A pair of Moose Jaw competitors came a single win away from winning gold at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association provincial wrestling championship this past weekend in Saskatoon.
Both Kingston Usher and Akela Sand reached the gold medal final in their respective divisions and capped the event with silver medals in the high school wrestling season finale.
Usher was the busier of the two on the day, reaching the final in the male 77-kilogram class before falling 10-0 to Saskatoon Holy Cross’ Sam Nickel.
Usher didn’t have a ton of difficulty getting to the medal bout, needing little time on the mat to get things done. That included a 10-0 technical fall over Saskatoon Centennial’s Ethan Lark and a 42-second pin against Regina Winston Knoll’s Noah Panchuk to advance to the medal round.
There, Usher would pin Prince Albert St. Mary’s Ezekiel Hirschfeld at the 1:25 mark to advance to the title match.
Sand picked up pinfall wins in both of her bracket matches in the female 64-kg class, finishing off Saskatoon Tommy Douglas’ Hailey Loveridge in 4:48 and needing only 1:14 to get past Saskatoon Walter Murray’s Perry Poncelet to advance to the medal round.
The Toilers competitor had some luck on her side there, as Saskatoon Centennial’s Reese Kosh was forced to retire due to injury, giving Sand a bye to the final against Regina Riffel’s Brooklyn Dieder. Deider would take the gold medal with a 10-0 technical fall.
Three Moose Jaw competitors reached bronze medal matches in their respective divisions.
Central’s Paisley Patrosh (female 44 kg) lost her opener but won three straight in the repechage to get to the medal round before dropping a pair there.
Central’s Hailey Newans (female 73 kg) fell in the final of her bracket but promptly picked up a win in the repechage final to advance to the medals, where back-to-back losses saw her also finish fourth.
Peacock’s Evelyn Eros (female 80 kg) took a similar path to Newans by falling in the bracket final and winning the repechage final to get into the medal round. There, she’d run into the eventual champion in her semifinal before losing by fall to also land fourth.
Vanier’s Wyatt Behiel (male 115 kg) won his opening match but couldn’t keep the momentum going, eventually losing the repechage final.
Central’s Elsa Tondevold (female 50 kg) and Peacock’s Kruz Babich (male 56 kg) both reached their respective repechage semifinals before being eliminated, while Central’s Macy Binsfeld (female 60 kg) and Peacock’s Kaleb McCrystal (male 53 kg) were knocked out in the repechage quarter-finals.
