, March 23-25! Kynan brought home a bronze medal and Sam finished sixth in his weight class!
A third wrestler, Andrei Dumetrache of Salmon Arm Secondary, unfortunately had to withdraw from the national competition due to an injured hand.
“Wrestling is not an easy sport and they both worked hard to get where they are,” said teacher and wrestling coach Duane Kroeker.
Kroeker said he’s been coaching wrestling for many years and this is the first time he had two wrestlers in one class make it to the nationals. “That’s pretty rare and it couldn’t happen to two nicer kids.”
“I really can’t believe I got to go to the nationals! I never thought I’d make it that far,” says Kynan with a big grin. “It was great,” added Sam.
The two said taking part in the national competition was impressive. They said they had to have photo ID to go in and the security guards were pretty strict. “Canada Place with the sails and ocean was amazing,” said Kynan. Sam said when he got to Canada Place he was amazed at all the photo ID tags that were sitting there and that there was eight mats for matches, two more than provincials had. They both worked hard to not let nerves get to them. “I tried not to think about it and concentrated on what I had to do,” said Sam. “I focussed on going in confident,” added Kynan.
In wresting, the students compete in weight classes, so can be anywhere from Grade 8 to 12. “The guy who won first place was really buff and tall,” commented Kynan.” I didn’t wrestle him but he looked really good.” Kynan’s only loss came to the wrestler who took the silver medal.
The two wanted to give a big thanks to Mr. Kroeker and to the other coaches who helped them, including Greg Seed and Gerry Beauregard (who coach the SMS, Jackson, and Sullivan wrestlers) and the Kelowna Spartan coaches for their help to get to the nationals.
After qualifying in the provincials in March, and because the nationals were in Vancouver, the two grade 8 students and grade 12 student Andre decided to go. Their training schedule was increased and the boys were practicing five times a week, three times with Kroeker and travelling to Kelowna twice a week to practice with the Spartan Wrestling Club.
The two started wrestling after hearing Kroeker talk about the wrestling club at school and they decided “another sport let’s join it”.
Sam, when not wrestling also rides horses, does archery, 4-H, and all of the school sports. Kynan is also busy doing all the school sports plus soccer. Both boys are also part of the school’s chess club.
Both plan on wrestling again next year and they want to encourage other students to join as well, as they describe it as a really fun sport to do.
Kroeker added that he has a mat which he could share with another school if there is a teacher interested in starting a wrestling team at their school. He said it would be nice to have more teams so that there was more competition locally, instead of having to do so much travelling. Please contact Kroeker at Ranchero if you are interested.
He added that wrestling is a challenging sport and it is also a great way to build strength and fitness for other sports. He says his program and the high school team are active and encourage participation by both girls and boys. He noted at last yea’s B.C. finals, Eve Maxwell, who was then a grade 12 student at Salmon Arm Secondary, captured a gold medal, Most Outstanding Match, and Most Outstanding Athlete at the BC High School Wrestling Championships.
He says there are also crossover skills. For example, skills learned in wrestling really help students who go on to play rugby, which he also coaches! Kroeker comments if there are students in another SD83 school who are interested in wrestling, and who can get to the school for practices, they are more than welcome to come for coaching and then represent their own school at the competitions. Anyone interested is invited to contact him at the school.