Amber Maschke won her first match at the Canadian Wrestling Team Trials this past weekend but the Olds resident will ultimately be looking toward 2020 for her next chance to qualify for the Olympics.
Maschke, with the University of Alberta's Bears Wrestling Club, wrestled in the 58-kilogram weight class.
At Millennium Place in Sherwood Park on Dec. 4, she defeated her Bears teammate Krystin Paquette 4-0, by fall.
The match lasted a minute and 20 seconds. Maschke said she'd seen better from Paquette, who had to cut seven kilograms to make the weight cut.
“Oh yeah, she beat me at the Dinos tournament earlier. I definitely saw that one going longer than it did,” she said.
“You don't talk to her after matches. You need to give her 10 minutes to cool down and then it's all good because I'm pretty good friends with her.”
The 21-year-old was next matched up against Tianna Kennett from the Dinos Wrestling Club.
She did not fare as well.
Kennett took a 4-0 lead on a pair of takedowns. She defeated Maschke 6-0 by fall in just under two minutes.
Afterward, Maschke said it was a match she should have won, having more experience than the rookie Kennett.
Making the cut for Canada's national team involves two parts. Wrestlers first compete in the pool, which is like a round robin.
The pool winner then enters the ladder competition, squaring off against the third-ranked wrestler. If victorious, then the second. If victorious again, he or she wrestles the No.1-ranked competitor. At that point, it's a best two out of three matches for one roster spot in that weight class.
Her Olds High School coach, George Grant, arrived on Day 2 of competition. He didn't get to watch her wrestle but was proud to see how far the 2013 graduate has come.
“It's a very gratifying feeling that you have two athletes that have come through your program ... and worked their way up to get themselves invited to an event of this magnitude,” he said.
“She was fantastic. She was a very hard worker, easy to coach.”
In her first quest to make the Olympics, Maschke said she found the pageantry of this event nerve-racking. Wrestlers were put well on display, from the slow promenade mat-side, to climbing steps onto the stage, while an announcer calls out their names and clubs. There's even some play-by-play commentary during the match.
“I'm used to just showing up to a tournament and there being four, five mats going at once.”
Her goal was to make the ladder. But she wasn't expecting to qualify for the Rio Games. She has her eye on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo instead.
“I'm looking more to 2020. There are a bunch of girls who've announced they're retiring or aren't sure if they'll make one more run at it.”
To get there, Grant says his former student will need to compete at more national and international tournaments.
“The international game is what really helps separate the top contenders here from those that are still learning and moving up.”
That, and getting healthy. Maschke has dislocated both her shoulders in the past and said she wasn't in peak condition this weekend. After her match with Kennett, she had an ice pack stuffed beneath a T-shirt, over her left shoulder.
“I'm supposed to get surgery on both my shoulders but because you don't have any flexibility after, I've been avoiding it.”
