Athletes young and old were competing at Yara Centre on Saturday, as Control Jiu-Jitsu Moose Jaw hosted the 2018 Saskatchewan Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Provincial Championship.

Close to 150 athletes hit the mat for the provincial championship with 66 medals going to Moose Jaw athletes in a stellar performance for the local club.

"This has been great, we’ve had the most amount of signups with our crew since we started, everybody is just flying high with energy," said Jason Church, Coach with Control BJJ.

There were 14 gold medals won by local athletes as they dominated the podium throughout the day.

"Everybody from our crew is just doing amazing here," said Church. "We see lots of wins, lots of learning here today, so it’s been great, I’m just happy to see everybody on the mats, that’s the biggest step of them all."

Moose Jaw’s Vander Woods claimed a silver medal in the Boys’ No-Gi 7-8 years old 67-79 lbs. division and a bronze in the Gi division.

He says he had a really fun day, "Getting my medals has been fun," said Woods.

"I like that its fun, you get to fight and choke people out."

Control BJJ teammates Vander Woods, top, and Jacob Gasper battle during Saturday's 2018 Saskatchewan Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship at Yara Centre. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Nathan Bernard was the big winner of the day from the local club, capturing three gold medals, two in the Men’s Adult Under-208 lbs division — Gi and No-Gi — and also the Absolute Men division.

Eight-year-old Roque Spaan-Murray won a pair of golds, taking the top spot in both the Boys’ Gi and No-Gi 7-8 years old 54-66 lbs. division.

Wyatt Johnson claimed gold in the Boys Gi 9-10 years old 67-79 lbs. division.

Sophie Page, 6, walked away with gold medals in the Girls’ Gi and No-Gi 5-6 years old 56-68 lbs. division.

Seylor Giroux also picked up two golds, winning in the Men’s Gi and No-Gi Adult Under-127 lbs. divisions.

Control BJJ swept the podium in the Men’s No-Gi Adult Under-181 lbs. division with Tyler Kabanuk winning gold, Daniel Bjorge finishing second, and Joseph Emmauele Canlas and John Precepa collected bronze.

Tyler Enns won gold in the Men’s Gi Adult +222 lbs. division. 

Shane Kivol won gold in the Men’s Gi Adult Under-195 division.

Melanie Pasolli came away with gold in the Women’s No-Gi Master 1 Under-141 lbs. division.

This was the first tournament that the local club has hosted and Church said while a lot of work went into hosting, the end result was well worth it.

"It’s been so much planning and today just feels good that it’s working," said Church, who added that he hopes this is the first of many competitions hosted by Control BJJ.

Click here for the full results from the 2018 Saskatchewan BJJ Provincial Championship.