School News

Lake Of The Woods Wrestling Tournament 

Seventeen teams hailing from as far as Geraldton, Thunder Bay, and Winnipeg, entered the fray in hopes of capturing one of coveted medals at the Lake of the Woods Open wrestling tournament. The event was held at Beaver Brae High School on January 18th, 2025. The tournament weekend kicked off with a wrestling clinic hosted by former Canadian National Team members and World Champion athletes Thomas and Phillip Barreiro from Akwesasne First Nation. As Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge is power,” and we intend to put the brothers’ gift of knowledge into practice as we head into the final stretch of the wrestling season. 
Unlike many other teams, we don’t have the luxury of university and club support. Our isolation limits our opportunities to attend numerous competitions that would help us refine our skills. The LOTW Open was our first tournament of the season, but people in our small northern town are built differently. They know how to weather the storm and endure the biting cold (as I write this, it’s currently -40°C without the wind chill). Here, strength and resilience are not optional - they’re essential. They push and push, never knowing when to quit. 
Our Warriors, bloodied and battered but never broken, faced the storm head-on and emerged with 7 gold medals, 1 silver, 1 bronze, along with five 4th-place finishes and four 5th-place finishes. The competition was fierce, with some of our wrestlers facing up to 12 opponents in their weight classes. Win or lose, our Warrior Wrestlers competed with courage, strength, respect, honor, and humility. We are so proud of you! 

Gold: 

Evan Burch
Will Brody 
Adelaide Meekis 
Micheal Sailer
 Ty Chabbert
 Sunshine Sakamoto
 Jainara (Nanie) Thongtouhomk

Silver:
Tevai Terry 

Bronze: 
Ethan McCord 

4th: 

Diya MacLeod 
John Burke 
Cassius Talifur 
Ricky Quedent 
Jazarrah (Yannah) Sacoco 

5th:
Connor Quill
Aiden Brisket 
Brendan Hochstedler

Also, good first tournament by Mitchell Trout! 

We are so proud of you! 

Coaches: Rob Sakamoto, Levi Melnichuck, Julian Cospito, Craig Burch, and Omi Sakamoto