Moose Jaw high school wrestlers had an outstanding showing at the 2019 Wolverine Scratch and Claw tournament earlier this month.
The local wrestlers brought home a haul of 25 total medals from the tournament in Warman. (Click here for the full list of medal winners)
Peacock senior Ethan La Rose found his way to the top of the podium for the first time in his wrestling career, capturing gold in the elite male 69-70 division.
"It was really good, I've been working at this for four years and to finally get that gold feels really good," said La Rose. "I only have one loss this season so far, so I'm hoping to keep that win streak going."
La Rose credits the coaching that they receive at the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Wrestling Club for helping him reach the levels that he's hitting this season.
"A lot of us are really ahead of where other programs are and that has to do a lot with our coaching, the fact that we have so many coaches and they know a lot," he said.
"My confidence has grown from working out in the offseason, getting stronger and a little bit bigger, and then just the mental game, getting a lot more confident in myself and my wrestling."
Moose Jaw wrestlers came away with five gold medals in total in the Elite Division, all coming from Peacock athletes. Liam Vargo took first place in the male 53-55 division, Kyle Yamniuk won the male 61-64 division, Darvin Miller captured the male 63-67 division and Connor Rowsell claimed the male 89-94 division.
Vanier's Ryann Handley just started wrestling this year, but she's taken very quickly to the sport as she won gold in the novice female 59-63 division.
Handley, who's in her senior year, said that she wanted to try another sport.
"I've only been training for two months now and it’s been a lot of fun and I feel like it went really well," she said. "It's my grade 12 year and I really wanted to try one more high school sport.
"The club is really good and the team atmosphere is really fun compared to the other sports, having all the schools together makes it so much better."
Handley is a provincial level figure skater and said that she's seeing the benefits from wrestling on the ice.
"It makes you leaner and adds more muscle, so that really helps," she said.
Handley is undefeated so far in her wrestling career and she's just hoping to continue progressing moving forward, "I'm feeling really confident now going to the meets," she said. "I just need to start making my moves quicker and learn more moves."
Jordan Wikman and Gauge Adams from Peacock also won gold medals in the Novice Male division.
Next up for the high school wrestlers will be the South Saskatchewan Wrestling Tournament at Peacock Collegiate next weekend.
The Moose Jaw Kinsmen Wrestling Club also sent 34 wrestlers to the Swift Current Titans Classic this past Saturday and they were able to collect 21 medals — nine gold, 10 silver, and three bronze.
Click here for full results from that meet.
The youth wrestlers will also be hitting the mat next weekend at Peacock, they compete on Sunday.
Fri, Apr 19, 8:00 AM
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