Wrestlers from St. Timothy School proved their abilities were among the best in Alberta this school year, as the 1A/2A boys’ team came back home as the high-school provincial champions earlier this term.
Wrestling coach for St. Timothy, Jason Guenther said he has been teaching the Catholic school’s wrestling team for the last two years. Over the last 11 years, the St. Tim’s wrestling team has won the provincial championship eight times. Remarkably, the only years they did not secure the provincial banner were during the two COVID-halted years, and one year when they placed second.
As a former wrestling coach in Saskatchewan, Guenther has applied his skills to help develop the St. Tim’s wrestling team.
“I started recruiting some of the students to get on the wrestling team, and we had about 10 athletes come out, about two girls and eight boys throughout the season,” Guenther said. “And then we went to the city championships, and we [won] it.
“We did a few smaller tournaments along the way, but the goal was to qualify for provincials . . . but we did have four athletes qualify for provincials.”
Two additional athletes that Guenther coached include Dynaka Labelle and Elliot Beverage, athletes from St. Francis High School in Calgary, as there is no formal wrestling team at that school. Both athletes qualified for provincials in March, with Labelle taking home gold and Beverage securing bronze.
The team that competed at provincials included Nick Hooper and Maeve Maguire, who each took home gold. The squad also included Brandon Maguire, who was unable to compete due to an injury, and Draeden Berry, who could not compete due to a schedule conflict.
As a relatively new team, Guenther said a few members were also part of the successful Cowboys Wrestling Club in Cochrane, and they helped lead and drive the team to become champions.
“They all helped the rookies out and so forth, and helped me through coaching for demonstrations and stuff like that,” Guenther said. “And the one wild card in there that I’m pretty proud of was one Grade 10 female wrestler – she won a gold at the provincial championships and that was really exceptional.”
Guenther said although St. Tim’s may be the smallest high school in Cochrane, he said there is no doubt that its wrestling team consistently shows great success in their endeavours.
“It’s a 1A/2A provincial championship we wanted, so for the size of our school, we’re the best in the province which was a great goal to attain,” he said.
Despite some of the wrestlers graduating this spring, Guenther said he will continue to train champion wrestlers over at St. Tim’s.
“We’re going to be in a building phase over the next couple of years, but I’m pretty optimistic because of the culture of the school and the reputation that we’ve got for wrestling here,” he said.
“I think we’re going to do quite well over the next few years.”
