Burnaby was arguably the top zone at the B.C. high school wrestling championships in Penticton this weekend.
Burnaby Central finished second in the aggregate boys and St. Thomas More girls placed third overall at the three-day competition.
STM also placed runner-up in the combined aggregate to Alberni District, which outscored the Burnaby independent 88-62 in total points.
Central, which has won the provincial boys' title seven times in the past 13 years, placed second overall for the third time since 2000.
Defending champion Rick Hansen won the boys' banner for a fourth time, outpointing Central 75-57. John Oliver placed third with 54 points.
Burnaby South boys finished in seventh place with 36 points and STM was ninth.
"I thought we'd have to wrestle close to our best. - But we were three or four matches short of our best," said Central head coach Gianni Buono. "We wrestled quite well, but we needed our top performances to come out on top."
The Dhesi brothers, Parm and Amar, did that, winning gold medals at 110 kilograms and 110plus, respectively.
Saekwon Brown went to the final at 45kg before coming away with a silver medal.
But others fell short of what Central needed to unseat Hansen.
Saheel Khan was leading on points in a match at 90kg but was caught on his back and failed to make the final, finishing in fourth place. Central teammate Brandon Morris placed behind Khan in fifth spot.
Daniel Ozero placed sixth at 38kg. Cedrick Bihis was also fifth in the 54kg division won by Burnaby South's Melvin Arciaga.
South also received bronzemedal efforts from Abdulah Siab at 51kg and Adib Jabber at 57kg.
Safi Sharar and Akou SharifPour both got on the podium in sixth spot in their respective weight classes.
STM earned a second-place medal from Darth Capellan at 57kg. Joshua Juni, Kevin Marshall and Matthew Evans were fourthplace finishers in their divisions.
On the girls' side of the mat, Clarisse Dos Santos capped a perfect season of wrestling for STM, winning gold at 47kg.
Earlier this season, Dos Santos won every major meet she entered, including the Lower Fraser Valley zone and Western Canada age class tournaments.
Maegan Chow at 40kg and Tessa Patterson at 43kg both placed fourth, while Nicole Depa was fifth and Anna Benevoli was sixth in their respective weight classes.
"We are very happy with our results. Our goal this year was to place top 10 for the boys and top three for the girls. We accomplished both. This was one of the best finishes our school has ever accomplished," said STM coach Doug Corbett. "To come second in the overall was outstanding. - I could not have been more proud of our wrestlers. They have come together as a close team, and we are looking for bigger finishes next year."
A notable accomplishment in the girls' 54kg division was a runner-up placing by Grade 9 Burnaby North student Chelsea Coombes, who trained at Central.
"(Coombes) is from a different school but she was a highlight. She beat a lot of Grade 11 and 12s," said Buono.
