The Olds Spartans wrestling team performed well in its first tournament of the season on the weekend in Wetaskiwin, with several wrestlers taking home medals from the event.
Amber Maschke, the defending provincial champion in the 57-kilogram weight class, claimed a gold in the elite event, while Maeghan Wild captured bronze in 65-kg novice tournament and silver in the elite tournament. Lauren Robblee captured silver in the novice 53-kg class and a bronze in the elite tournament. Jeremy Zawalykut, who hadn't wrestled since breaking his leg in February, captured a bronze in the 90-kilogram elite tournament.
Other members of the team included Kevin Waldron, who wrestled in the 69-kg weight class, Chantelle Steer, who competed in the 61-kg division, Mitchell Ormann, who competed in the 65-kg class, Josh Reischenbacher who competed in the 68 kg class and Alex Rommele, who competed in the 62-kg division.
“For only having six practices prior to going into this tournament I thought that the athletes did a phenomenal job. My veteran wrestlers, I kind of expected them to do quite well, but I was really pleased and proud of how my newbies did. They did a great job of sticking to a game plan and executing what they knew,” said George Grant, the wrestling coach at OHS.
As the season progresses and the team gets more practice time in, Grant said some of the wrestlers will be working on adding a few more moves to their attack to ensure they keep progressing, while the seasoned wrestlers will be polishing up their skills.
The next event for the wrestlers is on Friday and Saturday when the team will travel to the University of Calgary for a high school tournament.
While Grant said the team is one of the largest ones OHS has had in many years, he is always looking for new people to join the team and come out to practices.
