Locals shine at Ontario Scholastic Weightlifting Championship

A total of 61 athletes, including 26 novices, met Saturday at the YMCA here in North Bay for the first ever Ontario Weightlifting Association’s Scholastic Championship. Although the event attracted a good number of participants from schools throughout the province, it was lifters and teams from this region that took most of the top awards.

In the smallest male and female classes, students from elementary level schools were the gold medal winners. Luc Buchanan of Guilwood Jr. Public in Toronto won the male 40 kilo and under title, while Zach Gebhart of M.T. Davidson in Callander topped the 46 kilo division. In the female 44 and under class Bronwynn Sheppard of Ecole St. Paul was first.

Other female winners included: Taylor Findlay of W.A Porter Collegiate in Scarborough at 53 kg, Victoria Dubonnet of Almaguin Highlands Secondary at 58, Courtney Simkins of Scollard Hall at 63, Kayla Turner of Laurentian University at 69, Kristen Shefield of Widdifield Secondary at 75 and Sheila Paulin of Malvern High in Toronto at +75

The best overall female lifter, according to Sinclair formula, was Kayla Turner. The best novice, using the same formula, was Tessa Alyman of Widdifield.

The Elementary School team plaque was awarded to the Ecole St. Paul team of Bronwynn and Zara Sheppard. The Widdifield Secondary School group of Kristen Shefield, Carley Tougas, Lisa Bahm, Catlin and Tessa Alyman won the female high school award. At the College/University level, it was the contingent from Canadore College, featuring Leah Hardy, Katie Rose, Kathleen McMillan, Shuana Chester, and Amber Potter, finishing with the highest point total.

Rounding out the male gold medalists were: Kempton Morris of Scollard Hall at 56 kilos, Brett Eichenberger of Canadore at 62, Jarret Cauchy of West Ferris Secondary at 69 kilos, Dan Harling of Canadore at 77 kg, Joshua Ranger from the University of Waterloo at 85, David Staniszewski of Canadore at 94, Kirt Trahan of Canadore at 105, and A.J. Wendover on Laurier University at +105.

The best male high school squad was from West Ferris Secondary School. The Trojan team included; Troy Tiller, Jesse Mastrangelo, Jordan Scott and Jarret Cauchy. West Ferris finished with 76 points, followed by Neil McNeil of Scarborough with 63, and Scollard Hall with 51. Meanwhile, at the College/ University level, the order of finish for the male team plaque was: Canadore College -84 points, Nipissing University-71, University of Toronto- 63, Waterloo -53, and York U -44.

The top male lifter was A.J. Wendover of Laurier University. Wendover easily won the +105 kilo title with lifts of 127 kilos in the snatch and 153 kilos in the clean and jerk. Brett Payne, a 94 kilo competitor from the University of Toronto, won the best novice trophy.

The inaugural Scholastic Championship was awarded to North Bay on the basis of junior weightlifting development in this area. The 2010 version of the contest will be held in Toronto.

Laurier University and North Bay native A.J. Wendover picture during a successful Clean and Jerk