The Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club sent its biggest contingent yet to the national championships last weekend, and came home with its most impressive medal haul to date.
CVWC athletes collected three gold medals and three bronze medals at the massive meet in Edmonton, eclipsing anything the team has done in the past.
“We’ve had a gold before,” head coach Nick Zuback said. “But we’ve never had multiple golds.”
Talon Hird and Hayley Bye-Pace claimed gold medals in the Greco-Roman competition, in the U17 men’s 51kg and U17 women’s 57kg divisions, and Luther Tidder won the U17 men’s 125kg division.
The Greco-Roman competition takes place the day after the freestyle meet, and although the Cowichan wrestlers don’t train in the Greco-Roman discipline, which eliminates leg work, they have often done well in those events.
“On the first day, Talon had a tough tournament in freestyle, but he was excellent in Greco,” Zuback said. “It’s tough because we don’t train Greco, but he pinned the guy who beat him in his second match in freestyle.”
Bye-Pace lost both of her freestyle matches, but won all three in Greco, which her style of wrestling is better suited to.
“Throwing is her strength, and her weakness is her legs,” Zuback noted. “So take that off the table and she was on fire.”
Tidder was the lone competitor in his weight class, so he didn’t have to wrestle for his gold medal, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable.
“It’s unfortunate, but it was still a great experience,” Zuback said. “For him, it was a great eye-opener. I think he still got a lot out of it.
“I’ve never seen this before in the 12 or 13 years I’ve been going to this, that they didn’t have a bunch of heavyweights.”
All the bronze medals came in freestyle, as Hannah Tuplin took bronze in the U19 women’s 53kg class, Stephanie Mould finished third in the U17 women’s 61kg division, and Steven Guo placed third in the U18 men’s 48kg division.
Tuplin wrestled well in her final appearance at nationals, but didn’t get a shot at gold in large part because of the tournament format.
“Her semifinal [against fellow B.C. wrestler Victoria Seal] should have been the final, but they don’t seed wrestlers at nationals,” Zuback said. “It was probably one of the best matches at the meet.”
Mould lost her semifinal to an athlete from Thunder Bay, then won her final. Mould was also the only Cowichan wrestler to qualify for the national team trials on Sunday, where she faced the same wrestler who beat her in the semis and won 7-0.
“It was great to see that from her,” Zuback said. “That was a nice way to finish the tournament off.”
Guo, who graduates from Grade 12 this year and is unlikely to continue wrestling as he moves on to university, ended his impressive career on a high note.
“It was probably his final wrestling match, period,” Zuback said. “He went out winning, getting bronze. Winning bronze at nationals is a pretty good feeling.”
As a result of their performances at nationals, Tuplin, Mould and Hird were invited by Olympic coach David McKay to travel to Las Vegas next week for the Western Regionals, one of the biggest tournaments in the U.S. Tuplin opted out to rest an injured ankle, but Mould and Talon will make the trip.
“It will be a great experience,” Zuback said. “They see some really tough wrestlers and see what the next level is in wrestling.”