Olds High School wrestlers went up against strong competition on Feb. 1 at the University of Alberta's Butterdome, coming away with one medal.
Austin Waldron placed second in the 82-kilogram weight class at the university's high school tournament, competing among 62 other wrestlers in his weight class from around Alberta and Saskatchewan. The seven other senior wrestlers from OHS who attended the tournament competed among a similar number of participants. Approximately 650 wrestlers were at two separate tournaments.
Austin's brother Kevin, Taylor and Mitchell Ormann, Luke Daley, Jeremy Zawalykut, Meagan Wild and William Reiswig also competed at the high school tournament. George Grant, wrestling coach for OHS, said Austin wrestled six times during the day, while Wild, who finished fourth in her division, wrestled in eight matches and Kevin wrestled in at least eight matches, finishing fourth.
ìIt was the largest tournament I have seen the U of A host for high school. There was some really good wrestling to be seen on Saturday. Because of the stiff competition, I was really impressed with how far we've come this season. It was great to see the kids stepping up and using what we have practised and applying that to (match) situations,î Grant said.
Meanwhile, Anthony Focker placed seventh in the 43-kilogram division of the Paperweight tournament. Fellow OHS wrestlers Cole Urbanowski and Rachelle Fullerton-Lee placed seventh and fourth in the 59- and 60-kilogram categories respectively.
Seeing the large number of junior wrestlers at the tournament was an excellent learning experience for the Spartans, Grant said. It was a long day for the wrestlers, with the tournaments beginning at about 9:30 a.m., with the Olds contingent leaving the site at about 8:30 p.m.
ìAll the different teams that you can see and the different competitors and different styles, you learn from them and you get better. This weekend everybody really shocked me with how well they concentrated and how well focused they were,î Grant said.
Fullerton-Lee and Austin Mitchell will wrestle at the Alberta Winter Games from February 6 to 9 in Banff. Other senior Spartans will wrestle at Sir Winston Churchill High School in Calgary on February 7 and 8.
