A group of high school-level wrestlers brought a solid season to a close with a strong showing at a recent tournament.
Riley Richards, Kurt Hoffman, and Jordan Stewart competed in Wrestling Canada Lutte’s Under-16/Under-17 Canadian Wrestling Championships (UCWC) in Edmonton on Apr. 13-15. While they didn’t bring home any medals, they performed well and established themselves as big threats for the next wrestling season.
“[I’m] really impressed with the guys,” said team coach Austin Hovrisko. “This was the first time they were experiencing that high-calibre of wrestling.
“Next year it’s looking to be a lot better.”
The team has evolved and enhanced their wrestling styles during this season. Hovrisko introduced them to weightlifting to give them an advantage in speed and power flexibility. They translated that newfound skill into medal victories in weightlifting at the Saskatchewan Winter games. They also scored medals at the 2018 Provincial Wrestling Championships in March.
“They are showing marked improvement,” Hovrisko said.
They brought their hard-earned skills to the UCWC earlier this month. Richards, Hoffman, and Stewart all competed in the Under-19 Freestyle event. Richards snagged the fourth place position, Richards achieved the sixth place spot, and Stewart secured the seventh place ranking.
“Honestly, it was a really good tournament,” Stewart said. “To test my mettle against the best in the nation is not too bad.
“In a lot of areas, I could have improved, but that will come with time and patience and hard work. That’s what the sport is all about.”
Stewart and Richards also competed in the Under-19 Greco Roman event, coming in sixth and fifth place, respectively. Richards felt the tournament was a stranger beast than other competitions.
“Looking at the big crowd...was kind of scary,” Richards said. “You don’t expect 300 people.
“It was a different experience.”
After Hoffman’s Under-19 Freestyle performance, he qualified for the Cadet Team trials, which determined the wrestlers for the Cadet World Championships and Cadet PanAM Championship teams. Hoffman came close to securing a spot on the group, finishing in third place.
“I felt like it was my favourite tournament,” he said. “It’s a lot more important than other tournaments.
“The opponents were way harder.”
Now the wrestling season is over, Hoffman, Richards, and Stewart plan to stay in shape with football, weightlifting, and wrestling training.
Hovrisko plans to hone the wrestlers’ specific skills next season.
“I want to condition them physically,” he said. “Get them faster, get them leaner, get them prepared.
“They’re reaching a higher plateau of wrestling.”
The new wrestling season will begin in November of this year.
