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Cowichan Valley schools dominate QMS Christmas Classic

Inaugural wrestling tournament welcomed athletes from 36 schools

The inaugural QMS Christmas Classic Wrestling Tournament took place last Saturday, Dec. 10, with wrestlers from grades 5-12 from schools and clubs throughout Vancouver Island hitting the mats inside the school’s new sports building.

The host team was the only school to rank in the Top 3 of each of the senior, junior and elementary team competitions, coming in first, second, and third, respectively.

QMS head coach and tournament director Nick Zuback, who also heads the Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club, said the competition was fierce at the event.

“I was really happy,” he said. “There were 36 schools participating and I’m super proud of QMS.”

QMS dominated the senior team competition while Alberni and Ucluelet came second and third.

“Rose Wu wrestled really well in what I think was one of the toughest weight classes,” Zuback said. It was an all-QMS final as Wu battled hard against schoolmate Savanna Screaton, edging Screaton out to earn the gold.

On the senior boy’s side, Carter Zuback also led his school on and off the mats.

“He wrestled really well and represented QMS well,” said the head coach. “He’s one of our captains and puts in the work and he gets the results.”

Wrestling for Frances Kelsey, Japanese international student Rei Nagatomi earned both gold and the accolades of coach Zuback.

“She’s brought a little bit of wrestling pedigree from Japan,” he explained. “Japan is probably the top country for female wrestling, they seem to do very well on the international scale.”

Alberni District Secondary School took the junior team competition but QMS and Frances Kelsey were next in line.

Zuback said Jordanna Crawford (Kelsey) wrestled very well to earn first place in her weight class while Antonio Iannidinardo, also captured gold fairly easily.

“He’s one that puts in the work and the results follow,” Zuback noted.

Queen of Angels won the elementary team competition, with École Cobble Hill just behind in second, followed by QMS.

In the elementary grouping, QMS’s Braden Zuback won all his matches in his weight class without giving up a point and Lucy Healy also won convincingly.

Queen of Angels wrestler Gilles Dalton-Pereira will “definitely be one to watch over the next couple of years,” having won his weight class as well, Zuback said.

All told, more than 50 members of the Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club entered the tournament representing their schools.

That speaks to the growth of wrestling in the Cowichan Valley, Zuback said.

“It’s definitely been growing over the years and the kids are finding it a sport that’s another option as opposed to mainstream sports that they can find success in,” he said.

Results for Cowichan Valley wrestlers included:

Senior Girls

68-72kg: 1. Rei Nagatomi (Kelsey)

60-61kg: 1. Loryn Roberts (QMS), 2. Georgia Bond (QMS)

56-60kg: 2. Rui Wang (QMS), 4. Jordan He (QMS)

51-54kg: 1. Rose Wu (QMS), 2. Savanna Screaton (QMS)

Senior Boys

105-115kg: 2 Gabrial Carreiro (Kelsey)

75-80kg: 3. Jajek Armstrong (QMS)

57-59kg: 3 Cameron Healy (Cowichan Secondary)

53-56kg: 1. Carter Zuback (QMS), 2. Matin Taghi (QMS)

Junior Girls

67-68kg: 1. Emma Greenwood (QMS)

59-63kg: 2. Beatrix Klatt (Kelsey), 3. Georgia Armstrong (QMS)

55-58kg: 1. Eli Jimenez (QMS), 3. Ella Armstrong (QMS)

52-53kg: 4. Sadie Armstrong (QMS)

41-45kg: 1. Jordanna Crawford (Kelsey)

Junior Boys

66-71kg: Antonio Iannidinardo (Kelsey)

60-65kg: 2. Jacob Miller (QMS)

53-58kg: 4. James Corley (Quamichan)

49-51kg: 1. Ronaldo Carreiro (Kelsey), 3. Ridge Tomb (QMS), 5. Graham Corsan (QMS)

45-45kg: 4. Cameron Caswell (Queen of Angels), 5. Leon Tsuboi (QMS)

Elementary Girls

52-59kg: 1. Noelle Klatt (Bonner), 2. Tenley Blackler (QMS)

45-47kg: 1. Lucy Healy (QMS), 3. Vienna Robertson (Queen of Angels)

37-40kg: 1 . Finn McMillan (École Cobble Hill), 2. Lucy Morrison (Queen of Angels), 3. Robin Parker (École Cobble Hill)

34-35kg: 1. Reva Miller (École Cobble Hill), 2. Grace Atkinson (Queen of Angels), 3. Hazel McMillan (École Cobble Hill), 4. Emily Archer (École Cobble Hill)

30-31kg: 2. Emma Dryer-Price (Queen of Angels), 3. Milla George (Queen of Angels), 4. Ada Garstang (École Cobble Hill)

26-28kg: 1. Eloise Patsch (Queen of Angels), 3. Finnton Fox-Povey (Drinkwater), 3. Abi Garstang (École Cobble Hill)

Elementary Boys

75kg: 1. Manny Iannidinardo (École Cobble Hill)

55-58kg: 1. Joah Green (École Cobble Hill), 2. Nicolas Wang (QMS), 3. Ryder Corby (QMS)

49-53kg: 3. Mathew Tomlinson (Lake Cowichan)

38-42kg: 1. Brayden Zuback (QMS), 3. Cole Morrison (QMS), 4. Desmon Boyd (Queen of Angels)

34-35kg: 1. Gilles Dalton-Pereira (Queen of Angels), 3. Bryce Louie (Queen of Angels)

30-32kg: 1. Oliver Wauthy (Queen of Angels), 2. Miguel Dalton-Pereira (Queen of Angels), 3. William Page (Queen of Angels)

25-26kg: 1. Evan Blumberg (Mill Bay Nature), 2. Matthew Caswell (Queen of Angels)



Sarah Simpson

About the Author: Sarah Simpson

I started my time with Black Press Media as an intern, before joining the Citizen in the summer of 2004.
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