Williams Lake and Lake City Falcons grappler Tyleen Scaiano became a multi-time national wrestling champion this past week at the 2019 Canada Lutte Wrestling Nationals in Fredericton, NB.
After coming just short of reaching the finals in the freestyle division on April 6 after one win and two losses, Scaiano was asked to compete in the Greco-Roman Wrestling division the following day, April 7 — a discipline she had never competed in before. And it was there Scaiano struck gold in her respective 49-kilogram division.
“I was hesitant but my coaches and my mom believed I could do it, so I decided I would try it and go do what I love and have fun doing it,” she said. “No expectations, just [building up] the courage to try something new.”
Scaiano said she was determined to give it her best, however, had no thoughts of actually winning.
Greco-Roman wrestling is considered a fairly uncomming discipline in Canada, however, is extremely popular in the U.S.
In Greco-Roman wrestling upper body strength is key, with no leg touching allowed, where the winner is declared after an eight-point lead.
READ MORE: Scaiano golden at Canada wrestling nationals
In her first match, Scaiano won by a scored of 10-2, followed bya another 8-0 win. In her third and final match, Scaiano won by pinfall to win the gold medal.
Scaiano said it was an amazing feeling to win, and said she’s glad she had the opportunity to try something new.
“You never know the outcome,” she said. “You’re going to win some and lose some and it’s all a learning experience. Bad day, good day, it doesn’t matter. Anything can happen.”
She noted she was proud of herself for having the chance to wrestle the best in Canada and, despite not reaching the podium in her freestyle division, said she had an amazing trip with her family to nationals.
“Thank you to all my amazing coaches at Coast Wrestling Academy [for the help],” she said, pointing to Frank Mensah, Omid Farahani, Jason Jahani and her high school coaches from the Falcons wrestling team, her dad, Tyler Scaino and Ian Pare.
READ MORE: Scaiano brings home gold from BC Games
She also thanked the communities of Williams Lake and 150 Mile for all the support helping her fundraise to attend the event including the Lions Club and Gibraltar Mine.
“Without all of you this would not have been possible,” she said.
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