Port Hardy Secondary School Grade 12 student Sheldon Frank can proudly say he’s a provincial-level athlete.
Frank and his teammates, Grade 10 student Anthony Blacha and Grade 9 student Auzton Shaw, made the trip down island to the Spectrum Community School gymnasium in Greater Victoria to compete at the Vancouver Island Zone Championships last Saturday (Feb. 10), with all three ready to lay their bodies on the line to achieve glory in the sport of freestyle wrestling.
Frank’s first match of the tournament was against top ranked 63 kg wrestler Alex McKenzie from Alberni District Secondary School who’d won bronze the previous weekend at the 39th annual Port Alberni Invitational.
McKenzie was a dangerous opponent, but Frank wasn’t afraid and didn’t back down from the challenge. He went out on his shield, trying his best to defend takedowns and even fought out of an incredibly close pin attempt. The ref scored a two-point takedown for Frank during the match, however, with the score 10-2 in favour of McKenzie, and with only 41 seconds left on the clock in the first period, the ADSS team went and challenged Frank’s takedown. The scorekeepers removed his points from the scoreboard and the match ended abruptly as a 10-0 technical fall, with McKenzie getting his hand raised in victory.
“They put me in the hardest bracket everytime and I still push through,” Frank said about facing McKenzie. “I really wanted to go more with that guy, I feel I could’ve maybe pushed the match into the second round.”
While Frank was frustrated by the loss, he regrouped and got warmed up for his next match in the consolation bracket against Mirai Suzuki from Francis Kelsey Secondary School. As soon as the match started, Frank went on the attack by putting his hands on Suzuki and getting a single leg takedown. From there, he locked up a half nelson and wrenched him over into a pin, earning the victory in just 40 seconds.
“I was pretty angry,” Frank said about being moved into the consolation bracket. “I like pinning people, so I took it out on my opponent.”
Frank had now taken the important first step towards the bronze medal match, but he had a very daunting task ahead of him; namely, a rematch against the very durable Darius Martin from Timberline, who had pinned Frank back at the Campbell River Invitational when they were both competing up at 66 kg.
The rematch turned out to be an all out war, with Martin getting the first takedown and then Frank scoring a takedown of his own to make it 2-2. Martin managed to get Frank down again, and then scored four straight exposure points to make it 8-2. Just as Frank was on the verge of losing by technical fall, he reversed Martin and ended up on top of him in a pin attempt, scoring two big points of his own. Martin dug down deep and refused to quit. He scrambled out, reversing Frank and getting the top position back to make it 9-4. He then scored another two exposure points just as the whistle went to end the first period.
Both athletes were given a minute to rest before the start of the second period. Frank quickly realized the score was 11-4 in Martin’s favour and he was on the verge of losing by technical fall. With that in mind, he went back out on the mat determined to score some points. Martin came in aggressive and shot a takedown on him, but Frank sprawled and spun around, taking his back and scoring two much-needed points to cut the lead to 11-6. Frank tried to crank him over into a pin with a half nelson, but it was no use as Martin was defending it well. The ref stood them back up and Martin shot in again, this time getting Frank down with a single leg. He rolled him over twice to earn a 17-6 technical fall victory and moved on to the bronze medal match.
“He kept getting exposure points on me, it was tough to deal with,” Frank said about the rematch. “He felt so heavy, I couldn’t breathe when he was on top of me.”
Frank was exhausted at this point, but he hadn’t been knocked out of the tournament just yet. With his season now on the line, he needed a win in his final match of the day against Tyler Belanger from Quamichan to place fifth out of the 10 wrestlers who’d entered the 63 kg division hoping to qualify for the B.C. Provincial Championships.
Frank was upset he’d lost his chance to compete for a medal, but he cleared his mind and gave it everything he had against Belanger, ultimately landing a fireman’s carry into a pinfall in 46 seconds, securing him a spot at the provincial championships.
“I felt bad about having to do it, but it was either me or him,” Frank said with a shrug. “I got out to a slow start this season by losing all of my matches in Campbell River, but then I turned it around in Port Alberni, which surprised a lot of people. Now I just have to show everyone at provincials what I can do. They underestimate Port Hardy a lot, and I’m going there to show them how good we can be if we really try.”
Frank’s teammates Blacha and Shaw also turned in solid performances. Blacha’s first match was against Daniel Eduardo O’Hara in the 60 kg division, which he lost 10-0 by technical fall (O’Hara went on to win the gold medal). Blacha was then moved into the consolation bracket and faced Riley Marshall-Wesley from Timberline. He came out aggressive and scored six takedown points before Marshall-Wesley managed to capitalize on an error and win the match by pinfall.
Blacha said he felt like he performed “pretty good” during the tournament, and his favourite moment was when he landed “two double legs” in his second match.
Shaw tried to weigh in for the 60 kg division, but he couldn’t make it and was forced up into the 63 kg shark tank with Frank and another top seed, Carter Zuback from Queen Margaret’s School (Zuback took home the silver medal, losing 10-1 to McKenzie in the final).
In his first match of the day, Shaw gave an admirable showing against Martin, losing by a 10-0 technical fall. Shaw took the loss in stride and came back aggressive, pinning Bastian Fleck from Timberline in 36 seconds, only to then lose to Alper Mete from Nanaimo 10-0 in his final match of the day.
Shaw said he felt he performed “pretty good” and that his favourite moment of the day was “getting a head and arm pin” against Fleck in his second match.
When asked to comment, PHSS head coach Paul Cagna said he was proud of how the team performed.
“All three of them went in there and put it all on the line,” he said. “While Sheldon had to wrestle through a really tough bracket, he gave it his all.”
He noted he was a bit nervous for Frank, because when you get moved into the consolation round, “wrestlers have to run the table to get third or fifth. He deserved to go to provincials, and he proved it on Saturday.”
He also pointed out that while Shaw did have a challenging time trying to make the 60 kg weight class, “he has a bright future in the sport and I’m looking forward to helping him achieve his goal of making provincials in 2025.”
As for Blacha, Cagna said he definitely brought the “double legs” and some “Port Hardy toughness” to the Vancouver Island Zone Championships.
The B.C. Wrestling Provincial Championships will be streamed live from YouTube through B.C. school sports starting on Feb. 23.