Connor Pattison
SCHOOL: New Westminster FRESHMAN’S FUTURE: Simon Fraser
As a two-time B.C. high school champion wrestler, Connor Pattison has grappled with some tough competitors.
Yet, the most challenging match of his young life came this spring as he wrestled with his choice of university and his choice of sport.
On one side was Montreal’s McGill University, offering the provincial all-star lineman a chance to play football at one of the most prestigious institutions in the country.
On the other, much closer to home, was another elite school, Simon Fraser University, offering him the chance to wrestle in a program that has produced a steady streak of Olympians.
Of course, when you’re a twosport standout who hits a 92 per cent average in the classroom and is set to major in molecular biology, you’ve got a lot to offer.
Pattison is all those things, yet humble to a fault. And to him, good advice has always been something worth listening to.
“I just think it’s important to be a good learner,” says the 5-11, 190-pound Pattison, whose twoway football career with the Hyacks saw him play guard and linebacker.
"My football coaches always talked about being coachable, and it’s something I always think about and have taken with me into the classroom, too.”
His traits and qualities are enviable, and they’re something Hyacks’ head football coach Farhan Lalji can’t speak to without a huge amount of pride in his voice.
“On the football field, he squeezed every drop of juice out of the orange,” says Lalji.
“He gave us everything he had to give. He was a relentless competitor and it seemed like when he wrestled, the bigger the moment got, the more focused he got and the better he performed.”
First introduced to the sport as a sixth-grader in 2010 by current Hyacks’ head wrestling coach Gord Sturrock, Pattison had his breakout moment as an unseeded, unheralded Grade 11 at the 2016 B.C. high school championships.
Pattison beat the first- and fourth-seeded grapplers in his 90-kilo weight class, then faced No. 2-seeded Tanjot Kahlon of Abbotsford Traditional in a showdown for not just an individual title, but for the boys overall B.C. championship title.
Trailing 8-0 and on the verge of falling via the 10-point mercy margin, Pattison rallied to win the match and give New Westminster a 48-47 victory in the boys standings.
Both Pattison and the Hyacks boys were repeat winners this season.
And now he will begin to measure victories at the university level.
There is an academic path, which may well lead to a career in medicine. There is also a wrestling program which has sent its athletes to the world’s highest level of competition.
Put it all together and it’s fair to suggest Connor Pattison has a firm grip on his future.