In his first trip to the provincial wrestling championships, Talon Hird proved he was ready to compete at the top level of the sport.
Despite being in Grade 8, in his first year of eligibility for the provincial meet, the Queen of Angels School and Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club athlete beat out competitors with much more experience to reach the top of the podium in the boys 45-kilogram division in Abbotsford last weekend.
“Only a few Grade 8s are able to pull it off,” astonished CVWC head coach Nick Zuback said.
Hird beat the defending provincial champion 22-20 in the semifinal, then met a Grade 12 wrestler, who had gone undefeated all year, in the final, and pinned him in the final seconds of their match. With the win, Hird became the first provincial wrestling champ from Q of A and the first from the Cowichan Valley on the boys side. Maegan Kuruvita of Cowichan Secondary won provincial gold in the girls 64 kg division in 2013, and Nolan Mitchell, a Claremont Secondary student who trained with the CVWC won multiple titles, but Hird made history with the first boys title by a homegrown grappler.
Hird admitted he wasn’t expecting to take gold in his first year of provincial competition.
“It feels good,” he said. “It feels like I’ve accomplished something. I don’t think I expected to get it. I expected maybe second or third.”
The CVWC took 10 wrestlers to the provincial championships, and six of them came home with medals for top-six placings.
Finishing second in the 54 kg girls division was Hannah Tuplin of Chemainus Secondary. Tuplin, the defending national champ in the 51 kg division, squared off with the defending provincial and national champ at 54 kg, and lost a narrow 7-5 decision.
“In a couple more minutes, I think she would have done it,” Zuback said.
Tuplin’s season isn’t over yet, and she expects to have a crack at the same wrestler next month at the national championships in Calgary.
“I won’t see her the first day because she’s a juvenile [Grades 11 and 12] and I’m a cadet [Grades 9 and 10],” Tuplin said “But I’ll see her the next day for FILA [world junior championship] trials, and I’ll be prepared.”
In an all-CVWC showdown for bronze in the 51 kg girls division, Andrea Morris of Cowichan Secondary beat Stephanie Mould of Q of A.
“They battled it out. It was nice to have an all-Cowichan bronze final,” Zuback said.
Morris prevailed 6-2 in a match that went the full six minutes.
“It was tough.” Mould admitted. “It was cool having two Cowichan wrestlers in a final-ish match.”
Matching Mould’s fourth-place finish was Rayne Hankins of CVOLC in the girls 75 kg division in her final provincial meet.
“She’s in Grade 12, so that was a good finish for her,” Zuback said.
Khaya McKillop of Reynolds Secondary finished fifth in the girls 64 kg division after a narrow loss in the semifinal of the bronze-medal bracket.
The other four CVWC wrestlers to attend provincials were Aidan Tuplin (Duncan Christian), Miaya Brownbridge (Cowichan Secondary), Tony Anderson (Wellington) and Hayley Bye-Pace (Q of A), all making their first appearances at the big meet.
“It was their first provincials, so it was a good eye-opener for them,” Zuback said.
