The tradition continues for the Lorne Akins Crush wrestling team.
This year’s medal haul of three gold, four silver and five bronze by the Crushers at the Provincial Junior Olympics marked another successful showing for the 37-year-old junior high sports program in St. Albert.
“It’s a big deal to win a medal for our school,” said Kyle Lawrence, a Grade 8 gold medallist at 45 kilograms. “It’s great to be part of this tradition. It’s a great school and a great program. It makes us work hard and a lot of us do well at it.”
The Perlette sisters, Bryana and Pasha, were also golden at the provincial competition last Saturday in Calgary.
Bryana was the top Grade 9 wrestler at 65 kg and Pasha moved up a weight class to win the Grade 7 65-plus kg division.
“It’s really humbling and an honour because there are so many good wrestlers in my division,” said Bryana, 14.
“To win like Bryana did was pretty cool,” added Pasha, 12.
Bryana is Pasha’s unofficial coach on the Crushers.
“She watches my matches and tells me what I need to do better and what I did wrong and then I know not to do that when I wrestle,” said Pasha, identical in looks and in height of her older sister.
At provincials Pasha was the only grappler in the under-65 kg division but wanted to compete for a medal so she pounded the mats in a higher category.
“It’s kind of cool I won in a bigger division. They were stronger than me so it was kind of harder and tiring,” said Pasha.
She pinned down two victories and in the last match her opponent suffered an injury.
“I pushed her down to get her on the ground and then she started screaming.”
Pasha’s medal haul for the season was two gold and one silver.
“I usually just do a double leg to get them on the ground and then try and turn them however I can.”
Bryana finished her final Crush season with three golds and one silver but the provincial medal was the best of the bunch.
“To finish off the year with a gold was really sweet because it’s my last year. Hopefully I will wrestle again in high school,” said the 2013 gold medalist and last year’s bronze medallist at provincials at 60 kg.
Bryana was scheduled to wrestle four opponents at provincials but only had two matches because of injuries. She beat one foe on points and pinned the other grappler.
“Some of the other provincials took harder matches to finalize,” said Bryana, who does her best work on the ground. “I’m good at tipping people and turning people so once I get them on the ground it’s a lot easier for me and that’s how I won both of my matches.”
Bryana’s silver medal in the 65 kg division at the Paperweight Invitational at the Butterdome felt like gold because of the calibre of grapplers in the division.
“I was in a big weight bracket and to come second was a really big thing.”
Bryana enjoys the individual aspect of wrestling than team sports.
“It’s just you and one other person,” she said. “It’s all you and your decisions directly impact you and what you can do so if you screw up on something you have to really scramble to get back in it.”
Lawrence, 13, is another wrestling enthusiast who excels in the sport.
“It’s just fun in general. I enjoy it and trying out different moves,” said Lawrence, who was introduced to wrestling at J.J. Nearing Elementary School. “I’m quick so I like to get them down right away. I like to do double legs and then when they’re down get them on their back before they can really react.”
In the best-of-three provincial 45 kg final, Lawrence pinned Crush teammate Michael Nobrega twice.
“We wrestle against each other all the time in practice. He’s a really good wrestler and puts up a really good fight,” said Lawrence of the gold medallist at the St. Cecilia tournament in Edmonton.
Incentive was high for Lawrence to win gold after settling for bronze at last year’s provincials in St. Albert.
“I wanted to redeem myself and beat someone to get the gold,” said the bronze medallist at the Don Knott School tournament in Edmonton.
TAKEDOWNS: Nobrega was joined by Rylan Baerg, Hope Budskin and Jackson Moffat as the Crush silver medallists at provincials and the bronze medallists were Dylan Anderson, Alexa Bereziuk, Kyla Dorn, Parker Seymour and Anna Smith.
