The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

30 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE * Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Waterloo gymnast turned wrestler Jenn Hale clinches the bronze in the juvenile girls divisions. suemimTeo moto Matmen has strong showing at Canadian nationals thanks to local wrestlers wrestlers. But that‘s where you‘ll find Waterloo‘s Jenn Hale these days as a member of the Matmen Wrestling Club. Hale, 17, said she was a competâ€" itive gymnast for five years before even considering wrestling as an option at the urging of her highâ€" school coach at Resurrection Catholic secondary school, Chris Woodcroft, who was once a nationâ€" alâ€"calibre wrestler. But how do you go from the floor exercise to the more vigorous one needed to pin opponents in wrestling? "I still get a lot of weird stares from people who knew me back then and 1 tell them I‘m a wrestler because when I was in Grade 9 I was just 98 pounds," said Hale. "I was just this tiny little girl trying out wrestling. But Hale has the strength, grace and poise that comes from gymâ€" nastics training, and that pedigree is quite evident in the Grade 12 stuâ€" dent‘s athletic frame. But gymnasâ€" "When I said I was wrestling it didn‘t click." > Going to the mat the last mat you‘d think you‘d find a gymnast rolling around on is one with a bunch of . .;..\5 C Ts Fares are one way, but ‘.""' Bearskinâ€"Airlines M\ Let the Bear take you there! Call 1â€"800â€"465â€"2327 or book online at www.bearskinairlines.com By Bos VrBanac Chronicle Staff â€" fures are for tics also offered a degree of flexibiliâ€" ty that made her a natural for the other mats provided in wrestling. "I think it‘s helped out a lot," said Hale. "It makes. you more aware of what you‘re doing with your body. The Matmen‘s Wade Lehman puts up a tenacious defence on the way to earning a silver medal at the Canadian cadet wrestling championships in Saskaâ€" toon. It‘s the second medal that the Grade 10 St. David student has won for the local club. â€" "You can do the bridges and get May 2 and September 15, 2008. Tares and murcharges are arir Cl for ht detals. SPORTS In addition to the flexibility that has allowed her to get out of holds and clinches over the last four years since she picked up the sport, Hale said she was also attracted to the physical nature of wrestling. There was something about all that body contact that appealed to the once demure athlete. But when she got 0h the mat four years ago something just seemed to click. And with the help of the Matmen, a local wrestling club that is quickly developing a reputation for producing topâ€"notch talent, she made it all the way to juvenile national championships in Saskatoon, Sask., last week. "I loved it right away," said Hale. "I like that it was rougher â€" it‘s a contact sport â€" and for girls there isn‘t a lot of that out there. "That‘s what I liked." Hale said she‘s never been involved with anything that came close to wrestling before. Not marâ€" tial arts, not boxing, not even rough housing in the basement. out of holds a little easier than some of the other girls. It also gave me more strength too." At the nationals she brought home her first medal, a bronze in the 46â€"kilogram weight division. In Get out of town this May Long! Take advantage of terrific sale fares to every Bearskin Airlines destination for travel ending Septembér 1§, 2008. Purchase your ticket by May 4th for maximum savings! Buy one to visit family and friends or just getaway for the weekend! But hurry, the sooner you book, the more you could save as inventory is limited at sale fares. EACH WAY FROM WATERLOO REGION AS LOW AS... Region of Waterloo INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT She worked her way back in the doubleâ€"elimination competition and didn‘t drop another fight going into the bronzeâ€"medal final. "On the first day I had one match and I lost it to the girl who eventually won the category," said Hale, who was just 12 seconds away from winning her opening match. "After that I was really upset because if I lost one more match I would have to go home. "I came back the next day and was like, ‘That‘s enough of that,‘" said Hale. "I can‘t lose anymore." fact, it was a bit of a character check for Hale, who lost her first match of the competition and fought all the way back to the medal round. "I didn‘t want to leave on a bad note." In the bronzeâ€"medal fight she faced a girl who was actually much stronger and taller than her. â€" "She was really, really strong and I was really, really nervous," said Hale. "I won the first round and was losing in the second round with just 20 seconds left. _ "In the last 10 seconds I turned her and held her there and I outâ€" pointed her." â€" k. It wasn‘t the only strong local IT‘S ABOUT TIME! Another St. David student, Jake Jagas, won the Canadian Fila Cadet Championship and will represent Canada at the Junior Pan American championships in El Salvador this summer. His brother Sam won the Canada West Championship in the 34â€"kilogram bantam division. The Matmen was started with the help of their dad Ivan Jagas, a former national junior wrestling team member who wrestled at Simon Fraser University. He felt that there was a need in the comâ€" munity for that type of wrestling instruction and they‘ve enjoyed an embarrassment of riches since then in terms of coaching support and strong local results. result for the Matmen. Grade 10 St. David student Wade Lehman brought home the silver medal in the cadet 46â€"kilogram division, and led a charge that saw seven of eight of the club‘s cadet wrestlers finish in the top six. "The main thing we want to do as a club is take the skills they learn in competition and be able to use that in life," said Jagas. "I think in life there are lots of things that can blind side you and wrestlers kind of like that. "You always have to be ready." SUBMITTED PHOTO