Manor School is taking the wrestling world by surprise as its wrestling program produces some talent that is leaving the competition shaking in their boots.
The program was the initiative of teacher Monte McNaughton, whose own interest in wrestling is only a few years old.
"I fight in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts,) and I started wrestling about three years ago," McNaughton said.
"After a bit, I thought it might be a good athletics program for the school, so I spoke to Ron about it."
Ron is Ron Wardrope, the principal of Manor School.
"When Monte first brought up the idea, I thought it was great," Wardrope said. "I told him okay, see what you can get going."
By Autumn of 2011, McNaughton had started his band of wrestlers, and after some initial training, they headed out to try their hand at competition for the first time in December of 2011.
One wrestler in particular recalled the match, 14-year-old Tianna Kennett.
"The first match there was only one girl in my pool, and I lost to her," Kennett said. "But it was fun anyway."
Despite that first loss, Tianna has a record now of 19-4, and has won numerous medals, including a gold in the Novice division of the Western Canada Open in Saskatoon on Jan. 27.
Wrestling in the Elite division the next day, Kennett took home a bronze.
"I really like wrestling because height doesn't matter," the diminutive Kennett said. "I'm 5' tall on a good day."
It seems that wrestling prowess may be genetic as well, with Kennett's younger sister Trista also blowing away the competition she's faced so far.
"Trista has won three tournaments so far," McNaughton said of her. "She is undefeated, and won the provincial's in pee-wee."
McNaughton is understandably proud of his team's performance so far, and looks forward to coming seasons.
"This season will be done at the end of March," McNaughton said. "Tianna will be competing at the Regional's in Prince Albert on March 3rd."
"If she finishes in the top four for her division, she'll head onto the provincials in Regina the following weekend." McNaughton added.
As for Manor's nascent wrestling program itself, McNaughton hopes for a bright future, especially so since the school has produced such talented athletes.
"As long as we're still successful, and there is student interest, we're here to stay," McNaughton said. "It nice to see when we go to tournaments, people get nervous when they see a Manor wrestler in their pool."
At present, there are 10 students who regularly take part in the wrestling team.
McNaughton acknowledges that competing with more established sports like volleyball and hockey can be difficult, but considering the success the team has seen so far, he suspects he'll see more students coming out to try the sport.
The style of wrestling practiced by the Manor team is Freestyle Wrestling, which is different in its approaches and rules than Greco-Roman wrestling, most obviously in the use of legs, both offensively and defensively, something that is limited in the Greco-Roman style.
