Jayden Manson’s national debut exceeded expectations for the St. Albert wrestler.
Manson, 16, was the bronze medallist in the 54-kilogram cadet division before finishing the tournament as the alternate for the U18 national team.
“I’m really proud of myself. This was my first year at nationals so coming in I didn’t expect this much because wrestling is a challenging sport,” said the Edmonton Wrestling Club athlete.
The fifth win in six matches at the recent nationals in Fredericton, N.B., and the fourth in a row in the B-side bracket in the 14-man category, was against Earl Lagos of John Oliver SS for bronze.
“I was the underdog. He was smaller than me (and older) but he was pretty strong so myself as a long, tall person I had to wait to shoot for the legs,” said the five-foot-10 Manson. “I was a little slow at the start and then I finally picked it up. He was winning and then I came back and I beat him.”
The tide turned in the last round.
“He hurt his ankle a little bit so he was a little off and so then of course I used that to my advantage and I scored off of him and I won at the end,” said Manson, whose previous highest tournament finish was silver as a 14-year-old at the Alberta Winter Games.
The majority of Manson’s wins at nationals were by points and his only loss was the second match of the tournament against Jaskaran Gakhal of Guru Gobind Singh WC, the eventual 54-km champion.
“My offence is really good, my defence is not,” said Manson, who relies on his upper body strength to dictate the outcome in a match. “When I’m on the ground my defence needs to get a lot better.”
The national team tryout consisted of one match and Manson lost to Navdeep Toor of Miri Piri WC, the juvenile 54-kg silver medallist.
“He was older and stronger,” Manson said. “I was really sore (from the day before) so I wasn’t like 110 per cent fresh but I still wrestled and lost by points. I wrestled good and I had him in a couple of positions where I could’ve won but he turned them around because he’s got more experience than me.”
Manson is now eligible attend a variety of training camps and international tournaments as the alternate for Toor.
“I’m like a secondary guy so it’s still good.”
Manson's last tournament before nationals was the high school provincials in High River and the Grade 10 St. Albert Skyhawk finished fourth in the 59-kg division after placing fifth at the metro Edmonton championships.
“I hurt my (right) arm in my last match so I had to go to physio to help it out because I had nationals coming up and I’m lucky I did nationals. My arm felt really strong.”
Manson averages four training sessions per week and eight hours overall with the Edmonton Wrestling Club, where he has pounded the mats for six years, in addition to extra wrestling workouts at home and strength and cardio sessions.
“Wrestling develops mental toughness. It’s very intense to say the least. In the heat of a tough match your lungs can burn and your legs and back can feel worn out and it just takes all that power to say, ‘I’m fine, I’m good. I can keep wrestling, I can keep going even if my legs are on fire and my arm hurts,” said Manson, who credits the tutelage of Scott Johnston of the Bertha Kennedy BobKats and Curt McDougall of the J.J. Nearing Dolphins for showing him how to succeed in the sport.
This weekend Manson and his buddy, Jack McDougall, another accomplished Edmonton Wrestling Club grappler and Grade 10 Skyhawk, are competing for spots on Team Alberta at the Western Canada Summer Games in Fort McMurray. Only wrestlers that placed in select tournaments were invited. One wrestler in each class makes the team and the runner-up is the alternate.
McDougall also attended nationals and in a strong 24-man bracket in the cadet 63-kg division he finished seventh at 3-2.
McDougall is also the 62-kg metro Edmonton champion and provincial high school silver medallist during a season of several podium finishes at a variety of tournaments.
