Seventeen-year-old wrestler Ford Witt wrestled his way to gold in the Greco-Roman division at wrestling nationals in Windsor, Ont. April 8-9.
“It’s mostly big throws and it’s pretty fun,” said Witt.
He credits a lot of his success to the support he gets from his parents.
In his second year making it to the national competition, Witt competed in both free style wrestling and in Greco-Roman.
Both styles of wrestling are similar but in Greco-Roman, wrestlers aren’t allowed to touch or use their opponent’s legs when attempting takedowns.
Free style is what is wrestled at the Olympics and wrestlers can use their opponent’s legs in take down maneuvers.
Witt went to nationals to compete in free style and described his entry into Greco-Roman as “spur of the moment.”
The Greco-Roman competition was held on the Sunday of Nationals and while Witt was finished in his division of free style, he had team mates still competing on Sunday.
Witt decided to enter so he could wrestle on Sunday.
“I just decided to try that and it ended up going pretty well,” he said.
“I had nothing to lose by trying,” said Witt.
In addition to his gold medal, Witt placed fourth in the more common free style in the 54kg division.
Witt said that going into nationals he knew that competing in the 54kg weight was going to be very tough and competitive.
Considering the competition, Witt is happy with his performance but wishes he been able to medal in both styles.
“I was really hoping to get a medal for free style,” he said.
In addition to competing with his club team, The ROC out of Calgary, Witt also wrestles with the Chestermere High School Team where Witt, who is in grade 12, is in his final year.
He plans to continue wrestling into the future, and hopes to earn a wrestling scholarship.
