Chatham Wrestling Club Competes In First Ever Tournament
Kayla Smith wins bronze – Contributed Photo
their first ever tournament, the 2019 Cadet and Juvenile Provincial Championships, last weekend in Brampton, Ontario at the CAA Center in front of a few thousand supportive members from the Ontario wrestling community. The small team of 7 athletes represented Chatham extremely well both on and off the mats finishing in 29th place out of 44 teams and setting the bar for future seasons.
Individually Chatham Wrestling Club earned its first ever provincial championship medal as Kayla Smith of Thamesville clinched a 3rd place finish using her impressive fitness, skill and balance to overwhelm her
opponent culminating in a thrilling pin fall victory. Narrowly missing bronze medals in the Juvenile and
Cadet divisions respectively, Maddison Segeren of Charing Cross and Riley Crummer of Florence had
tough fought competitions and finished on the podium in 4th place. Maddison never gave up after losing
her first bout of the day and worked her way through the consolation bracket ending her tournament
with an impressive winning record of 3 wins and 2 losses. Of note, Riley Crummer moved up an entire
age category and competed with athletes 2 years’ older showing grit and determination far beyond his
age. Daniel Crummer of Florence ended his tournament with 1 win and 2 losses in the cadet division.
Hanna Srokosz of Erieau competed in the Juvenile division and her sister, Graci Srokosz, competed in the
Cadet division. Zach Parent of Chatham also competed in the Cadet division.
All of the Chatham Wrestling Clubs athletes were in the first year of eligibility for their age category.
Competing against older and more experienced wrestlers this year leaves the door open for great improvement in the coming 2020 season. Any questions about amateur wrestling in Chatham-Kent or registration information for next season can be directed to the club through email at
thechathamwrestlingclub@gmail.com.