The Lake City Falcons wrestling team brought home loads of hardware during the weekend from the Prince George Elementary Pin To Win and High School Icebreaker Tournament.
The club claimed five gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal, plus got in a number of exhibition matches at the tournament that all went better than expected, coaches Ian Pare and Tyler Scaiano said.
“Considering we just started our wrestling season the new kids that came out all wrestled hard and all did incredibly,” Scaiano said. “They gave it their best and had a lot of fun. The tournament is a great way to get the nerves going and seeing what it’s really like to get in the middle of the mat, and also a great way to get to know your teammates.”
Adrienne Brommit, a 38.3-kilogram Grade 7 newcomer, wrestled extremely hard and walked away from her first tournament with a gold medal.
Shailynn Brommit, meanwhile, at 30.9 kilograms in Grade 7 and also a newcomer to the sport, unfortunately, had no wrestlers in her weight class and age group, however, wrestled in a pair of exhibition matches and came out on top.
Allison McKinnon (52.3kg Grade 7) also had no wrestlers in her weight division.
“She wrestled her heart out and got to experience what it really feels like to be in the middle of that mat,” Tyler said, adding she walked away with a bronze medal.
Kai Pare (31.5kg in Grade 4) — one of the team’s youngest veteran wrestlers — competed two weight classes up a division and claimed a silver medal.
Klay Pare, at 47 kilograms and one of the team’s most experienced grapplers, had an amazing tournament, coaches said, while showing great sportsmanship en route to a gold medal.
Tanner Scaiano, one of the team’s youngest wrestlers but also a veteran, wrestled to a gold, while his brother Kalub Scaiano, at 41 kilograms in Grade 8, also captured gold.
“This year will be his first year to be able to do provincials and he intends to work hard so he can achieve his goal of making it to provincials,” Tyler said.
Tyleen Scaiano, at 51 kilograms and in Grade 11, also added she’s looking forward to provincials this season and has her sights set on her third national gold medal.
“She had a couple newcomers she was matched up with and she showed good sportsmanship and one tough match, which she had to use some muscle, but ended up with the gold,” Tyler said.
Coaches added that congratulations are in order to all the wrestlers that came out to compete at the Prince George tournament.
“They all did amazing and we hope they had fun,” Tyler said.
The Lake City Falcons wrestling team’s next tournament is at Nechako Valley in Vanderhoof this coming weekend on Saturday, Dec. 8.
Any elementary and high school students looking to join the team can also call Columneetza Secondary School for more information at 250-392-4158.