High school wrestlers turn in impressive showing at Kelly Dumont Memorial

The first high school wrestling tournament of the season saw plenty of positive results for Moose Jaw competitiors.

A total of 17 wrestlers – 11 from Peacock, six from Central – took part in the Kelly Dumont Memorial at Regina Thom this past weekend, bringing home 12 medals from the pre-season event.

Leading the way was Peacock’s Kyle Yamniuk, who posted a 4-0 record while winning each of his matches by technical fall. The 2019 provincial team member and junior nationals contender competed in the Elite 60-64 kg division and took a 10-0 win over Regina Martin’s Greg Reed, 10-0 win over Regina Leboldus’ Nate Burton, 10-0 victory against Regina Balfour’s Sameer Sameer and 11-0 win over Regina Miller’s Josh Van Betuw.

Miheret Cridland didn’t have nearly as busy a draw in the Elite female 55-kg division, but claimed gold just the same, winning by fall in 3:59 over Miller’s Mimashi Gunasinghe and then taking the rematch by fall in 3:34.

Two Novice competitors also landed gold, with Central’s Zarek Sand posting a 4-0 record to take first place in the male 56-60 kg class. He defeated Kenneth Espanola by fall in 40 seconds and needed 59 seconds to down Peacock’s Jason Railton by fall. Sand’s other two matches saw an 11-0 win over Regina Campbell’s Keith Arcaya and 10-0 win against Leboldus’ Jerome Nagtalon.

Railton would finish in fourth place with a 1-3 record, taking a pinfall win over Espanola.

Central’s Brennan Daradich also claimed gold but had a bit of a tougher road in the male 65-69 kg class, posting a 3-1 record with a 10-0 win over Regina Sheldon’s Braden Thomson to go along with pinfall victories over Regina Winston Knoll’s Christian Rogers and Romeo Callimore. The lone blemish on the day came in a pinfall loss to Regina O’Neill’s Vince Giner.

Moose Jaw competitors put together plenty of second-place finishes, including Peacock’s Makayla Holmes (female Elite 60-64), Liam Vargo (male Elite 55-60), Davin Miller (male Elite 64-70), Alyssa Roney (female Novice 52-54), Kayla Kwan (female Novice 64-67) and Matthew Knox (male Novice 56-60).

Reigning Western Canada Summer Games gold medalist Alexis Bradish went 1-2 in the Elite female 67-70 kg division to finish in third place for Central; Peacock’s Dylan Yamniuk claimed third place in the male Elite 77-83 class.

Also seeing action on the weekend for the Tornadoes were Connor Rowsell (fourth, male Elite 88-92) and Cassandra Bowles (fifth, female Novice 50-51) while Central’s Ulrik Tondevold was fifth in the male Elite 53-55 division.

A total of 16 teams and 186 wrestlers took part in the tournament.