SUBMITTED PHOTO The Medicine Hat contingent on Zone 1's wrestling team at the Alberta Winter Games poses after winning a bronze medal Sunday in Airdrie.
Coaches lost their voices they screamed so loud.
Athletes crammed into the bleachers to catch a glimpse.
Was it gold on the line? No. Just bronze. But at the Alberta Winter Games in Airdrie Sunday, the difference between getting a medal or not came down to a shoulder on the mat.
“It was just insane,” said Medicine Hat Hawks wrestling coach Darren Klein, in attendance to support his club members who were competing. “The intensity in that gym was the highest I’ve ever felt in wrestling. It was the craziest, it was awesome.”
Zone 1, known as Sunny South, had gone 2-1 in the team wrestling round robin, losing only to the eventual gold medal winners from Calgary’s Zone 3.
With the individual medals decided earlier Sunday, all that was left was the team event.
Medicine Hat’s Kiana Ivey – who took gold in the 56 kilogram girls division – felt a far different atmosphere for her team match against Zone 2, a region that goes from Banff to Oyen, minus Calgary.
“It was pretty full, because right after our match was the gold medal one,” said Ivey. “All the people from the other gym had already filed in. It was packed, it was crazy.
“I’m pretty sure most people had almost lost their voice, just screaming, trying to encourage them to keep going.”
The 13-year-old went unbeaten on the weekend, only one of her opponents even reaching a second round.
Her win against Zone 2 in the bronze match wound up being more important than she imagined.
For every win in the team event, each wrestler earns points. Five for a pin down to none if you get pinned.
The bronze medal contest was tied with only a few matches left to go.
Medicine Hat’s Joshua Lovis, who’d finished fourth in his 83 kg individual event, came up and scored a huge pin in the second-last match.
“He had a little bit to prove I think,” said Klein, noting Zone 1 had never won a team medal in wrestling before.
But a Zone 2 wrestler earned a pin in the final match to leave the score tied, 49-49.
With the entire crowd abuzz, officials had to figure out what the tiebreaker was. It came down to which team had the most overall wins by pin.
Zone 1 had eight. Zone 2? Six.
“We all just jumped up, we were so excited. It was amazing.” said Ivey.
The medal was one of seven claimed by Medicine Hat and area athletes at the Games, but probably the most talked-about.
Another Hat wrestler, Kimberley Maine, took third in the girls’ 60 kg division. The other members of the team bronze were Casey Leblanc and Nathan MacKinnon. Cassie Fischer and Victoria Dalziel were on the coaching staff.
In judo, Redcliff’s Jack McAlpine got to the under-40 kg final, taking silver after a loss to Okotoks’ Hugo Brown.
And in gymnastics, Olivia Chenard won gold for her Level 7 beam routine (a 9.400), then finished third in the all-around with a score of 36.875.
The girls futsal team coached by Allan Siwela and including Rayne Bueckert, Emersyn Grudecki, Milah McCarty and Eva Ricken took bronze, beating Zone 7 (Northeast) 4-1 in Sunday’s third-place game.
Overall, those efforts helped Sunny South to its best finish in the medals table in years, fifth with seven gold, nine silver and 20 bronze. Calgary topped the charts with 40 gold, 35 silver and 30 bronze.
Ivey was proud to have played a part in two medals, but the Games could be foretelling future success as well. She’s off to a regional wrestling camp this weekend and is also accomplished in judo, which she started long before wrestling.
“They both work well together,” she said. “I feel like coming off of the judo background, I have a bit more understanding on how the throws work and how to keep people off-balance.”
