St. Thomas More Collegiate's Darthe Capellan won the gold medal at 50 kilograms at the Canadian juvenile wrestling championships in Saskatoon this weekend.
Capellan, this year's silver medallist at the B.C. high school championships, avenged that loss with a 6-1 win over provincial champion Dave Sharma in the national boys' final.
The 5-5 Grade 11 grappler had a long road to the juvenile final, winning four straight bouts before meeting Sharma in a second straight gold-medal final.
Capellan advanced to the final following a 6-3 win over former Pan Am champion Tarin MacFayden of Tsunami in the semifinal.
"From the provincials, it was motivation to win this time," said Capellan. "I just wanted it really badly, and I guess I got it."
In the quarter-finals, Capellan edged Vancouver Island wrestler Mike Herman of Campbell River 7-4.
Capellan also scored shutout wins in the opening bouts over two other wrestlers, blanking Roland Booth of the junior Dinos 14-0 after opening the competitive division with an 80 victory over Ligrit Sadiku of the Wolfpack.
On the Sunday, Capellan qualified for the junior world championships in Serbia this summer, following a win in the FILA tournament.
"I really worked hard for this. I was really happy," Capellan said. "It was really surprising actually, but I believed in myself and I had the outcome I wanted."
STM's Kevin Marshall placed second in the cadet 85 kg FILA trials.
Three other STM students placed in the top five in girls' cadet and juvenile divisions.
Anna Benevoli finished fourth in the juvenile girls' 70 kg weight class.
Clarisse Dos Santos and Livleen Sidhu both placed fifth in their respective, juvenile 46 kg and cadet 65 kg divisions.
Former national cadet champion Melvin Arciaga won a silver medal at 54 kg in the juvenile boys' final following a narrow 3-1 loss to Sam Jagas of Matmen. The Burnaby South student beat Jesse Wagner of Alberni 9-1 in the semifinals. Arciaga also posted shutout wins over Harkaran Basra and Chase Drysdale.
Jimmy Sidhu of South won a bronze medal with a 6-1 win over semifinalist Joe Migie of Grant Park in the cadet 85 kg class. Gagan Sohol finished sixth in the cadet boys' 100 kg division.
Burnaby Mountain Secondary's Kevin Joyal-Hutchings placed eighth in the juvenile 100 kg and fourth in Greco-Roman.
CLAN WRESTLER WINS GOLD
Simon Fraser University's Stacie Anaka won the gold medal in the women's 67 kg division at the senior Pan Am wrestling championships in Panama City, Panama.
Anaka won both her bouts without surrendering a single point, outpointing E. Sanchez Sanchez of the Dominican Republic 2-0, 1-0 and Izguierdo Mendez of Columbia 2-0, 2-0.
Canadian women also medalled in five other weight classes, including gold by Jessica MacDonald at 51 kg and Justine Bouchard at 63 kg.
tberridge@royalcityrecord.com
