Many a Moose Jaw wrestler has taken the long road to win a Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association provincial medal over the years, but few have had to work as long and hard as Brady Ross did this past weekend.
The Peacock Toilers male under-77 kilograms competitor ended up battling through six matches -- and finding himself in a couple late-tournament wars -- before finally emerging with the silver medal on Mar. 19 at Saskatoon Evan Hardy.
It ended up being a solid day indeed for the Toilers in general, as they brought home a total of four medals, including three bronze.
Ross started his day with a 10-0 decision loss to the host school’s Matt Yong, setting the stage for an epic journey to the gold medal final. It began with his first repechage match, where Ross defeated Regina O’Neill’s Michael Gold by fall in 1:42. Next up was Regina Johnson’s Crixus Walker, who fell by decision 10-0. And then came the real battles.
Ross went toe-to-toe with Prince Albert St. Mary’s Logan Campbell in the repechage final, needing 5:45 to take a pinfall win and advance to the medal round. There, he’d once again face Yong, with a far different result this time -- Ross would emerge with a pin in 5:14, advancing to the championship match.
Ross claimed silver after losing by fall in 59 seconds to Saskatoon Holy Cross’ Simon Trokhymchuk.
His success was only part of the story for Peacock on the day as Kayde Kell (male U62 kg), Kaleb McCrystal (male U44 kg ) and Sydnee Christmann (female U73 kg) all ended up bringing home bronze.
Kell reached the preliminary round final before losing to Prince Albert St. Mary’s Brynn Cooper by fall, but rebounded with a pin in 1:14 against Walter Murray’s Nohl Gustafson in the repechage final. A 59-second loss to Swift Current’s Colin Hammer sent Kell to the third-place match, and he’d defeat Wilkie’s Kaidin McGinnis by pin in 2:19 for bronze.
Christmann also reached her preliminary final, but lost to Regina Miller’s Shelby Guerin-Danie. She pinned Prince Albert’s Charleigh Barden in 1:19 to advance to the championship round, where a loss to Regina Martin’s Macaira McKinnon in 3:36 sent her to the bronze final. There, her bout with Regina Campbell’s Robyn Wilkins would go the distance, with Christmann taking a 15-6 win.
McCrystal had a decidedly shorter route to his medal, with a win over Regina Campbell’s Declan Clayards enough to secure the hardware out of his four-man field.
Peacock’s Cassandra Bowles also competed, going 0-2 in the U56 kg female division.
The male U73 kg class featured a pair of Moose Jaw competitors, with Central’s Zarek Sand posting a 2-2 record and reaching the repechage final before falling in 53 seconds to eventual silver medalist Sam Nickel from Saskatoon Holy Cross.
Peacock’s Kingston Usher went 1-2, losing to Sand by pin in 33 seconds in the repechage semifinal.
Central’s Justin Arandia was also in action in the U53 kg division but suffered an injury in his second match.
You can check out all the results across all divisions by visiting https://bit.ly/3tnR904.
