Stephanie Ingram is a proud parent after daughter Elise medalled at the BC High School Wrestling Championships
“I’m very proud of her – she got a gold medal in her weight class for provincials…,” said Stephanie. “It’s her first year of wrestling so we were just kind of blown away.”
Elise, a Grade 9 student at JL Jackson Secondary, won four matches to earn a gold medal at the Championships, held Feb. 23-24 in Vancouver. Several other wrestlers among the contingent of 14 Salmon Arm Secondary wrestlers (11 from Jackson, three from Sullivan) also secured top-10 finishes.
“There were 660 wrestlers participating at the event so that made it pretty awesome,” said coach Greg Seed in a School District 83 media release. Seed and coach Gerry Beauregard accompanied the team to the Lower Mainland event.
Seed also praised the team’s hard work and sportsmanship.
“The team worked hard to get to the Provincials and were great representatives of their schools.”
In addition to Elise’s gold, Grade 10 student Isabella Rodriguez competed well, securing a fifth place finish in her weight category. Despite a setback in her first match, Grade 12 student Emma Muddiman bounced back to win her next two matches, but lost her fourth match to finish seventh in her category, narrowly missing out on a medal.
The Salmon Arm team is comprised of Muddiman, Vanessa Bakewell and Fipher Hanson from Sullivan, and Ingram, Koda Gunn, Carter Schmidt, Landon Birkett, Daniel Laroche, Sam Muddiman, Keiton Goodman, Peytton Luque Rodriguez, Keira Jaeger, Isabella Rodriguez and Kate Beutelspacher from Jackson.
Among those cheering the team on at the championships were SAS wrestling alumni Eve Maxwell, who won a gold medal, Most Outstanding Match, and Most Outstanding Athlete at the BC High School Wrestling Championships in 2022, along with Hayden Lazar and Elijah Lazar, who won provincial gold in 2020 and parents of current and former wrestlers.
“Elijah was able to join us on the Friday at the provincials and give some insight and suggestions for improvement,” said Seed.
On Feb. 10 the local wrestlers competed in the Okanagan regionals. Results from the weight classes are as follows:
Sullivan – 1st, Emma Muddiman; 1st, Fipher Hanson; 2nd, Vanessa Bakewell. (No boys competed.)
Jackson – 1st, Isabella Rodriguez, 2nd Kate Beutelspakcer, 4th Reegan Schmidt, 2nd Keira Jaeger, 2nd Ginger Anderson, 3rd Saskia Simpson, 1st Peytton Rodriguez, 1st Elsie Ingram
Boys – 1st, Landon Birkett; 2nd, Carter Schmidt; 4th, Nic Davies; 5th, Tayden Lafortune; 3rd, Kirby Cudmore; 2nd, Koda Gunn; 1st, Lucas Anderson; 1st, Keenan Dicker; 2nd, Sam Muddiman; 3rd, Keiton Goodman; 1st, Daniel Laroche.
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