Cochrane-born wrestler Elijah Springer capped off his 2017-18 wrestling campaign with a bronze medal in the Canadian Cadet Wrestling Championships on April 13 in Edmonton. The 16-year-old Springer dominated the 71k weight class until he cramped up in his semi-final match, forcing the young wrestler to compete for bronze instead of the gold medal. Cochrane Cowboys head coach Vern McNeice was proud of Springer’s effort, regardless of the result and said Springer showed a lot of heart being able to bounce back and finish off the tournament with a medal. “Elijah could have very easily been in the gold medal match. He was leading 7-0 in the semi-final and he cramped up. That is a learning experience as well … we can deal with that, but it’s certainly disappointing,” McNeice said. “But to his credit, he battled back with a lot of character and managed to come home with a bronze. That’s tough to get at nationals. Top 10 kids are all tough as nails. He’s a young kid. He’s very athletic, comes from an athletic family … both he and his brother (Isaiah) are natural athletes. A certain level of performance comes fairly easily to those who have that level of natural ability.” “The younger kids really started to dig into the trenches this year where senior elite athletes live. On that day in nationals, Elijah was there and he performed incredibly well and I’m excited for the progression Elijah has made as well as many others but it was Eli’s day and he dominated in a lot of really tough matches against a lot of tough competition.” “I’m not talking matches that were 3-1, I’m talking where he pinned his opponent and beat him 10-0. I’m very excited for Elijah, he has a bright future ahead of him if he chooses to take the wrestling path. It’s like any sport where you’ve got talented kids who get to a certain level of performance, and getting to the next level is a process and I’m excited to see how Eli responds.” The Cowboys Wrestling team had six other wrestlers participating in the Championships, with all of them finishing out of medal contention. Naomi Cook went 1-2 in her matches while Autumn Shopa was dealing with an injury that forced her to pull out of the competition. On the boys side, Connor Pointen, Isaiah Springer, Hunter Smith and Tyler Wenninger had tough opening draws, making their road to a medal much tougher. McNeice was still happy overall with his team and said tournaments like this are a learning experience that the kids can use moving forward. “We’ve got a young team. We’ve had some very strong athletes these past few years and we’ve had a very strong peak in our cycle so to speak … every team kind of has one, where certain kids come and go. We’ve got a mix of two groups of kids and a lot of our senior athletes are moving on to university,” McNeice said. “The group that was there this year, we had some new leaders and some new kids emerge and we had a couple senior athletes that were disappointed in their performances. They were absolutely capable of getting top two or three finishes, and it didn’t work out that way … that’s just the way it is sometimes. Really tough draws, maybe just not having the best day and I’d say we had a couple wrestlers in that boat.” “They’re on the outside now looking in going ‘I could have beaten those guys and I could have been there competing for a medal’ and it’s very true, so they need to reflect, learn and build off of that and move forward. We had some young athletes, like Tyler Wenninger for example, who haven’t been wrestling for 10 to 12 years like some of our other kids. The younger kids wrestled really well.” The Cowboys are now done for this year’s season, but McNeice has some high hopes for the group when they return. “We’ve still got a strong core of kids that are going to be back … we’ve only got Hunter Smith who’s graduating, he’s going to the University of Calgary. But all the kids that were at nationals this year will be with the team again next year,” said McNeice. “In terms of looking forward, I want the kids to take a couple weeks off and not even think about wrestling. Quite truthfully, all the kids who are really competitive and really want to go and be on that national team, we’re back training. We train with the University (of Calgary) a few times a week and we’ve got national camps that are beginning at the start of June.” “We’re going down to South Dakota with the U.S. junior national team and we’re back at it. It’s a process; you get some rest and continue on. It’s important for them to get the rest they need, but it’s also important to expose them to the highest level of training partners that we can.
