Photo special to This Week
Julie Graham, 14, lifts one of her Team Impact teammates during practice. She won silver at the Canada East Wrestling Championships, in late April.
News
5/9/06
Three Quebec university student-athletes qualified during trials this past weekend for the FISU World University Wrestling Championships at Mongolia in June. David Zilberman and Tim Wadsworth of Concordia, and Martine Dugrenier of McGill University advanced. The trials were held following the Canadian Nationals in Saskatoon, in which Zilberman won the men's freestyle 96-kilogram division. Misha Japardize was tops at 55 kgs, while Tyler Marghetis was third at 74 kgs. Dugrenier won the women's freestyle 67-kg category. Nick Johnson took first-place honours in the Greco-Roman 84-kg class. Dugrenier was named the Canadian female wrestler of the year.
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Wrestlers win national, provincial titles
Jay Gutteridge - 5/9/06
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Photo special to This Week
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Two wrestlers from the City of Kawartha Lakes recently proved they're among the best in Canada by claiming medals at a major tournament.
Andrea Wakelin, 13, won gold in the Bantam girls' 61.9-kilogram division at the Canada East Wrestling Championships at Fallingbrook Middle School in Mississauga from April 28 to 30. Julie Graham, 14, won silver in the 58.6-kilogram division.
"It feels really good," says Andrea, a Lindsay resident.
"It's nice to achieve one of the goals I set out for myself."
Andrea just started wrestling this year, and she attributes some of her success to the fact that her father David coaches the L.C.V.I. wrestling team. She practices with that team, and talks to Mr. Wakelon about technique at home and on the way to tournaments.
She placed second in the Ontario Championships in Hagersville on April 22.
The Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association divides the country in two for the national championships for wrestlers in the Novice, Kids and Bantam age groups, meaning the Canada East event is one half of the national championship tournament.
Andrea says she didn't expect to come home as an Eastern Canada champion, but she went three for three in the tournament, defeating the champions of Ontario and Quebec and the defending Canada East champion.
"The last match wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," says Andrea. "I was in control for most of the match."
Julie went 2-1 in her matches at the Canada East tournament. She won the tournament two years ago and placed third last year.
"It's an opportunity to see if you're good enough or not," she says of the tournament.
Julie, who lives in Janetville, won the Ontario Championships for the first time on April 22.
She is a member of Durham-based Team Impact.
She says she may want to go to the Olympics when she gets older.
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05/09/2006
Castaneda wins national wrestling title
Lawrenceville resident Zoe Castaneda, a fifth-grader at Bethesda Elementary School, placed first in last weekend’s Body Bar Nationals in Colorado Springs to become Georgia’s first girls national freestyle champion. Castaneda trains with the Parkview Wrestling Club, The Wrestling Academy and Team Georgia Wrestling.
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Wrestling runs strong in the family
Lacy kids won 47 of their 52 matches this season
Phil Sandoval
Post Independent Staff
May 9, 2006
At first glance Cody and Kaylee Lacy don't look like wrestlers - put them on the mat, and opinions quickly change.
Between them, Cody, 8, and Kaylee, 5, won 47 of their 52 combined matches in the recently concluded 2005-06 youth club season as members of the New Castle Gladiator wrestling club.
Individually, the Lacy kids' seasonal win-loss records earned them the North Western Colorado Wrestling League's "Outstanding Wrestler" award in their respective divisions.
The honor's nice, but what's most important to Cody and Kaylee is just being able to wrestle. That is something both were champing at the bit to do, almost from berth, said mom Tami Lacy.
"My husband, Tom, used to wrestle, along with my father and my uncle, and I was a wrestling cheerleader in high school, so it was in the blood," she said.
While the kids were never coaxed into the sport, Tom's framed wrestling medals sparked Cody's interest.
"Since he was a baby, Cody stared at (Tom's medals) for hours and wanted to know about the sport," Tami Lacy recalled. Because he was fascinated with the medals, Mom and Dad started taking young Cody to wrestling tournaments "so he could see what it was all about," Tami said.
Almost immediately, Cody wanted to join in. There was one problem: He was too young.
"We told him he couldn't wrestle until he was 5. At that time, we thought 5 was the age you could start," Tami Lacy said. The day of his fifth birthday, Cody let his parents know what he wanted to do.
"The first thing out of (Cody's) mouth when he ran out of the bedroom was: 'I want to wrestle,'" his Mom recalled. "And he caught on real fast. He's built for (wrestling), and he loves it."
Cody's skill and passion for wrestling also peaked his younger sister's interest.
"Kaylee was sitting back at all the matches and she told me: 'I want to wrestle, Mom.'"
Before taking the plunge, Tami tried to sway her 3-year-old daughter toward dance, gymnastics and cheerleading. The attempts failed. Wrestling, to Kaylee, was it.
And she didn't want to wait.
"Kaylee's first match was at 3," Tami Lacy noted. "Actually, the kids are allowed to wrestle at 4, but we stretched her age a little bit."
She developed her wrestling skill as quickly as Cody. The toughest thing Kaylee had to face in her budding career, Tami said, was wrestling another girl.
"Kaylee's used to wrestling boys. There's pretty much all boys in her age group," her mom said. "Then we went to a tournament in Grand Junction and Kaylee had to wrestle a girl and she was scared of her."
Asked why, Kaylee's answer stunned her mom.
"She said, 'Mom, girls are tougher.'"
