After failing to land on the podium as last year’s provincial championships, Trevor Weltzin was determined not to let that happen again.
Weltzin finished fourth at last year’s championships, but another year older and stronger seemed to have done the trick as the Grade 12 Brookswood Secondary student won gold in the boys’ 70-kg division over the weekend.
“I don’t like losing,” he admitted when asked how much last year’ loss in the bronze medal match motivated him.
The provincial championships were held on Feb. 27 and 28 at Abbotsford’s Ag Rec Centre.
Weltzin went 5-0 at the meet and was also named the championships’ most outstanding wrestler. He did not concede a single point over those matches and Weltzin finished the season at 25-0.
His gold was one of three first-place finishes for Langley high school wrestlers as a pair of D.W. Poppy students also won their respective classes.
Pritpaul Johal, a Grade 10 student, won gold in the boys’ 51-kg division, defeating the defending provincial champion in the final match.
And Grade 8 Poppy student Parmjot Sidhu won the boys’ 41-kg competition. He did not concede a single point en route to the gold.
The three gold medals are the first time a Langley high school wrestler has finished atop the podium at provincials.
Langley Secondary’s Kamil Golowko — who won bronze at provincials in 2015 — moved up the podium this year to silver in the boys’ heavyweight (110-kg plus) division.
Poppy’s Manraj Johal (boys 74-kg) placed fourth.
As a team, the Redhawks finished fourth in the standings with 40 points, just two back of third place and nine back of top spot.
Tyler Tsoukalas (LSS) finished provincials in the top 10 with a 4-2 record. And a trio of female wrestlers also competed at provincials. Ella Hadalin (DWP, Ella Jimenez (DWP) and Caitlin Bartakovic (LSS), and did not place but did gain valuable experience.
John Morrow Black Press
Brookswood’s Trevor Weltzin has his opponent tied up his opponent during his semifinal match last week at the B.C. high school wrestling championships in Abbotsford. Weltzin won gold in his weight class.
