Alberni District Secondary School’s wrestling team travelled to Cowichan on Saturday, Dec. 11 to wrestle in their first tournament in almost two years.
“It’s great to be back on the mats and at tournaments again,” said ADSS coach Richelle McKenzie. “We always talk about our wrestling team being a family and one of our goals is to develop character and people through sport. It has been really tough not having that for the last 20 months. It feels good to be doing this again.”
The Armada finished second in the Senior Division and fourth in the Junior Division.
Leading the way for the Armada with gold medals were Evan McLeod (59 kg Sr. Boys), Cole Petrie-Darby (63 kg Sr. Boys), and Grant Coulthart (125 kg Sr. Boys). Silver medals went to Janna Hiltz (53 kg Jr. Girls), Nathan Zvonar (76 kg Jr. Boys), Kelcie Sam (47 kg Sr. Girls) and Alex McKenzie (59 kg Sr. Boys). Rounding out the placings with third place finishes were Danica Currie (53 kg Jr. Girls), Sage Dziekan-Gwilt (71kg Sr. Girls), Carter Duperron (80 kg Sr. Boys) and Duncan Richardson (84 kg Sr. Boys).
Local wrestler Grady Miller competed in the elementary boys division and went undefeated to finish first.
“It was great to see the kids put together some of the things we have been working on,” said ADSS coach Maureen Miller. “Evan McLeod looked strong winning probably the toughest weight of the tournament. Pretty impressive that Grade 12 rookie Cole (Petrie-Darby) won his first tournament. He is strong and has a great natural feel. Our whole team looked tough and not one of them gave up any easy points. We want our team to be gritty and resilient and they showed they can live up to that expectation.”
