A St. Albert wrestler turned the tables on his opponent to claim gold at the Western Canada Summer Games.
Jack McDougall defeated Dilpreet Randhawa in the 63-kilogram final the day after losing to the British Columbia grappler in his last match in the team event during the recent multi-sport competition at the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
"It was actually really good for me to win the medal," said McDougall, who was awarded silver after Alberta finished second in the team rankings. "For teams, we beat every other team except B.C. so it meant quite a bit to a lot of people who did actually better in individuals and beat their B.C. counterparts."
McDougall, 15, held the upper hand with a switch in strategy after the first encounter.
"That first time I was a lot more aggressive than I usually am. I attacked a lot more and since that's not usually how I wrestle I got tired pretty quick. I got into the second round, I was up eight to four, and since I was tired he managed to get out and pinned me," said McDougall of the match that consisted of two two-minute rounds. "Usually I wrestle a lot more defensively. I will wait for opportunities and I take my time and so by doing that instead of being offensive I surprised him the next day. I caught him on a few things and in the end I won by points."
An intense training regime for the Alberta wrestlers transformed McDougall into a threat to medal.
"We did lots of training leading up to it. We did four camps this summer before the games and a couple camps during the wrestling season," said McDougall, who soaked up advice from Sammie (The Bull) Henson, a two-time NCAA champion, world gold medallist and Olympic silver medallist, during a session in San Quentin, Calif. "He's big stuff."
McDougall's medal-winning performance at the Games bodes well for the Canadian Cadet/Juvenile Championships in April at Calgary.
"I want to see if I can get better and place higher than this year," said the seventh-place finisher with a 3-2 record in a strong 24-man bracket in the cadet 63-kg division in Fredericton, New Brunswick. "Right off the bat I wrestled the (Ontario champion), who got silver in the end. I lost that one and I wrestled on the B side to go for bronze."
The Edmonton Wrestling Club athlete rattled off a 10-0 decision, won by a pin and came from behind to score three points in the last 10 seconds to beat a Quebec foe 7-6 before an 8-2 loss knocked him out of bronze contention.
Last year McDougall placed eighth in his national debut.
"I've got to keep training to stay well rounded. I can't really focus on one thing specifically," said the five-foot-11, 140-pound grappler. "I have really long arms, which makes it easier for me to get the legs and hands, like grab the wrists, and set up my moves."
The Team Alberta candidate for the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg is pouring his heart and soul into the combat sport.
"It's a great sport. You have to rely on yourself. You have people supporting you but it's all up to you, which I kind of like because when I do team sports sometimes it doesn't work out too well because some of the guys on the team don't really do too well," said the Grade 11 St. Albert Catholic High School student, the 2015 62-kg metro Edmonton champion and provincial high school silver medallist. "Wrestling also keeps you really fit. I have to have great cardio for wrestling because to wrestle hard for six minutes usually you've got to be really strong to be able to work the guys over and get through some difficult positions."
Summer Games
The following Team Alberta contingent of athletes from St. Albert and area joined McDougall on the medal podium at the Games.
Georgia Kidd (swimming, female): gold – 100-metre freestyle, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x50m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay; silver – 50m freestyle, 4x50m freestyle relay, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay; bronze – 100m backstroke.
Mack Flowers (swimming, male): gold – 4x50m freestyle relay, 4x50 medley relay, 4x100m medley relay; silver – 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay; bronze – 50m freestyle male, 100m freestyle male.
Amy Lynn Nelson (swimming, para sport female): gold – 100m breaststroke; bronze – 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly.
Jenaya Fabrizi (canoe/kayak, female): gold – K-2 500m; silver – K-2 200m, K-2 1,000m, K-4 200m, K-4 500m, K-4 1,000m.
Dan Gerlach (swimming, male): gold – 4x50 medley relay, 4x100m medley relay; bronze – 100m backstroke.
Alexandra Gagnon (judo): silver – team competition female; bronze – 52 to 57 kg female.
Nicholas Gagnon (judo): silver – U50 kg male; bronze – team competition male.
Hailey Cornelis (indoor volleyball): silver.
Natalie Bender (softball): silver.
Ty Lindeman (badminton): silver – team competition mix.
Hayley Basterash (triathlon): bronze – relay team female.
Brooke Lang (soccer): bronze.
Cara Lang (soccer): bronze.
Celine Schmidt (swimming, para sport female): bronze – 100m breaststroke, 200m Individual medley.
Spencer Unrau (athletics): bronze – hammer throw.
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