The boys with the New Westminster Hyacks demonstrated why they are a formidable factor on the mats.
Fresh off of winning the zone, New West’s male grapplers exited the B.C. High School Wrestling championships in Salmon
Arm as repeat provincial champions on Saturday.
Led by gold medal performances from Connor Pattison and Sammy Sidhu,
New West edged Tamanawis 56-55 in points for the boys title, with W.J. Mouat close behind at 52.
A handful of medals can do that, when supported by strong runs from nearly everyone on the team.
“It wasn’t as big a surprise as last year because
we knew we had a good team and had a good chance,” remarked New West coach Gord Sturrock.
“But because other teams knew us it was tougher, too.”
In both gold medal matches, 10th Avenue rival St. Thomas More provided the opposition. Pattison picked up the 90-kilogram title, beating STM’s Tyler Eckert 13-3.
It was Pattison’s third match of the weekend, after opening with a bye. Both of his other wins were by 10-0 decisions. A year ago, he won the title in a close battle but had a much easier time of it this go-round.
For Sidhu, his final opponent, Sam Steele, was also an STM grappler and football player. By a 11-0 score, the Hyack picked up the gold, to go with last year’s silver in the 74kg division.
En route to the final, the Grade 11 athlete recorded a pair of falls, in 20 and 33 seconds, respectively, before picking up a pair of 10-0 point wins.
“(Pattison and Sidhu) were really unchallenged in their finals, they were technically superior in both matches,” said Sturrock.
Collecting silver in the 110kg division was Yanni Angelopoulos, who like Pattison and Sidhu, is a starter with the Hyack football team. Angelopoulos began
the tourney with a pair of win-by-falls, then a 10-0 decision before edging Arjot Gill of Lord Tweedsmuir 3-1 to advance to the final.
There he met last year’s 90kg silver medalist, Tanjot Khalon of Abbotsford Traditional, who took the title by a 16-5 decision. Considering how Pattison rallied to beat Khalon in last year’s
final, there was a bit of drama on display with the medal on the line.
“(Angelopoulos) had a real tough semifinal to get to the final, and that was a big win for him,” said Sturrock. “In the final he was down 8-0 (and) quickly scored five points… I think (Khalon) must have been thinking not again.”
Also securing a bronze medal was Isaiah James in the heavyweight class. The Grade 11’s only setback came in the semifinal when the No. 1 seed and eventual champion, Karam Shergill of Mouat, pulled ahead for a 7-0 victory. James rebounded to claim bronze by beating Duchess Park’s Brett Stubbs in a fall.
Placing fifth in the heavyweight division was Daniel Dordevic.
