Wrestlers get on road to exciting year: Hawks open with trials, meet at LCI
By Medicine Hat News on December 18, 2019.
High school wrestling provincials are a little more than two months away, and the Alberta Winter Games are even sooner, so the Medicine Hat Hawks club is wasting no time getting going on the mats. The Hawks were in Lethbridge this past weekend as both junior high and high school athletes had reason to be racking up points already. The juniors arguably had more on the line Friday, with their Alberta Winter Games South Zone trials. The Games are in Airdrie Feb. 14-17 and Hawks coach Darren Klein said via email that the Gas City could have as many as 10 wrestlers make the cut. Leading the way Friday was Kiana Ivey, who won her 56 kilogram division over teammate Kim Maine. Also coming up with a first-place finish was Josh Lovis in the boys 81 kg group. A host of second-place finishers included Adrian Campbell and Abby Bacon in the girls divisions, and Landan Armstrong in the boys. Elijah Andreas and Nathan Mackinnon had third-place boys results, with Miah Jordan (fifth) and William Kozakevich (sixth) rounding out the results list. Saturday saw the more experienced high school athletes in action. Of the 10 Hawks, eight medalled. Siblings Dylan (108 kg), Aayden (90 kg) and Jaylaina (female 75 kg) Callan each took gold medal wins. Mikayla Eirich also got a first-place finish, though nobody else entered her 80 kg weight class so it was a little bit of an empty win. Klein said newcomer Hannah Davies was a “shining star as she worked her way to a silver medal” in the girls 50 kg class. Logan Wells was second in the boys’ 82 kg group. Walker Entz was third in the same division as Dylan Callan, Aidan Mackinnon was third in the 72 kg boys group, while Carter Giesbrecht (sixth, 68 kg) and Gabriela Hubner (sixth, 65 kg girls) also got good experience. High school rural provincials are Feb. 28 and 29 in Lethbridge, followed by the main provincial meet in Calgary March 13 and 14. 11-10
