The Cowichan Valley Wrestling Club’s youngest athletes continued to set an example for the rest of Vancouver Island to follow at the club’s own Cougar Invitational meet earlier this month.
“The elementary division of the Cougar tournament continues to grow, as other Island teams are following the CVWC’s lead in promoting wrestling among elementary-aged youngsters,” elementary coach Rick Bryan said.
The elementary divisions attracted 54 wrestlers from 17 schools, an increase of nine athletes over last year’s numbers.
Cowichan Valley wrestlers collected 17 gold medals at the event. In the girls’ classes, the club saw first-place finishes from Danielle Doherty (Duncan Christian School) in the 1B division and Chloe Foster (Drinkwater) in 3B.
In the boys’ classes, gold medals went to Carter Zuback (Queen of Angels) in 1B, Hayden Quast (Drinkwater) in 1C, Dylan Stalzer (Palsson) in 2A, Zach Simon (Q of A) in 2B, Darren Doherty (DCS) in 3A, Levi Peters (Drinkwater) in 3B, Chaas Mearns (Lake Cowichan) in 4, Jacob Fraser (Cobble Hill) in 6A, Dylan Battye (Tansor) in 6B, Aidan Mischook (George Bonner) in 7A, Caleb Fraser (Cobble Hill) in 7B, Brady Gregson (Tansor) in 9, Kai Poole (Q of A) in 10, Bennett Telfer (Q of A) in 11A, and Kalon D’Fantis (Q of A) in 11B.
Loryn Roberts (Q of A) in 1A and Laura Nguyen (Drinkwater) in 2B won silver medals in the girls’ classes, as did Connor Gregson (Tansor) in 2B, Owen Weld (Q of A) in 3B, Dylan Weaselhead (Q of A) in 5, Aidan Charlie (Bonner) in 7B, Ben DiLalla (homeschooled) in 9, and Ethan Maxwell (Q of A) in 10.
Bronze medals in the girls’ classes went to Olivia Shafer (Drinkwater) in 1A and Alexis Joe (Q of A) in 3A, and in the boys classes to Nick Rota (Bench) in 2B, Nathaniel Worral (DCS) in 3B, Lyle Sampson (Q of A) in 4, Judah DiLalla (homeschooled) in 5, Derek Seward (Q of A) in 6B, Max Wolf (Q of A) in 7B, Charlie Vincent (homeschooled), in 8, Josh Joe-Campbell (Q of A) in 9, and Aidan Dyer-Price (Drinkwater) in 10.
Three more wrestlers finished fourth in their respective boys’ classes: Tyrone Chadwick-Murphy (Q of A) in 5, Max Jimmy (Q of A) in 8, and Connor Hengstler (Q of A) in 10.