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Eagles dare on the wrestling mat

Two Eagles who flew high with the local football program have become well-grounded on the wrestling mat.
Okotoks Wrestling Club members Ryker Blankert, left, and Carson Remus have qualified for the Alberta Winter Games in Medicine Hat next month.
Okotoks Wrestling Club members Ryker Blankert, left, and Carson Remus have qualified for the Alberta Winter Games in Medicine Hat next month.

Two Eagles who flew high with the local football program have become well-grounded on the wrestling mat.

Ryker Blankert and Carson Remus, who played for the Foothills Eagles Peewee and Bantams respectively in the fall, have qualified to wrestle for Zone 2 (Big Country) at the Alberta Winter Games Feb. 13-16 in Medicine Hat.

Remus better check he is registered under the right name -- at the Okotoks Wrestling Club, they call him “Bruce”.

“My first year I was Carson and then I was Bruce and I didn’t know why,” said Remus, who will wrestle at 95kg at the Games. “It was for Bruce Baumgartner. All I know now is he was a pretty good wrestler.”

Not bad at all.

Baumgartner is the only American to win four Olympic medals (two gold, a silver and a bronze), all of them at 130kg.

Remus made the Big Country team by acclamation because there was no one was in his weight-class at Zone 2 trials in Cochrane earlier this season. That won’t be the case at the Games.

“My goal is to place — a silver, gold maybe,” he said.

He’s got some recent history on his side. The Grade 8 student at St. John Paul II Collegiate has three gold medals in four tournaments this year.

Remus, who was a 102kg d-lineman for the Bantam Eagles, joined wrestling to get in shape for football. He soon found out, football got him in shape for wrestling.

“There’s a lot more physicality (in wrestling),” Remus admitted. “Wrestling helped my endurance for football… I wish they would get more people out for wrestling. I used to think it was tacky, but it’s a really good sport.”

He’s gone from being in football shape to wrestling shape.

Since the start of wrestling season in November, Remus has cut close to 12kg, putting him well below the 95kg weight limit.

Blankert, a Grade 7 student at Westmount School, returned to the sport after a three-year hiatus from the Okotoks Wrestling Club.

“I started when I was in Grade 3, but there weren’t a lot of people at my weight,” Blankert said. “I missed it, just the physicality and there is a lot of skill involved and I can learn a lot.”

The 51kg Blankert hasn’t missed a beat. He won gold and a silver at the two meets he wrestled at this year.

His goal is to pick up another medal at the Games.

“I still have a lot more practice to do,” said Blankert, who was a fullback for the Peewee Eagles last fall. “I have to work on my groundwork -- gut-wrenches.

“This club is a great one to wrestle for I learn a lot and it’s fun -- every practice we start with (European) handball and that’s one of my favourite parts. It’s good for my endurance.”

Okotoks Wrestling coach Doug Watkins said both wrestlers have a chance to medal at the Games.

“Carson moves really well for a big kid,” Watkins said.

“He gets dominated here at practice because he’s wrestling against older kids, but that will help him at the Games.

“I’m pretty sure he will medal.”

He said Blankert is a bit green but is more than capable to surprise at the Games.

“He’s athletic and that is going to be a big plus for him,” Watkins said. “Really, he is a first-year kid, but he is learning quickly, steadily progressing and gaining confidence.”

He said as a Grade 7 student, Blankert will be in tough as he will likely face Grade 8 and 9 students at the Games.

“It’s a once in a life-time learning opportunity,” Watkins said. “He will be able to go back to the Games in Grade 9 two years from now.”

For more about the Alberta Winter Games go to abwintergames16.com

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