Staff
When an NWOSSAA gold medal is just the second-biggest highlight of your week, it’s been an exceptional one.
Grace Petsnick of the Borderland Judo Club captured the gold medal in the U16 female under 63-kg division at the Canadian Judo Championships on Saturday in Calgary.
That came only five days after the Grade 9 student at Fort High struck gold in Midget girls’ high jump at the NWOSSAA track-and-field championships in Thunder Bay to qualify for OFSAA later this week in Belleville.
Petsnick spent a mere 3:31 on the mat combined in her three-match run to the title.
She first planted Quebec’s Somaya Sallami with an ippon takedown just nine seconds into her first bout.
Petsnick then locked in a hold down move on Jordann Warner of B.C. for the required 20 seconds to win in 1:32 and advance to the final against another B.C. competitor in Jamiliya Wellard.
Wellard scored a point to get the early advantage on Petsnick.
But the local judoka’s strength advantage eventually came through as she overpowered Wellard for another ippon at the 1:50 mark to secure her first Canadian title.
It also marked her second national crown after winning her weight class at the U.S. nationals in Irvine, California last year.
The other local representative in Calgary has a less successful–and much more painful–experience there.
Jaden Woolsey severely bruised his left hip, and suffered some muscle damage, after being taken down with a whipsaw-quick leg drag by Saskatchewan’s Jessen Brust five seconds into the first round of their U16 male under 55-kg bout.
The referee stopped the match at the 16-second mark when realizing what difficulty Woolsey was in and called for medical assistance.
Woolsey eventually was taken to hospital for X-rays.
