By Larry Moko
Powered by the gold-medal wins of Ella De Almeida and Taylor Engelen, the Bishop Ryan Celtics maintained their hold on the OFSAA girls' team wrestling championship.
The Celtics travelled to Kitchener Memorial Auditorium March 3-5 and finished atop the girls' point standings for a third consecutive year.
"The girls dominated again," Celtics coach Sheldon Francis said. "And their having five titles in six OFSAAs is great for our program. They're starting to build a legacy of their own."
Bishop Ryan narrowly missed out on repeating as the overall team champion. It finished second by three points after a late surge by Pickering St. Mary's.
"St. Mary's of LOSSAA had 27 athletes that qualified," Francis said. "So, with their strong coaches, we knew they were going to give us a run for our money."
Gonzaga, which tied BR for first in boys team last year in Hamilton, won the division outright this time around while the Celtics ended up sixth.
Said Francis: "It was just a great, competitive tournament. It was wonderful to see."
De Almeida captured gold at the Ontario high school finals for a second-straight year. She wrestled at 64 kilograms last March and 67.5 kg this year.
"Ella is a phenomenal athlete who is very, very nice," the BR coach said. "In her first year at OFSAA, when she was in Grade 10, she won the Sportsmanship Award which is given out from the officials. That's because she's a wonderful and nice person all around.
"She's very unassuming, but when she gets on the mat she's a fierce competitor."
De Almeida attributed her success to hard work. She won four matches and received a bye along the way.
"It was a lot of fun," she said. "And I'm so proud of the team that we pushed through. I plan to come back for another year to develop my skills and get more opportunity to practice."
As for Engelen, Francis was pleased she could improve on her OFSAA silver medal from a year ago.
"Last year was not like Taylor at all," he said. "She's usually very calm and collected. This year she made up for it. She dominated her competition all the way through (each match won by technical fall).
"She was not going to be denied that gold medal. I'm very happy for her."
Engelen wrestled at 67.5 kg a season ago and 61 kg this year.
"This is something that meant a lot to me and that I really wanted," Engelen said of the gold medal. "Especially after what happened last year I made sure that going into the season I was prepared in every possible way. I paid attention to every little detail both physically and mentally, on the mat and off."
Engelen concentrated on her nutrition, too, and continued her dedication to practice.
"I was a captain of the team last year," she said, " but I decided to step down from that position just to focus more on myself ... my mental and physical health.
"I just had to figure out what I needed to do to perform my best. I'm still here to help the team and be a mentor to all the new athletes."
Engelen also plans to return to high school next year before pursuing a post-secondary wrestling career.
A gold-medal winner at the recent provincial juvenile meet held at Can-Am Centre in Markham, Engelen finds herself at the top of the ladder for the upcoming Canada Summer Games trials. De Almeida is second going into the ladder tournament trials in her weight class (the top three qualify).
Both Engelen and De Almeida compete for the Junior Marauders.
Said Francis: "We're hoping to host the Canada Summer Games trials here at Bishop Ryan from May 17-19. And we're hoping Taylor and Ella will be on the team."
Bishop Ryan's other podium finishes at OFSAA were by Christian Coccia (sixth, 47.5 kg), Jacob Fazari (fourth, 44 kg), Tiago Mota (fifth, 54 kg) and Elma Albaba (fifth, 57.5 kg).
"The fact that we could come second by three points bringing 13 less athletes than the team that placed first was incredible," Engelen said.
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
