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Maple Ridge wrestlers medal at national team trails

Ramblers girls meet in semi-finals, go on to win silver and bronze
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Ramblers wrestling coach Kevin Menic, alumnus Ryan Hicks and current wrestlers Ashton Senko and Maddy Grof. (Neil Corbett/The News)

A pair of Maple Ridge secondary wrestlers went to the national team trials in Edmonton, and wound up having to fight each other.

Maddy Grof, Grade 11, and Ashton Senko, Grade 10, are teammates with the Ramblers, in the same wrestling club with Coast Wrestling, and both won silver medals at the BC High School Wrestling Championships this year.

READ ALSO: Ramblers win team title at provincial wrestling championships

They met in the semi-finals in Edmonton, and despite Senko jumping out to an early 4-0 lead, Grof took the match by pin, up by a score of 9-8. She went on to the finish with the silver medal, while Senko took bronze.

The event was the trials for the cadet, junior and senior national teams. As silver medallist Grof is now an alternate for Team Canada at the junior level, and would compete in the Pan Am Games if the gold medallist is not able to compete.

“It went a lot better than I thought,” said Grof, noting that she was recovering from recent foot surgery, and went to the elite-level tournament with a “just-do-your-best attitude.”

Coach Bill McCrae said Grof is a great athlete, who gave up a hockey career to pursue wrestling, and he said her tenacity is what makes her a successful wrestler. He calls her “a buzz saw.”

McCrae said Senco has an MMA background, and is dedicated, focussed and physically powerful.

Both will be in contention for provincial championships next year with the Ramblers, he said, and will be part of a women’s team that should have a chance to work their fourth team title in a row.

Both girls also have their sights set on making Team Canada and competing in the Pan Am Games, and going on to wrestle for the Simon Fraser University.

Ryan Hicks, a Ramblers alumni who currently competes for SFU, also fought his teammate at the national team trials, and finished with a bronze medal. Hicks fought his roomate Elijah Lazar and lost 7-6. He said they “go back and forth” in practice, but it was Lazar who went on to the final.

Hicks, a former high school provincial and national champion, won by technical superiority 10-0 in the bronze match.

MRSS has a wrestling pipeline to SFU, and Hicks is one of four former Ramblers currently at the school. Ivy Threatful also took bronze in Edmonton.

READ ALSO: Pair of Maple Ridge wrestlers earns full ride at SFU

Next up for the high school wrestlers is is the 2022 Canadian U15/U17/U19 Championships, coming up on June 9-12 in Calgary.

Because they will be in different age categories at that event, Grof and Senko won’t have to face one another there.


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Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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