Truro wrestlers ‘stack up reasonably well’

Truro has 16 representatives bound for the dual regional-provincial high school wrestling championships March 6 and 7 at King’s-edgehill School in Windsor.

That group includes 14 wrestlers (eight boys and six girls) from Cobequid Educational Centre, along with a brother-and-sister duo from Ecole Acadienne de Truro.

Abigail and Lee Gilbert from Ecole Acadienne train with CEC and Cougars coach Hans Budgey.

Abigail Gilbert, a Grade 7 student, has had a strong season.

“She has won all of her matches so far in three tournaments,” Budgey said. “She’s won a gold medal each time, so she should do well. She’s the only junior we have this year.”

Lee Gilbert, a Grade 11 student, competes in the 110-kilogram category, as do Cougars teammates Seth Priestatkinson (Grade 12) and James Roland (Grade 10). Roland is a CEC newcomer, though he has Truro roots.

“Roland just joined the team in early February when he started for second semester,” Budgey said. “He wrestled in Colorado, in high school there, before he came back home here. He’s only been with (CEC) a couple of weeks, but with any luck, he’ll be battle-ready by the time we get to regionals.”

This is the final high school season for five CEC senior wrestlers: males Priest-atkinson, Jake Millican and Arsh Singh and females Kirsty Idoko and Laura Mingo.

“I do look to my more experienced athletes to be the leaders within the team, but all of my Grade 12s have taken on a role as leaders at different times and in different ways,” said Budgey, who didn’t name a captain per se.

Based on their performances in tournaments at Hants East, King’s-edgehill and Sackville, the Cougars expect satisfactory results at the regionals and provincials.

“We stack up reasonably well,” said Budgey, whose senior boys won their season-opening tournament but have since faced heady competition from the likes of Sackville, King’s-edgehill and Halifax’s Ecole du Sommet. “We’re going to give it our best, but they’ll be the teams to beat.

“Our senior girls have been in the running, but we’ve had a hard time fielding an entire team due to injuries and illness and whatever else at some of these tournaments, so if we can get everybody together, then we’ll have a good shot and we’ll give it our best.”

CEC’S wrestling lineup includes three international students: two rookies from Austria and South Korea and a sophomore from Turkey.