Sports This Week: Elrose club wrestlers win gold, silver

Local athletes took part in wrestling, bowling and gymnastics in the first part of last week’s Saskatchewan Winter Games held in Meadow Lake and at the Flying Dust First Nation.

Four members of the Elrose Wrestling Club took part in the wrestling portion of the games, held on Feb. 15-18, said club coach Russell Fersch.

Two of them won medals.

Wrestlers only in grades 7-10 took part in the games, said Fersch.

The best club showing was by Payton Allin, a Grade 9 student from Pennant who won the gold medal in her category.

Lena Ellingson, who is Grade 8, won a silver medal in her category.

Naim Robertson, who’s also in Grade 8, placed seventh in her category.

Easton Stan, who is in Grade 9, also finished seventh. Stan, however, has only been wrestling for just over two months “and his growth has been like crazy,” said Fersch.

“If the games started again, he’d be in the final. He’s amazing. He just makes changes every tme,” said the coach. “He’ll be phenomenal in the future.”

Allin is a new student for Fersch. Her mother contacted him in late August about joining the Elrose program. She’d been wrestling in Swift Current. It’s very rare that an athlete moves from a smaller place to a larger one, said Fersch.

Also to drive that far, from south of the river, takes about an hour and 40 minutes one way, which prompts a question and he asked the mother why the change.

“She just said, ‘We like the way you’re coaching and your philosophy of coaching.’ . . . She just said, ‘It’s a better fit for us.’ ”

It’s not the first time to get a wrestler from a distance, having had ones from Weyburn and Moose Jaw, said Fersch.

The club has this next weekend off but after that are high school regional and provincial meets plus younger wrestler and open provincial meets, he said.

Bowling

Lucy Still of Rosetown was on the five-member girls team which won silver medals, losing to Regina 3-0 in the gold-medal final.

The team had beaten Prairie Central 3-0 in a crossover match and defeated Saskatoon in a semifinal. They’d won Pool A with wins over South East, Lakeland and Regina.

The boys team had Josh Heimbecker of Rosetown with Biggar bowlers Hunter Harrabek, Xander Hébert, Peter Olson and Dominic Raschke.

They won Pool A with wins over South East, Lakeland and Regina

They beat Parkland Valley in a crossover match but lost to Lakeland in a semifinal.

In individual competition, Lucy Still placed 18th among 40 females.

Josh Heimbecker placed seventh. Harrabek finished fourth and Raschke, sixth.

Gymnastics

Four members of the Rosetown Gymnastics Club - Arabella and Audyn Gilroy of Dodsland and Kaia Ginther and Maddison Van Hove, both of Kindersley - took part in the gymnastics portion of the winter games.

“We had a good time there. The girls had a great experience,” said coach Fern Dyer. “Unfortunately, we didn’t fall into any medal placings.”

The club’s next meet is on Feb. 28 and March 1 in Prince Albert, said Dyer.