Wrestling team at provincials!
Local wrestlers might not have claimed any top three finishes but represented School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) well at the B.C. Secondary School Sports wrestling championships held at the Pacific Coliseum on Feb. 25-26. There were 494 B.C. students on 119 teams taking part in the championships.
Greg Seed, who co-coaches the SAS, Jackson, and Shuswap Middle School teams with Gerry Beauregard, commented there were some great moments in the championships for the local students. “The best wrestling move was by Keenan Dicker, who made an attempt at crossface on his opponent, and just missed. Another was a recovery move by Aila Norlin, who escaped getting pinned TWICE, and then turned around to pin her opponent,” reported Seed. “It was so close, down to the wire of fitness, fatigue, and points.”
He said another highlight was the match between Emma Muddiman and a wrestler ranked in the top three of her weight class. “The match was within two points at the end of three minutes, and then in the second round it was 9 – 9 with 30 seconds left. The other wrestler blew out of her shoe and her coach called a ‘time out’ by throwing in the brick, which helped his wrestler catch her breath, and score two points in the last 30 seconds to narrowly beat Emma.”
Seed said the SAS (Sullivan) team did very well with Kale Goodman, Andrei Dumitrache, and Aila Norlin all finishing sixth in their individual categories with Emma Muddiman finishing seventh and Anthony Beaudry finishing in the top 10. This placed the SAS team 67th out of 119 teams.
The Jackson team, which was comprised of all Grade 9s, finished 92nd out of 119 teams. Representing Jackson were Daniel Laroche, Keira Jaeger, and Noah Vannieuhuizen, all of whom were up against some tough and experienced grade 11 and 12 wrestlers in their weight class.
The Grade 8 team from Ranchero, coached by Duane Kroeker, included Sam Muddiman, who finished fifth, and Kynan Dicker, who finished fourth. Ranchero finished 47th out of the 119 teams, higher than both Sullivan and Jackson!
Congrats wrestlers!