Queen of Angels School finished atop the standings in the school-age overall standings at the Western Canada Age Group Wrestling Championships in Abbotsford last weekend.
Q of A fielded the top girls team and sixth-best boys team in the meet to finish first overall out of more than 50 schools at the competition.
“It’s a real good up-and-coming group of kids,” Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club head coach Nick Zuback said. “Their hard work is paying off for sure.”
Q of A wrestlers Carter Zuback, Loryn Roberts and Georgia Bond all won their weight classes in the school-age division.
“Loryn and Georgia had phenomenal matches,” Zuback said. “Georgia lost one match by one point, and won all the others by pin. She ended up pulling it off and that was great for her. Carter was down by one point in the last few seconds of his match for first place and he was able to come back. It was a good little battle. Loryn came second last week and bounced back to come first this week. She looked very good in her movements.”
Also in the school-age division, Q of A wrestlers Joaquim Dalton-Pereira, Cassidy Pace and Sophie Rose and Bench Elementary’s Travis Cowan earned second-place finishes, Sedona Bond (Q of A) placed third, and Grady Berg (Discovery) finished fifth.
Charlie Roberts and Chloe Foster of Cowichan Secondary finished atop their respective weight classes in the cadet division.
“Charlie had some very good battles and some come-from-behind wins,” Zuback reported. “Chloe executed some great throws and had some very nice pins.”
Also in the cadet division, Luther Tidder (Chemainus) placed third in his weight class, Mattias Zachary and Nadja Schwarz (both Cowichan Secondary) placed fourth, and Dylan Battye (Queen Margaret’s School) and Ashton Combdon (Cowichan Secondary) placed sixth.
The juvenile age group saw Cowichan Secondary wrestlers Miaya Brownbridge and Stephanie Mould place second, while teammate Hayley Bye-Pace suffered an injury and finished third in her weight class.
Mould lost the final against her arch-nemesis, Zuback said, but still has a provincial title in her sights in her Grade 12 year.
“She’s got some things to work on,” the coach stated. “Hopefully we can do that by provincials.”
Three-time defending provincial champion Talon Hird wrestled up in the university bracket, where he went 1-3.
“It was a good learning experience,” Zuback said. “We all have a bad match or a bad tournament, and that was his. If he wants to repeat, he’s going to have to beat at least one of the high school kids that beat him.”
The CVWC will take a contingent of athletes to the Port Alberni Invitational this coming weekend for the last meet before the club hosts the Island championship meet.
