Alberni Invitational coming up

PRESS RELEASE

ALBERNI INVITATIONAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

GEARS UP FOR FEBRUARY 3-5, 2011

This Year Featuring a new Grappling Division open to all Comers

The 28^th Annual Alberni Invitational Wrestling Tournament is scheduled for the Alberni Valley Multiplex February 3-5, 2011.  The Invitational will bring over 600 competitors from all over B.C. to the Valley for three days of intense wrestling action in five different age groups plus another 200 in categories such as the Open, Elementary and a new Grappling division.  .

The Alberni Invitational is widely considered the most prestigious high school wrestling tournament in B.C. and has received recognition across Canada.  The tournament begins on Thursday, February 3^rd  with weigh-ins for boys and girls in the 3 middle and secondary aged divisions at 7:00 p.m. at Glenwood.

The Alberni Invitational tournament action will run all day on Friday, February 4^th from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Alberni Valley Multiplex.  There are age groups for School Age (gr 6-8), Cadet (grade 9-10) and Juvenile (grade 11-12). There will be lunch (11:30 am-12:30 pm) and dinner (4:30-5:30 pm) breaks. An Elementary Division returns this year with over 100 local youngsters expected to participate. The Elementary division runs from 12-3 pm Friday.

Friday night at 7:00 p.m. will feature the ever-popular semi-finals. Friday night will also feature the Open division where alumni and college wrestlers can test their skills. The North Island College team will have wrestlers entered.  The conclusion of the rest of the preliminary matches in the age class divisions will begin Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m.  Medal matches will start at about 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning.  The finals in the Schoolboy/girl division (grade 6-8) and Cadet (gr 9-10) will start at noon on Saturday. The Juvenile (grade 11-12) finals start at 2:30 pm on Saturday and wrap up by 3:30 p.m.  There is not cost for spectators for the preliminaries and the finals are by donation.

One exciting addition to this year’s Invitational will be the new Grappling division that will run on Saturday. Grappling is another variation of wrestling that is now sanctioned by the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association. It combines many of the techniques and actions of wrestling with various martial arts disciplines. Alberni Wrestling has partnered with Dragon Martial Arts to add this new dimension to the Alberni Invitational this year.

Registrations for grappling are open to all interested participants of all ages. Registration and weigh-in for grappling will take place Saturday morning at the Multiplex at 7:30 am with grappling action starting soon after 9 am. There will be a grappling official’s clinic Friday evening at 7 pm and an athlete’s rules clinic at 8 am Saturday after registration. Make sure you come out to watch this exciting new action.

Not only do local fans have an opportunity for some great competition at the Invitational, you also will once again see very competitive Alberni wrestlers.  The ADSS Boys team is currently ranked #6 in the province and will likely battle it out with over 60 other schools for the team title in the Juvenile and Cadet divisions. These teams include #1 ranked Guildford Park of Surrey and other top teams such as Abby Traditional, Burnaby Central and WJ Mouat Secondary both of Abbotsford.  

In the Juvenile Girls division ADSS is ranked # 4 in BC with Carson Graham of North Vancouver #1.   Yale and Terry Fox round out the top 4 girls teams.   In the Schoolboy/girl division Alberni will have strong teams from Neill and Dunn Middle Schools and both schools should be in the top 10. Ucluelet Secondary will also have wrestlers in most age divisions.

The AV Times will feature pictures and write ups next week on all the top local wrestlers to watch at the 2011 Invitational.  It will be an exciting few days of wrestling action in the place many observers call “The Wrestling Capital of BC – Port Alberni! “

For more information contact Tournament Director

TOM McEVAY--- Phone home:724-0577 or work: 723-3744; email tmcevay@sd70.bc.ca