Locals competing in wrestling provincial championships March 14-15

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Taber Times

Submitted by David Walters

The Alberta School Athletic Association (ASAA) divides the province in to three zones for the sport of wrestling: Calgary, Edmonton, and Rural, which covers everything else from High Level in the North to Cardston in the South. 

The Rural Provincial Wrestling Championships took place at Notre Dame High School in Red Deer, on March 1. The top five wrestlers in each gender and weight category will then face the top five from Edmonton and Calgary at the Provincial Championships in Calgary, March 14-15, 2025.

The Rural Championships last weekend in Red Deer featured 145 wrestlers in 24 different weight classes. There were more than 350 matches that resulted in the Stirling Girls wining the 1A/2A first place banner. Beiseker Boys won the 1A/2A first place banner. Stirling Boys took 2nd place in 1A/2A. Raymond Girls won the 3A first place Banner. Cardston Girls came second in 3A. Raymond Boys came second in 3A while LCI Boys won the 4A first place banner.

Drew Walters, head coach of both the Stirling and Raymond teams was pleased to see the teams do so well, but was quick to point out the contributions of his coaching staff that includes Ester Beazer, Kyle Nixon, Sheryl Zumbach, Reese Walters, and a team of supportive parents.

The list below shows all gold medallists from all rural Alberta schools, and some selected placement by athletes from Southern Alberta schools. 

— Female 44 kg: Alyssa Nasrollahi, (Cochrane High) Gold

— Female 47 kg: Kameko Fuchihara, Westwood Community Gold,

— Female 50 kg: Riley Papalia, Assumption Junior/Senior High (Cold Lake) Gold, Caitlyn Mora (Raymond High) Silver, Aubrey Evanson (W.R. Myers) Bronze.

— Female 53 kg: Paiden Fidler, Chinook High (Lethbridge) Gold, Kaitlyn Donselaar (Stirling School) Silver, Lexine Rodriguez (Medicine Hat High) Bronze

— Female 57 kg: Shanaelle Zumbach, Raymond High Gold, Jessica Froese (Raymond High) Silver, Emily Walsh (Medicine Hat High) Bronze, Sofia Wong (Cardston High) 5th

— Female 61 kg: Autumn Bruce, Stirling School Gold, Kynsli Bannack (Cardston High) Silver, Megan Wert (Raymond High) 4th

— Female 65 kg: Dani Linford, Centre for Learning Gold, Charlotte Haas (Raymond High) Silver, Sydney Campbell (Lethbridge Collegiate) Bronze, Sage McCollister (Cardston High) 4th, Liv Infanti (Cardston High 5th Paulina Ayala Munoz (Brooks Composite) 7th

— Female 70 kg: Emily Deline, St. Joseph’s Collegiate Gold, 

— Female 75 kg: Sydney Shields, Lethbridge Collegiate Gold, Adriene Campbell (Medicine Hat High) Bronze

— Female 82 kg: Elizabeth Zacharias, St. Joseph Catholic High School (Grande Prairie) Gold, Cienna Henry (Raymond High) Silver, Fatum Idriss (Brooks Composite) Bronze, Cheyenne Kulscar (Pathways) 4th

— Female 90+ kg: Harlie Salmon, Raymond High Gold.

— Male 53 kg: Gideon Young, Stirling School Gold, Bahati Butoyi (Medicine Hat High) Silver

— Male 56 kg: Janvier Bukuru, Medicine Hat High Gold, Payton Wilde (Stirling ) Silver,

Male 59 kg:Darien Smith (Grande Prairie Composite) Gold, Keanan Reynolds (Catholic Central) Silver, John Adams (Stirling) 5th Karsten Yawney (Stirling) 8th

— Male 62 kg: Cash Friend, Beiseker Community School Gold, Keanan Reynolds (Catholic Central) Silver, Jagger Hallock (Cardston High) Bronze, Dallin Comin (Cardston High) 4th, John Adams (Stirling School) 5th, Declan Spencer (Cardston High) 6th

— Male 65 kg: Malachi Shuffler, Wetaskiwin Composite Gold, Kohen Cornish (Westwind Alternative) Silver, Jayden Jensen (Raymond High) Bronze, Bentley Vaz (Raymond High) 4th Boston Heggie (Cardston High) 5th

— Male 68 kg: Owen Beitel, Beiseker Community School Gold, Christien Lowry (Lethbridge Collegiate) Silver, Andrew Iwaasa (Catholic Central) Bronze, Coen Waldie (Brooks Composite) 4th, Evan Hardy (Raymond High) 5th Adam Hegedus (Cardston High) 7th, Jack Ryan (Raymond High) 8th

— Male 72 kg: Taylor Phillips, Raymond High Gold, Jack Huggins (Lethbridge Collegiate) 4th, Nathen Haynes (Raymond High) 6th, Jaxon Caldwell (Stirling School) 7th,

— Male 76 kg: Thomas Ellis-Toddington, Lethbridge Collegiate Gold, Russell Comin (Cardston High Silver, Van Heggie (Cardston High 4th,

— Male 82 kg: Joel Pilgrim, Westwood Community School (Fort McMurray) Gold, Logan Kimberley (W.R. Myers) Bronze

— Male 90 kg: Corbin Thomas, École McTavish (Fort McMurray) Gold, Leiam Smith (Cardston High) Silver,  Kawika Nasol (Magrath School) 4th

— Male 98 kg: Jaren Alaimoana, (Grande Prairie Composite) Gold, Ben Shipley (Cardston High) Silver, Tony Peters (W.R. Myers) 5th, Jacob Ballard (Raymond High) 7th

— Male 108 kg: William Kozakewich, Medicine Hat High Gold

— Male 120 kg: Charles Graves, Raymond High Gold

— Male 120+ kg: Ethan Templeman, St. Joseph’s Collegiate (Brooks) Gold, Benjamin Atwood (W.R. Myers) Bronze