Hannah Tuplin admitted to playing some cat-and-mouse with her opponent in the 54kg girls final at the Island zone wrestling championships on Saltspring Island last Saturday.
“It was a fun match,” said Tuplin, who was one of three gold-medallists from the Cowichan Valley at the Island meet. “It went by so quickly. I tried to extend it, but I got in trouble and had to finish it.”
Tuplin, a Chemainus Secondary student who won the national championship in the cadet girls 49kg division last year, said she still had to be cautious with her opponent at Islands.
“Going in, I was nervous,” she said. “I didn’t want to get overconfident because I might do something stupid.”
Tuplin was joined atop the podium by Andrea Morris of Cowichan Secondary in the 51kg girls class and Talon Hird of Queen of Angels in the 45kg boys division. Of 14 wrestlers the Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club sent to the Island meet, 11 qualified for the provincial championships later this month by placing among the top five in the male divisions or the top six in the female divisions.
A 12th wrestler, Frances Kelsey’s Kayden Dorma, didn’t wrestle because he was ill with pneumonia, but was successfully petitioned into provincials.
Morris led the way as Cowichan Valley athletes took the top three positions in the 51kg girls class. Stephanie Mould of Q of A placed second, and Miaya Brownbridge of Cowichan Secondary finished third. Morris wasn’t sure what to say about her final match at Islands — which she won 12-0 — but Tuplin had a description.
“She savaged [her opponent],” Tuplin laughed.
Morris had wrestled the same opponent earlier in the season and won, but said she was still “a little bit” nervous.”
“I always go into a match not knowing what to expect,” Morris said.
Hird built on his first-place finish in Port Alberni a week earlier, and ran up against the same wrestler from that meet in the final at Islands.
“I felt pretty nervous; I knew he was going to be tough,” said Hird, who ended up pinning his opponent in 43 seconds.
This will be Hird’s first provincial meet — as a Grade 8 student, this is his first year of eligibility — but he’s taking aim at a gold medal. He’s hoping to get one back against the wrestler who handed him one of only two losses this season.
“The other guy beat me 16-12 when time ran out at War on the Floor,” Hird said.
Three more CVWC wrestlers finished second in their classes at Islands. Reynolds Grade 9 student Khaya McKillop made a big breakthrough in the 64kg girls division, pinning a Grade 12 opponent who had stymied her all season.
“She had beaten her, beaten her, beaten her, all year,” CVWC head coach Nick Zuback said. “It was like a hurdle she had to overcome. It was a changing of the guard, the younger wrestler beating the older wrestler.”
Duncan Christian’s Aidan Tuplin finished second in the 60kg boys class, coming back strong after a 17-16 loss in his first match. Tuplin ended up pinning his opponent in his last match, but because of the round-robin format, the wrestler he pinned ended up winning the class.
Also placing second was Rayne Hankins of CVOLC.
“We’re expecting big things from her, a Grade 12 going into her last provincials,” Zuback said.
Anthony Anderson of Wellington placed third in the 57kg boys class, and the club got fourth-place results from Hayley Bye-Pace (Q of A) in the 57kg girls and Lincoln Rae (DCS) in the 70kg boys.
Although they didn’t qualify for provincials, Grade 8 wrestlers Chris Gaw and Sukhman Sahota performed well in their first times at the Island meet.
“Things look promising for next year,” Zuback said.
