An Okotoks wrestler wasn’t able to stand tall on the podium after winning the silver medal at the national championships.
Instead Cassidy Barnert celebrated her silver medal at the hospital in Saskatoon where she was getting her ankle straightened out.
Barnert, a Grade 12 student at Foothills Composite High School, had to bow out of the 60kg Juvenile Female final in Saskatoon April 6 when she dislocated her ankle early in the gold medal match against Victoria Kent of Saskatchewan.
“I have wrestled her lots and I never beaten her but before the match I was fully confident — I was feeling pretty sharp,” Barnert said. “So it was really tough when I got hurt in the first 30 seconds.”
Barnert was injured when Kent shot for the Okotoks wrestler’s legs and she quickly sprawled. Barnert comes from a family history of wrestlers and rugby players who are tough as nails, so usually an injury means maybe spit on the sore spot and keep on going.
“At first it hurt a bit, but then when I looked at my foot and it was facing the wrong way, I knew it was serious,” Barnert said. “The bottom of my foot was horizontal — facing my other foot. It was painful, but a doctor was there to put it back in place.”
She was sent to the hospital and 24 hours later she was sorer about the result than the injury.
“I have been better but I wish I had a proper gold medal match,” Barnert said.
Barnert, the two-time defending provincial high school champion at 60kg, won all three of her matches going into the final.
She defeated Kate Trotter from Ontario 4-0, B.C. wrestler Brandy Perry 11-0 and then outlasted Ontario’s Robyn Lee in the semifinal 7-4.
Barnert is on the mend and she is preparing for the Canada Summer Games trials. The trials are in two weeks, but she plans to get a medical exception to challenge for a spot in the future.
Also in Saskatoon, an Okotoks wrestler narrowly missed out on the podium.
Okotoks wrestler Abi Watkins just missed a spot in the semifinals by finishing fourth in the 56 kg Juvenile girls division.
Watkins was pinned in the bronze medal match by Casey Busch of Moose Jaw on April 6.
“I got caught up in a head-pinch and she was able to roll me,” Watkins said. “It was disappointing because I was ahead 3-0 at the time.”
Watkins went 4-2 in the tournament.
However, she got some revenge. She beat Busch on Sunday in the FILA tournament (for Cadet and first year Juvenile wrestlers). As a result, Watkins is the first alternate for Canada for the Pan-Am Games in the summer.
Watkins wrestled 10 matches on the weekend including the FILA and national tournament.
“It was really a good experience — a lot of good wrestlers were there,” she said.
She is now focusing on the trials in two weeks to represent Alberta in the Canada Summer Games.
In other Okotoks Wrestling Club results Christian Nori went 1-2 at 50kg Juvenile boys and Cody Thompson was 1-2 at 76 Juvenile boys. Jazz Singh was 0-2 at Cadet 69kg.
