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Winning the ‘War on the Floor’

Alberni District Secondary School Armada wrestlers performed to expectations at the annual War on the Floor Wrestling Tournament.
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Alberni Wrestling’s Aaron Badovinac

Alberni District Secondary School Armada wrestlers performed to expectations at the annual War on the Floor Wrestling Tournament at Pinetree Secondary last weekend.

The local program took a strong group over for the Grade 8-12 Novice events on Thursday and the Elite category on Friday and they didn’t disappoint.

Alberni wrestlers captured eight gold, one silver and four bronze medals and had another ten wrestlers place in the top six at this prestigious mainland event.

The War on the Floor is one of the more challenging and important tournaments of the year as it is a national qualifying tournament.

“I was particularly impressed with our junior varsity wrestlers,” Armada head coach John McDonald said.

“For most of these athletes, it was their first competition at a higher level and the experience they gained from this tournament will bode well for the rest of the season,” McDonald said.

On Thursday, Daniel Spencer (70kg), Scott Coulthart (74kg), Jayce Clayton (74kg), Trevor Barker (45kg), Kylea Anderson (90kg), Kiarra Fong (54kg) and William Merry (HWT) went undefeated to claim gold medals in their respective weight divisions.

Winning bronze medals were Circe Campbell (54kg) and Jayden Iversen (66kg). Rounding out the placings for the Novice competition were Ethan Tramer (57kg) fourth, MacKenzie Boudreau (64kg) and Trenton Vanderkooi (HWT) with fifth.

“It was nice to see some of our former middle school athletes make the adjustment to the junior varsity program and have success,” coach James Messenger said.

On Friday at the Elite tournament, Grade 10 wrestler Aaron Badovinac led the ADSS team with an outstanding performance, winning a tough 70kg weight class.

“I thought Aaron showed great poise and composure to come from behind and beat a 2014 provincial medalist to claim gold,” explained ADSS Armada coach Chris Bodnar.