It was a good day to be a Moose Jaw athlete on the South West combat sports teams at the Saskatchewan Winter Games on Saturday, as judo and wrestling competitors would bring home a host of medals on the final day of competition.
Competing in the newaza ground fighting division, Moose Jaw judo athletes would win five gold, one silver and one bronze, while the individual wresting competition saw a pair of gold medal winners, one silver and one bronze in their event.
All told, it was a solid run in general for local competitors at the Games, as they’d lead South West to a fourth-place finish in the medal standings with 15 gold, 14 silver and eight bronze across all sports. Saskatoon led the way with 41 gold and 98 medals, Regina was second with 24 gold and 69 medals and Prairie Central third with 21 gold and 51 medals.
It should come as little surprise that if athletes are good in regular judo competition, they’re also going to have some skills when things go to the ground. That was no exception for Moose Jaw competitors on Saturday, as the medalists from the main tournament also turned in solid showings in the newaza ground-fighting event.
Felix Leonard picked up his second gold of the Games in the male 40 kg division, defeating South West teammate Blake Rempel for gold after going 2-0 in the round robin and taking a win over Regina’s Bartek Losinski in the semifinal. Noah Pulvermacher finished in fifth place.
Emmett Lee-Neuman picked up where he left off in the male 45 kg division, sweeping Logan Dahl of Regina two straight in their best-of-three battle to claim gold.
It was much the same for Kenzie Woods and Nova Lee-Neuman in the female 53 kg division, with the duo rematching their championship final from the main tournament and Woods once again claiming gold. Woods defeated River West’s Nicole Gartner in her semifinal, while Lee-Neuman downed Prairie Central’s Reilly Huisman to book her gold medal match spot.
Hawkins Jacobson also won double gold, again going undefeated in his run through the 60 kg male class. He defeated Rivers West’s Corsin Raess in the final after downing Regina’s Braxton Goebel in the playoffs.
Team South West then claimed gold and bronze in the team kata #6 competition, while Leonard and Emmett Lee-Neuman won bronze in team kata #5.
The 53 kg-plus division saw Josie Mawson finish sixth, Olesia Dunn seventh and Cali Markel eighth. Josie Wiens -- the daughter of former Moose Koseikan Judo Club black belt instructor and current Flin Flon Judo Club sensei Josh Wiens -- finished fifth for Team North.
After finishing in fifth place in the team dual portion of the Sask Games wrestling competition, it was time Saturday to see how South West competitors would fare individually.
And the answer to that is ‘exceptionally well.’
Reigning high school provincial silver medalist Brady Ross capped off an undefeated run through both tournaments with gold in the male 80 kg division. The Peacock standout defeated Regina’s Karl Lopez by technical fall in the championship final after taking 1:49 to pin South East’s Noah Panchuk in the semifinal.
Fellow Moose Jaw Kinsmen Wrestling Club competitor Aurelia Eros had a similar showing, needing only 40 seconds to defeat Regina’s Abigail Hall for gold in the 61 kg division on the heels of a two-minute semifinal win over Saskatoon’s Azianne Mesxaros.
Kruz Babich came as close as could be to winning gold in the male 48 kg class, dropping a 9-7 decision to Saskatoon’s Vlad Ligavrenko in the final and claiming silver. He had no such difficulties in the semifinal, needing 14 seconds to get past Prairie Central’s Grant Keeler.
The 75 kg female division saw Evelyn Eros win bronze, pinning Prairie Central’s Kloey Klymchuk at the 3:30 mark.
Arianna Skeoch also brought home bronze in the 56 kg female division, and she didn't waste time securing her medal, pinning South East's Khloe Higgins in only 22 seconds.
Teegan Kivol also came close to finishing top three, losing his male 43 kg bronze medal match 6-4 to Regina’s Reid Forsberg.
Kingston Usher competed up a weight class and finished fifth in the 95 kg male division, while Tanner Kivol was sixth in the 54 kg male class.
Be sure to check out the MJKWC Facebook page for photos and video from the event.
Moose Jaw figure skaters did their part to bolster South West’s hardware totals by picking up four medals, including a gold in the Pre-Juvenile Dance.
Seann Terry and Temperance Molde did the honours in that division, putting down 37.15 points in their free skate to take top spot on the podium. Right behind them were Moose Jaw Skating Club teammates Brayden Bader and Bryar Molde, who won silver with 33.24 points.
The Juvenile Dance team of Camron Deans and Sierra Good also claimed silver in their event.
Bader will come home as a double medalist after his score of 11.22 landed him a silver medal in the Pre-Juvenile Male individual event.
A host of Moose Jaw skaters represented South West in the Pre-Juvenile Female division, as Elizabeth Deans finished seventh (16.09 points), Wiebe ninth (15.51), Madison Bauck 10th (15.18), Channing Mack 12th (13.40) and Molde 16th (11.91).
After getting off to a torrid start, the male futsal team ended up playing for hardware but falling short in the bronze medal game.
South West took their 2-0 preliminary round record into the playoffs, where they’d drop a 7-5 decision to Saskatoon. Patrick Pryadko was the lone Moose Jaw player with a goal.
That sent the local crew into the bronze medal match, where they’d lose a heartbreaker 5-3 to Parkland Valley. Pryadko had a pair of goals in the loss.
Samuel Mendes, Cohen McDonald and Jamal Ahdi also saw action through the week with Team South West.
You can find all the results from the week’s events at www.saskgames.ca/winter.
