The Cochrane Cowboys Wrestling club has continued to show that they are one of the best teams in the province as members have collected piles of medals over the last couple weeks.
In late January at the Western Canada Age Class tournament in Richmond, B.C., the team walked away with six medals.
Connor McNeice and Keath Dostaler nabbed gold medals. Brooklyn Thomson and Brendan McKeage walked away with silvers, while Hunter Smith and Charles Cook picked up a bronze each.
The Swedlo siblings (Catherine and Connor) came away with fourth and fifth-place finishes respectively.
At a meet in St. Albert, five of the Cowboys’ elementary level wrestlers competed. Noah Sharkey won gold, and Ben Sharkey won silver.
Two of the other participants, Chase Adam and Kate Sharkey, received participation medals as points are not counted in their young age group. The fifth participant, Nicholas Hooper, picked up an injury and could not complete the competition.
On the weekend of Jan. 29-30, the Cowboys took eight junior high school kids to the Paperweight Invitational, and six high school level competitors to the Golden Bear High School Invitational (both in Edmonton).
Again, the team walked away with a truckload of medals.
At the junior high level, Connor Pointen, Isaiah Springer, and Danika Cook went home with gold medals.
Berg Thompson picked up silver, with Naomi Cook and Elijah Springer going away with bronze medals.
The senior level team demolished the competition, as McNeice, Charles Cook, McKeage, and Sarah Gregory all walked away with gold medals. Smith and Thomson both picked up bronzes.
At the Churchill Wrestling Classic in Calgary held at Sir Winston Churchill High School, the team again ran away with numerous accolades.
Cook, McNeice, Smith, Gregory and Thomson all won gold. Connor Swedlo won silver. As icing on the cake, Cook was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Male Wrestler.
“We’ve done very well,” said Cowboys head coach Vern McNeice.
“Most of our kids medalled at the meets. But, honestly, it’s not just about medals for me, or the kids. They’ve all performed well, that’s what is important.
“They’re working hard, and their hard work is paying off. Some of these kids train 11 times a week. We’re very proud of them.”
Would McNeice say this is one of the best crops of athletes he’s coached?
“We’re definitely at the peak of our cycle,” he said. “We have kids in our current group who have wrestled for 10 years. Most of this group as well, has been wrestling for at least three to eight years. We’re very excited with what this group can achieve. There are some kids graduating from high school right now like Charles Cook and Sarah Gregory who have both been offered university scholarships. It’s great to see these kids go on after our program.”
What does McNeice attribute the program’s success year-in and year-out to?
“We’ve got a great group of people who support what we’re trying to do,” he said. “The parents buy into our program, and most importantly, so do the kids.
“This is a hard sport and these kids are embracing it. It’s been a success not just in sport, but also in life.
“All of these kids come from all different walks of life and there’s a lot of different body types. It’s all about commitment, belief, and support from families, and support from Cochrane in general. There’s been a lot of people in the community who have stepped up and made donations to help these kids travel. We go to tournaments almost every weekend, and it gets expensive.
“It’s taken a lot of work by a lot of good people to get these kids to where they are.”
The Alberta Winter Games are coming up on Feb. 13-16 in Medicine Hat, and the team will be sending numerous athletes to compete.
Danika and Naomi Cook, Connor Pointen, Isaiah and Elijah Springer, and Berg Thompson will all be representing Zone 2 at the tournament. McNeice will be coaching.
“We’re very excited for it,” McNeice said.“We always seem to place third or fourth and haven’t won it yet as a team, which is the goal for us. There’s a bunch of kids coming onto the team from other areas so it’s going to be tight. We’re going to be in tough against Calgary and Edmonton. We usually get 15 people for trials, and they get 150. We were one match away from beating them last year, so hopefully this is our year.”
