Rambler wrestlers made their mark in their first-ever competitive tournament over the weekend.
The Maple Ridge secondary wrestling team had three gold medals and five silvers from grades 8 and 9 students in their first tourney in Langley over the weekend.
A trio of Grade 8s all won gold at the Langley secondary Fraser Valley Novice Tournament, aimed at wrestlers having their first competitive experiences.
Adrian Truong won the 57-kilogram weight class with what coach Bill McCrae called “physical domination.”
Ivy Threatful won the 46-kg girls’ class using a double leg blast, and Jacob McClure took the 41-kg boys’ class using his jiu jitsu groundfighting to his advantage.
The silver medallists: Grade 8 Haider Allami and Grade 9 Matthew Gordon, who both have with mixed martial arts experience; Ethan Parkinson, who lost to his teammate McClure in the final; Grade 9 Jordan Armbrust, who is a Maple Ridge Christian student who has joined the Ramblers team for the wrestling season; and Ashleigh Roy, who has been training with former Rambler and SFU college wrestling star Payten Smith.
“Payten took her under her wing, so she’s got some great mentorship,”said coach Bill McCrae.
He added that a pair of experienced club wrestlers from other schools were sandbagging in the introductory tournament, and they knocked two of his wrestlers down the podium to silver.
The Ironman of the team was Braiden Davis, who wrestled five matches in less than three hours, and managed to finish in fourth place.
McCrae said he can’t remember the last time he had such a promising young group, and noted that out of his 28 wrestlers there is just one Grade 12.
The Ramblers hosted an icebreaker tournament on Thursday, featuring teams from three Coquitlam schools and the Westview Wildcats.
The event also featured wrestling for elementary-aged students, and there were kids as young as five years old on the mat for the first time.
Next up for the Ramblers is the War on the Floor tournament, coming up Dec. 15 at Pinetree secondary in Coquitlam.
