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GTN wrestlers get a hold on gold

Wrestlers from Gudangaay Tlaats’gaa Naay won both the girls and boys championship banners in February at their very first northwest zones tournament.
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Both the boys and girls wrestling teams from Gudangaay Tlaats’gaa Naay won northwest zones banners at the February championships in Smithers. (Submitted)

Wrestlers from Gudangaay Tlaats’gaa Naay won both the girls and boys championship banners in February at their very first northwest zones tournament.

Fielding 11 wrestlers in all, the girls team won their title with 32 points, four ahead of the home team from Smithers.

The boys won their banner with a combined score of 110, six ahead of their Prince Rupert rivals.

Constable Joshua Smith of the Masset RCMP says the results are a testament to the whole GTN wrestling program, which started last school year thanks to the Masset First Nations Policing Section and support from the Masset Haida Lions Club.

In the boys division, 57 kg class, Sheldon Smith won gold. Competing in the 60 kg class, Fernando Cuervas-Mons won silver and Damek Racette won bronze. Cameron Holland won gold in the 63 kg class, while in the 74 kg class, Braydon Bjur won gold and Dominic White won silver.

Hunter Aitken won gold in the 78 kg class, Devon Bjur won gold in the 84 kg class, and Jeremy Drager won gold in the 110 kg.

In the girls division, Sierra Brown-Westley won gold in the 54 kg class. Janelle Edgars won gold in the 57 kg.

Smith said the wrestling club couldn’t have started without the Lions Club’s generous donation of over $10,000 to buy a high-quality, regulation-size wrestling mat for training and competition.

More support came from the RCMP First Nations Policing Section, which bought shoes for the entire team last year, and from the Gwaii Trust Society and Masset Haida Lions Club, which helped with travel costs for this year’s zones tournament.