OFSAA 2012 Article
Drury qualifies 11 for OFSAA By: Steve LeBlanc. The Canadian Champion (Milton): Sunday, February 26, 2012
Reed Nicholson is no stranger to OFSAA, with three previous appearances under his belt.
But at each of those provincial championships he closed things out as a spectator watching fellow E.C. Drury Spartans battle for a medal or spot on the podium.
As much as the 54-kilogram wrestler is known as encouraging teammate, Nicholson wants to be one of those getting cheered on in the finals for his OFSAA swan song.
“It’d be nice to finish up with a spot on the podium (top-six finish),” said the graduating senior, following his Golden Horseshow Athletic Conference (GHAC) title victory at Hamilton’s Bishop Ryan Secondary School Thursday. The top two finishers at GHAC advance to OFSAA. “The best I’ve done before is seventh (at OFSAA), so I’d like to take that next step up.”
Recent results suggest that’s quite possible.
One of 11 Drury wrestlers qualifying for OFSAA and leading the school to a decisive team title win at GHAC Nicholson is undefeated in his last two tournaments.
He put the finishing touches on his GHAC run with a 6-0, 6-0 victory, his fourth of the day.
The OFSAA veteran feels he’s delivered some of his best wrestling in recent weeks, with much cleaner technique.
“I’m getting better with my shooting. They’re deeper and stronger now,” noted Nicholson, who started in the Dynamo youth feeder program in Grade 5, following in the footsteps of brother Cole. “The last two tournaments have been probably my best ever, so I think I’m ready to finish (high school career) strongly.”
Fellow 12th grader Anthony Zammit won’t have any OFSAA experience to draw on when he heads to Peterborough next week.
But to say the 61-kilogram wrestler has momentum on his side is certainly a fair assessment.
Set to make his OFSAA debut having come close to qualifying in previous years Zammit has pulled off clean sweeps at his last three tournaments. He clinched GHAC gold with a come-from-behind three-round decision, driving his opponent out of bounds to win the tiebreaker 5-4.
He too is continuing a family tradition, having first taken to the mat in Grade 2 after being inspired by father John’s stories of wrestling at Drury in the ’80s.
And also like Nicholson, Zammit has made noticeable improvement in recent months.
“I think I’m a smarter wrestler now. I’m more mentally prepared and am doing a better job picking my spots.”
Despite a tough fourth-place finish for two-time OFSAA silver medalist Zack Brady, the Spartans will be taking six wrestlers with OFSAA experience to Peterborough.
They include GHAC champions, Kierran Smillie (41-kg), Chris Varas-Hedman (95) and Max Michaelis (77), who’ll be joined by kid brother Jake.
The younger Michaelis who began wrestling with twin brother Cole two years ago qualified in his first year at Drury with a second-place finish at GHAC. He went 5-1 with three pins in the 47.5-kg ranks, losing the gold-medal match in a competitive three-round clash.
The Spartans missed advancing a few more to OFSAA on narrow semifinal decisions, but still managed to put together one of its best provincial qualifying contingents in recent memory and handily beat Bishop Ryan for the GHAC team title.
Suneel Rambharose claimed gold in the 44-kilogram division, while advancing with second-place finishes were Luke Campbell (57.5), Dan Stomphorst (61), Cody Franke (95) and Jarrett Stepto (89).
OFSAA runs March 5 and 7.