KES Medal in PEI Open & Atlantic Wrestling Championships

Seven KES wrestlers competed in 2 Open Wrestling Tournaments in Charlottetown, PEI last weekend. In the PEI Open event on Saturday, Greg Otto placed second, while teammate Justin Day took a BRONZE in 92 kg class. Greg wrestled hard and lost in the final. 

Justin won his first competitive match with 10-0 superiority and worked hard on his offense. Bella Turner-Galaise won a SILVER medal in a three-way tie breaker. She had solidly dominated the PEI wrestler who defeated the New Brunswick wrestler and was upset by that same NB wrestler in her final match. Megan Mattie was in the same weight class and certainly improved as the event went on with five hard matches in the toughest female class of the event. Luis Reutner won SILVER in an extremely competitive we

ight class. There were many competitors, particularly from Newfoundland, who were much bigger and older than Luis, especially the competitor he drew in the final. It was a great opportunity to wrestle a more seasoned competitor. Maya Faucher continues to improve and build confidence; she won a great match against her NFLD opponent and had some tough fights producing a BRONZE medal for her efforts. Stanislav Matkovskyi never gives up and continues to work to improve his skill set. He is one of our wrestlers who never misses an event. This is his 5th straight weekend putting himself through some tough learning experiences. We had to sit him out for the Sunday event due to an arm injury.

 

In the Atlantic Championships on Sunday, our wrestlers got fewer matches than the previous day, with many additional categories, but the wrestling was competitive. Bella wrestled in the U-19 division, which was combined with U-21. She met up with a much older, bigger, stronger and experienced opponent, and she had her hands full in that final. This was a great opportunity for her to measure her progress, and she ended the tournament with a second SILVER medal. Luis led the way with a GOLD medal for the Atlantic Championship where he dominated his age group. Other results from the tournament included another SILVER for Greg Otto in the combined 92kg – U-17 & U-19 class. Justin was once again in the same category as Greg. He had a great day of wrestling and was kept off the podium after being up 7-0 on his opponent from NFLD and getting upset in the end. Maya won another BRONZE medal in the U-17 class with a big win in her 3rd place match. She was down 7-4 and with about 25 seconds remaining in the match, she tied up and threw her opponent scoring 4 points and pinning her for the BRONZE.  Megan, with some of her best wrestling this year, produced a SILVER medal performance in the U-17 class. Her best wrestling was in a match she did not win, but she scored four points and showed her toughness and resilience in a great match against her veteran opponent from PEI.

The team was supposed to participate in an event this weekend, but it has been cancelled. Our focus remains on the Regional and Provincial Championships being hosted at home on March 5 & 6.