(submitted photo/Crystal Barden)

By Nicole Reis

Fight Like a Girl

CHS Spartans fight to keep wrestling team alive

Mar 11, 2020 | 5:28 PM

A dedicated wrestling coach and two Carpenter High School (CHS) students brought home silver and gold medals for their athletic performance this past weekend at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) provincial wrestling championships in Saskatoon.

Chris Brownrigg, Northern Pikes Wrestling Club coach and volunteer coach with CHS Spartans wrestling team told  meadowlakeNOW local high school wrestling teams faced challenges and were in a rebuilding year. The head coach moved last summer and many of the core athletes graduated in the last two years.

“I think it helps make a difference in young athletes’ lives to have goals and challenge themselves and develop life skills,” he said.

Brownrigg and his wife June stepped in to support the remaining athletes alongside new teachers and former student athlete Logan Boser.

Three years ago, Brownrigg expanded the Northern Pikes Wrestling Club to Green Lake on a trial basis but without a dedicated local coach the program ended after one season. Only one Green Lake student, Kayelyn Rasmussen, stuck with the sport. She now holds a provincial gold medal and became the first girls champion in Carpenter High School history.

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Rasmussen, 14, from Green Lake said she’s been wrestling since the age of 10 and recalls being challenged to wrestle above and below her weight class for the sheer love of the sport.

“It was a lot of work, but I love wrestling,” she said. “I figured out that I like harder sports because I also play rugby. It was really fun to start doing that.”

Rasmussen wrestles former team members and coaches to develop her skills. She entered the provincial competition weighing the lightest in the 105 kg weight class giving up to 13 kg to her opponents.

“It was really good for me. I didn’t think I would win provincial gold with the experience level I have. I think my wrestling has improved over the past season with everything that’s happened,” she said.

Rasmussen’s fight to develop in the sport presented a few challenges.

“It was also really hard because being a girl,and being First Nation and coming in [to a new school] not knowing who I’m going to wrestle or what level they’re at,” she said. “I was already suffering from an injury through the season, it was hard to figure out how to do that and not reinjure myself.”

The young athlete said the competition was challenging but also emotional.

“Some of the girls take a loss hard and sometimes that happens to me, but you have to push through it and still hold the hope that you’re going to get something from it,” she said.

Rasmussen said Chris Brownrigg has been a great support to her.

“The first tournament I didn’t win anything, but the next tournament was provincials and I ended up winning provincial gold. He was a very big support and my family was a big support too,” she said.

Rasmussen’s teammate Skylar Barden, 17, also supported Rasmussen’s development through encouragement and the occasional one-on-one wrestling match.

Barden brought home a silver medal, accomplishing her first medal win before she graduates this spring. She has won over a dozen medals in the last four years including a bronze at the 2018 U17 National Championships in Greco-Roman and gold at this year’s Regional Championships. She said she’s glad she stuck with wrestling and never lost her drive despite her shrinking team.

“Those who graduated made it fun and special,” she said. “We felt like a family but they all left to graduate. Some people quit because it didn’t feel the same.”

Barden is in her final year of high school and was determined to place in the championship.

“This is my last year and I wanted to do well. It was something I really loved so I wanted to stick with it,” she said. “

Barden’s silver medal clinched the 4A Girls Provincial Wrestling Championship, another first for Carpenter High School.

The girls, as members of the Northern Pikes Wrestling Club, are headed to Club Provincial Championships at the end of May and then the Canadian National U17/U19 Championships in Edmonton at the beginning of April. The club is looking for sponsorship and encouraging the community to support the athletes.

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(***Editors note: Parts of this story were amended from the original at the request of one of the people who were interviewed.)