KSS taken to the mat by Selwyn wrestlers

The meet, hosted by Kahnawake, ended with 90 points for Selwyn House, while runner-up Kahnawake had 74. John Rennie High was third with 64 points.

“Heading into the finals, we were leading 78-65 and were able to hold on with some thrilling performances,” says Selwyn House coach Rob Moore.

Selwyn House had eight finalists and finished with four gold medals, four silver and one bronze. Charles Jo (Grade 8), Vinay Desai (Grade 10), James Bloomfield (Grade 11) and Julian Beh Pold (Grade 11) led the way for Selwyn House with gold medals.

“Our gold medal winners were mostly dominant,” says Moore. “We overwhelmed the opposition in two matches, Jo vs. John Rennie and Desai vs. KSS, who had beaten Desai in our dual meet only two weeks earlier.

“Bloomfield and Beh Pold lost their first rounds, but came back to win convincingly.”

With his win, Bloomfield joins the ranks of three other Selwyn House two-time GMAA gold medallists in wrestling. The others were: Seth Ross in 1999, David Williams in 1995, and Serge Ghattas in 1984.

Bryan Altman (Grade 11), Ryan Quinn (Grade 11), Stephen Albers (Grade 10) and Paul Nobel (Grade 10) won silver for Selwyn House on February 15.

Julien Neves-Pelchat (Grade 10) won a bronze medal for the Gryphons. Will MacCulloch (Grade 11), Simon Altman (Grade 8) and Kamran Chaudhry (Grade 11) placed fourth in their respective weight classes. Jack MacCulloch (Grade 10) placed fifth.

The last time the Gryphons won the GMAA title was in 1983, with Rob Wearing and Mike Maurovich coaching.

“Selwyn House has come second in the GMAA championships a number of times since then,” Moore says, “but KSS has been so dominant over the past 17 years that we were not able to come close until last year.”

This year, a number of first-year wrestlers were able to step up and win, including Desai and Beh Pold. Outstanding performances were also recorded by Nobel, whose hard work and perseverance won him his first GMAA medal this year, Albers, who suffered some setbacks in matches during the season, but turned things around for the championships, and Quinn and MacCulloch, who moved up in weight class to help the team effort.

“Without this, we could not have won,” Moore says.

“This was the best team I have coached here, not because they won, but because they so willingly worked so hard and were so coachable,” he added.

“It’s not an easy task to win points in all weight categories,” commented Selwyn House Athletic Director Steve Mitchell after the meet. “Our team was well prepared, spirited and disciplined. The Athletic Department is very proud of the how our boys represented the school and the manner in which they competed.”