The 2018 Arctic Winter Games wrestling team of Cameron Courtoreille, Paul Reid, Evan Round and Jacob Bailey hit the mats at the University of Alberta Open this past weekend in Edmonton.
Coach Don Reid said it was a great trip for all of them.
photo courtesy of Don Reid
Courtoreille came home with a silver medal from the boys up-to-100-kg weight category, which was a good result for him, said Reid.
“Every meet, you can see him getting more confident,” he said. “He's getting faster, more aggressive and he's improving every time.”
Courtoreille was up against four other wrestlers in his weight class, which was a straight round-robin event with the winner being whoever finished atop the standings.
Courtoreille ended up losing one of his four matches by points after going up against someone who was just a bit stronger than he was, said Reid.
Paul Reid was a hard-luck fourth place finisher in the boys 65-kg weight class after grinding his way through elimination bouts the entire way to get to the bronze medal match.
Reid began with a loss in his opening match by disqualification after the referee determined he had used an illegal head-and-arm throw on his opponent.
“The other guy got hurt because of it and the referee called him on it,” said coach Reid.
Because of that, the best Reid could do was a bronze medal but to win it, he had to go through the losers bracket just to get there. That meant seven matches with no losses because a second loss would have meant elimination.
Amazingly, Reid picked off all seven to line up a place in the bronze medal bout but it wasn't meant to be as he fell on points in that contest.
“It wasn't the best match he's ever had,” said coach Reid. “It may have been nerves or fatigue but he had his chances. The great thing, though, is that he never gave up and battled hard all the way. He had a lot of matches so we got bang for the buck. Lots of matches for him and that's great because we don't get a lot of competitive matches here in town.”
As for that move he was disqualified for, coach Reid said it will be legal by the time the Alberta Open comes around early next month.
“There are restrictions on certain head-and-arm throws right now but Paul's move that he was DQ'ed for will be in,” he said.
For Round, this was his first big tournament and the surroundings got to him a bit, said coach Reid.
“You throw the kids into the Butterdome (venue) for the first time and they're staring at mats all over the place in a venue that's the size of a football field,” he said. “It can be daunting at first but Evan fought through. He looked tired but he was just overwhelmed.”
Round fought in the boys 60-kg weight class and ended up winning two of his matches but lost two to end his tournament.
“He got some experience and he got it at one of the biggest tournaments out there,” said coach Reid. “That's why you do this because when it comes to the Arctic Winter Games, that's going to be small compared to what he saw in Edmonton. I wanted him to think about it as just another day on the mat and not get caught up in the surroundings.”
In the case of Bailey, this was his first tournament outside of Yellowknife, period. He ended up losing both of his matches back-to-back but coach Reid said he coped with everything well.
“Jacob was in the junior high competition, which was running alongside the high school event,” he said. “There was no way I would enter him into a competition in the same weight class against someone who was four or five years older. That wouldn't be fair to him. He got time on the mat and that's only going to make him better.”
The Alberta Open in Calgary is coming up in early March and coach Reid said that will be the last warm-up for the AWG team but he's taking a bigger team to that meet.
“That's our big event of the season so some more athletes will be going,” he said. “I'm happy with what I saw in Edmonton. Lots of bruises and aches but that's what you expect in wrestling.”