École Beauséjour’s all-female wrestling team ended its year with a bronze medal at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) 2018 Provincial Wrestling Championship in Medicine Hat March 9-10.
Sierra Cloutier, Holly Dumage, Emilee Gauthier and Jenae Gauthier also earned individual silver medals in their respective weight categories at the 2018 Rural Wrestling Provincials in Sexsmith Feb. 23-24.
"That is pretty darn good,” said coach Darcy Plamondon, adding that he expects even greater things from the girls next year.
Plamondon, who is a teacher at École Beauséjour, has been developing the school’s wrestling program for about eight years now.
Although there were a few boys in the program early on, it was mainly the girls who stuck with the sport while also branching out into hockey, volleyball and dance. It’s because they’re well-rounded athletes that École Beauséjour’s wrestlers can compete with athletes from Edmonton and Calgary who are in wrestling clubs and who spend every weekend practicing or competing.
"They’re just really talented, really good athletes,” he said.
At the Rural Wrestling Provincials, the girls faced off with wrestlers from other small communities. If they placed in the Top 5, they would move on to the ASAA provincials, where they would also face wrestlers from Edmonton and Calgary.
Sierra wrestled in the 50-kilogram weight category while Holly was in the 57-kilogram category. Jenae and Emilee were entered in the 61-kilogram and 70-kilogram weight categories respectively.
All four won silver, but their cumulative team points also ended up netting them second place at the provincials overall. In fact, they were just two points away from first place, he noted.
At the ASAA provincials, Holly lost out in two matches after suffering an injury, but the other three girls battled on and faced off with wrestlers that were ranked No. 2 in Calgary and Edmonton.
In the end, Jenae and Emilee ended up finishing fifth and sixth in the province overall, only losing to wrestlers who had either provincial championships under their belts and at least one girl who had competed at the Pan American Games.
Even so, the cumulative points earned by the team were enough to net them bronze overall. Plamondon indicated he was extremely proud of how the team competed at the event.
