Local wrestler Amber Maschke is off to the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, after claiming a bronze medal at the Junior Canadian Championships in Fredericton, N.B. The Canadian tournament took place March 22 and 23.
Maschke, a Grade 12 student at Olds High School, wrestled against primarily older competitors in their first, second and third years of university.
“The competition was a little bit tougher. They're just a lot stronger than they are at high school. I thought I did pretty good,” Maschke said, noting that because of where her birthday falls, at the national competition she was competing against older wrestlers.
After the medals were decided, Maschke was matched up against, and defeated, the silver medalist in the 55-kilogram junior division, thus claiming a spot on the national junior team heading to the Pan American Games, which run from July 10 to 15.
The two faced each other because they hadn't previously wrestled during the national tournament.
In preparation for the Pan Am Games, Maschke will be continuing with some training at OHS and will also be travelling to the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary a couple of times a month for further practice.
“(Further training) will help me focus on the simple moves and just kind of perfect those a little more and work on my strength 'cause that's what I was lacking at the tournament,” she said.
