by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
FORESTERS FALLS — The Foresters Falls teenaged-wrestler who competed at the Canadian Amateur National Wrestling Championship returned home with a silver medal and an injury.
Teegan Tabbert, the 16-year-old daughter of Lynda and Danny Tabbert, earned a silver in the 52-kilogram Cadet freestyle at the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Championship and a fourth-place finish at FILA (Federation Internationale Lute Association), which is the French wrestling association. Teegan wrestles with the Renfrew Amateur Wrestling Club in Renfrew.
To earn a berth in the gold-medal match, Teegan defeated three opponents, two of them she has wrestled in previous tournaments.
Her opponent in the gold medal match was Victoria Seal from British Columbia.
In the round-robin FILA, which she earned the right to compete in having finished in the top two at the Canadian national, Teegan competed in four matches, losing three of them.
In the first match, she hyper-extended her left elbow, which means it was bent back further than it should go, causing her a painful injury. Explaining, she said it’s like suffering a sprain. She lost that match and the next one. However, she was successful in match three and lost in the final match.
Her mother said, “When she injured her arm, she lost focus. It was 10 matches later before the second match. She was awesome in her third match and had a very strong opponent in the fourth match.”
Teegan added, “I was disappointed with FILA, but I was injured and didn’t wrestle my best.”
Her main coaches are Harry and Shohannah Smith, and Grant Lavallee is the head coach of the Renfrew wrestling club. Two other club members who competed at the nationals were Jolie Brisco, who lives near Renfrew and Cole Herbert out of Arnprior.
Cole returned home with a silver in Greco style wrestling while Jolie, who wrestled well, did not make it onto the podium.
This is Teegan’s sixth year wrestling and her second time at the nationals. While there are a few more practices this season, there are no more tournaments until the summer, when she will have the opportunity to compete at the Ontario Games and Canada Cup. However, with hopes of having a summer job, Teegan’s not sure if she’ll get to go to those events, but if she can, she’ll be there.
