Polar wrestlers find fit with Fraser Valley
Now that his college future is coming into focus, the wrestling world is beckoning Steven Herzig.
Next fall he’ll be tossing teammates in practice and pinning opponents in tournaments in the university ranks of U Sports when he begins the next phase of his wrestling career in Abbotsford at University of the Fraser Valley. Herzig and his Prince George Polars teammate Isaac McDermid have both been recruited to compete for the Cascades in Canada West tournaments and there’s a good chance that road will also lead to India, one of several international destinations on the Fraser Valley team’s itinerary. “UFV has a campus in India and they do traditional Indian wrestling and if you want to go (and can cover the cost) you’re able to go,” said Herzig. “That’s one of the trips they don’t pay for but you could learn a ton and it would be a blast going there.”
Herzig finished off his high school career with a silver medal win a few weeks ago at the national championships in Edmonton, posting a secondplace finish in the 51-kilogram Greco-Roman competition and a fifth-place national result in freestyle. He tuned up for nationals by working out with Karm Manhas, the head coach of Kaiten Mixed Martial Arts.
“That helped me a ton with shots and scrambling and lots of explosive training and working with a partner,” Herzig said. “Technique is huge in wrestling.”
Herzig began the sport when he was in Grade 10 and last year finished fourth in freestyle at nationals. He plans to wrestle at 54 kg next season.
“I’m looking forward to having good training partners to work with and tons of competition down there,” said Herzig, an aspiring lawyer. I’m hoping to show those guys what northern guys can do, that we can’t just be pushed to the side.”
PGSS graduate Tristina Howse wrestled for the Cascades this past season but her U Sports career was cut short by an injury.
McDermid has been wrestling for only about a year-and-a-half but he’s a quick learner and used his experience as a football/rugby player to climb the ranks in local high school wrestling meets and become a Zone 8 champion. He had an offer to wrestle at the University of Regina but elected to follow Herzig to the U Sports program at Fraser Valley. He plans to study kinesiology.
The two were teammates last fall on the Polars senior football team that won the P.G. Bowl as Northern Conference champions. They advanced to a provincial playoff game in Vernon against Argyle and lost by eight points. McDermid did get a measure of revenge at the provincial wrestling championships in Port Alberni when he took on one of the Argyle football players and pinned him in a match that lasted about five seconds.
Fraser Valley has six Canada West meets and four international tournaments coming up next season and both are looking forward to the team aspect of representing their school. They say they won’t miss the cold weather and long road trips on bad winter driving conditions to get to high school tournaments.
Herzig missed most of the 201617 season with a broken wrist but managed to stay injury-free this season. For the past three years he’s had formidable opposition in zone meets – Addison Miller-Gauthier of Vanderhoof. They helped each other improve to the point where both became national-level competitors. MillerGauthier, who lost to Herzig in the freestyle tournament at nationals, still has one more high school season ahead of him at Nechako Valley before he can move on to university wrestling.
The six-foot-three McDermid had virtually nobody to wrestle in his weight class in local meets, but his first year he practiced a lot on his PGSS coach and former Prince George Gnats rugby teammate, Cris Monetta, who has since moved to Burnaby. McDermid plans to hook up with Monetta again on the practice mats in the Lower Mainland and is looking forward to a steady stream of opponents now that he’ll be going to filling the 90 kg slot in university tournaments as part of the 16-male, five-female Cascades varsity team. Monetta knows Cascades head coach Raj Virdi and that helped open the door for the two PGSS grads to move on to Fraser Valley.
“Last year was really good because Cris was about the same size as me, a bit heavier, and he was great,” said McDermid. “I couldn’t practice with him this year but it will be good to have him down in Abbotsford. I haven’t been in the sport that long, this is only my second year, but I decided to reach out to them at Fraser Valley and they ended up taking a chance on me.”