Local Wrestlers Earn 15 Medals at Home Tournament

Over 300 wrestlers from around the province descended on Peacock Collegiate on Saturday for the 2018 Moose Jaw High School Wrestling Tournament.

It was a stellar day for the local wrestlers as they collected 15 medals in total, including five gold, over the course of the day.

Peacock’s Kayde Shymko is in his first year of wrestling and he put together a dominating 5-0 record on his way to a first place finish in the novice male 71-75 kilogram class.

“It was awesome,” Shymko said after his final match. “I came out strong, set the tone and this was definitely a good way to end the day.”

After going to decision in his fourth match of the day, Shymko finished off his final opponent, Max Sim-Rowan from Nipawin, in a quick one-minute match.

Shymko said he was pretty tired heading into the final match, but knew he needed to dig down to finish off the day strong.

“I felt like I plateaued at one point, but then I kept rising and rising,” he said. “It’s a lot harder than it looks, you need to be around the right people, stay hydrated to keep your energy up.”

Myra Szabo in the novice female 72-76kg class; Justin Wiens in the novice male 54-56kg class; Davin Miller in the novice male 59-60kg class; and Logan Widenmaier in the novice male 60-62kg class, all from Peacock, were the other wrestlers to walk away with gold on the day.

Peacock’s Makayla Sloan throws her opponent Saskatoon Tommy Douglas’ Maryam Qayoom during Saturday’s Moose Jaw High School Wrestling Tournament at Peacock Collegiate. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Peacock grade 10 Makayla Sloan picked up a silver medal in her third ever wrestling tournament, posting a 4-1 record in the novice female 55-56kg class.

“It was a good challenge, there was a lot of good wrestlers here,” she said on the tournament.

This is the first year wrestling for Sloan, who said that she got into the sport because of some friends competing, but is really enjoying it.

“The coaches really help us to improve,” she said.

In the Elite division, Peacock’s Dylan Yamniuk picked up a second place finish in the male 69kg class. He lost to Prince Albert St. Mary’s Cole Sanderson in the championship match for his only loss of the day.

Yamniuk said he’s walking away happy with how the tournament went, “I felt like I did pretty good, I did good on attack and on defence,” he said. “I could have been a little more aggressive in my last match.”

After missing out on provincials last year, the grade 10 wrestler added that he’s focused on accomplishing that goal this year.

“I’ve been improving a lot since the first tournament,” he said. “I need to make sure I work on my defence a bit more, the weight class is pretty even.”