Pop quiz: The Usual Suspects is a 20-year-old film featuring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, or a list of award-winning names among Cochrane’s elite amateur wrestlers?
Answer: Both.
On the marquee most recently you’ll find Cochrane’s wrestlers, who won 2015 provincial titles for St. Timothy and Cochrane high schools March 14 in High River. St. Timothy Thunder won the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) provincial 1A/2A (small school) boy’s team banner, with Cochrane Cobras claiming the provincial 3A (750-1,249 school pop.) boy’s team banner.
More specifically, the leading cast includes Callum McNeice and Charles Cook winning individual gold for the Thunder and the wrestling McKeages, brothers Aidan and Brendan, taking individual gold for Cobras to power their respective schools to provincial stardom. Bow Valley High School Bobcats’ Cole Perron took home individual silver at provincials.
All are connected to the Cochrane Cowboys Wrestling Club, which hosted the highly-successful Alberta Amateur Wrestling Association’s Alberta Open on March 7. Increasingly, Cochrane amateur wrestling is a tough act to follow.
It was the second-straight provincial wrestling banner for St. Tim’s and the first-ever for Cochrane High.
“To bring that first championship home to Cochrane High in my Grade 12 year with my little brother, it’s definitely surreal,” said Aidan McKeage, 18, who missed the March 7 Open due to an ankle injury that hampered him but didn’t prevent him from winning at high school provincials. “It’s something I’m going to remember for a long time.”
The McKeages went undefeated in four matches each at high-school provincials. Wrestling at 72 kilograms, Aidan McKeage’s injury-recovery week had little effect on his performance.
“The only time I was adjusting for the week off would be in the first match at provincials,” he related. “After that, I settled back in because it’s second nature by now. Cardio-wise I might have been a bit out of it, but technically, I don’t think I lost too much.”
It was younger-brother Brendan McKeage’s first appearance at high school provincials. The Grade 10, a national bronze medallist at the national club level in 2014, wrestles at 50 kilograms.
“When I wrestled, I felt really good. I had a really good practice,” the younger McKeage said. “The best part of the tournament was winning the school banner, for sure. That’s the first time our school’s ever done that. Our school’s a big football school, so when we bring the wrestling provincial banner in it’s a big deal.”
For McNeice who, along with Cook, led Thunder to a second-straight title, it was business as usual.
“We’ve seen a lot of these wrestlers before at other competitions,” he relayed. “It was a good tournament.”
With the high school wrestling season over, Cochrane’s wrestlers will continue their “load” cycle, preparing for the national club meet in Fredericton, N.B., next month.
1A/2A (school pop. Below 750) boy’s team champs: St. Timothy Thunder
3A (school pop. 750-1,249) boy’s team champs: Cochrane Cobras
50-kg boy’s gold: Brendan McKeage, Cobras
56-kg boy’s gold: Charles Cook, Thunder
56-kg boy’s sixth: Vernon Pointen, Bow Valley Bobcats
59-kg boy’s gold: Callum McNeice, Thunder
72-kg boy’s gold: Aidan McKeage, Cobras
76-kg boy’s silver: Cole Perron, Bobcats
90-kg boy’s sixth: Karl Gildemeister, Bobcats
