Over the last few years, the McLurg Broncs high school and The Gorilla Factory club wrestling teams have made their mark in the province.
However, after a campaign that was highlighted by a national gold medal for August Bayliss, even coach Chris Kent had to take a step back and reflect on what the clubs had accomplished this season.
“We’ve been pretty lucky here,” Kent said. “Usually we’ve had someone be in the mix to medal over the last few years, but to do that with a small school of 142 students and a community of just over 1,000 people in it is really impressive.”
Bayliss, who is from Denzil, captured a gold medal this past weekend at the U17/U19 Canadian Championship in Edmonton as he stood on top of the podium in the Under 19 men’s Greco-Roman 71 kilogram category with a win over Jakob Dormaar from Wetaskiwin, Alta.
“August went up against guys that are currently competing in U Sports all year long and I think that really helped him out a lot as he made his third trip to the nationals,” Kent said of Bayliss, who will be competing for the University of Regina Cougars this fall.
“He’s a really coachable kid that’s always evaluating his approach and making changes. August is one of those guys that got to the level that he’s at through hard work, and I think that’s something that our younger athletes can look up to.”
Bayliss’ gold medal performance was the icing on the cake for what was an excellent year for wrestling in Wilkie, which included the bantam boys team winning a provincial championship in Saskatoon last month.
“That team is made up of guys in Grades 6, 7 and 8, and we’ve really been building towards something over the last five years since they started training together,” Kent said.
“The guys are at the top of their game when it comes to that level and they pretty much dominated that event. Our girls’ team had a strong showing as well, and I think you’ll see them making a strong run on the provincial scene in the next few seasons as they get more experience.”
With those results, coupled with a bevy of individual medals at the provincial club championship and high school provincial championships last month, Kent is eager to see what’s in store for wrestling in Wilkie over the next few years.
“One of our main goals is to come away with a team banner, especially at the high school level, as that’s a major accomplishment for a community like ours as we go up against the bigger centres,” Kent said. “We’re seeing a lot of kids getting involved and coming into the gym on a regular basis, even though the season has come to an end. Everyone’s trying to get better all of the time and they are also involved in other sports throughout the summer, which is something we try to encourage them to do."
