The Sunshine Coast athletes represented their respective schools well at the BC High School Wrestling Championships. This year the event was held at the PNE Coliseum. Out of the eight wrestlers who went, five Elphinstone wrestlers reached podium. Grace Gibson and Hayden Van Der Stelt took sixth. Dylan Drope and Ethan Sullivan took fourth. Alice Clements won first in an exciting battle. No opponent was a match for Alice and she went undefeated at provincials, finishing the entire season of competition without ever getting pinned. Alice becomes only the second wrestler from the Sunshine Coast, following in the footsteps of Elphinstone’s Scout Stipec, to win gold at provincials. Lia Trent and Alana Krinapai from Elphinstone and Atticus Erlenbusch from Chatelech wrestled well and made their coaches proud. Elphinstone Girls finished sixth in the province out of the 165 high schools that competed. This has been the team’s best season on record despite all the adversity faced.
The top wrestlers from the Coast have now been invited to compete in the BC Summer Games, Canada Summer Games and nationals. They will continue to train both on Coast and with the top coaches in the province. The team has been invited by several clubs to visit and train with them throughout the Lower Mainland. Alice now looks ahead to compete in Washington State, representing Team BC, in the next few weeks.
A very special thanks to John Brisebois, Elphinstone Secondary principal, and Mark Sauer, Chatelech Secondary principal, for their incredible support of the teams this year. Athletic Directors Jamie Mani and Owen Schutz played a vital role in keeping the teams organized and registered. Superintendent Kate Kerr’s leadership and guidance through these difficult times was essential in the success of the team.
