Tyler Wakita, Leo Goldberg and Mitchell Wolfe were greedy for gold at the B.C. Judo Championships last weekend.
The trio from the host Abbotsford Judo Club each battled their way to a pair of first-place finishes at the tournament, which drew 280 athletes from across the province to the Ag-Rec Building.
Wakita is the highest-ranking male judoka at the local club as of this fall, after Brandon Jobb, who represents Canada internationally, moved to Montreal to train at the national training centre. He lived up to that billing, winning both the junior and senior categories in the under-81 kilogram division.
“His technique is getting so good,” noted Tokue Suda, the Abby club’s head instructor. “He’s improving quite a bit.”
Two of the club’s young up-and-comers, Leo Goldberg and Mitchell Wolfe, both won gold medals in the U16 and U18 age groups. Goldberg dominated at -55 kg, while Wolfe mirrored his performance at -60 kg.
“Leo and Mitchell are going to be the next generation of champions from our club,” Suda asserted.
Wakita, Wolfe and Goldberg were among a group of 36 podium finishers from the host club, including nine other gold medalists. Austin Edwardson, Kevin Buitendyk, Shane Fowlstone, Claire Blyth, Thane Timmerman, Karissa Comeau, Greg Laslo, Alex Lafonde and Chris Cryer also won their respective categories.
The rest of the local medalists are as follows:
Silver
Dylan Comeau
Jordan McFarlane
Teddy Kewin
Madeleine Bahris
Payton Harris
Rebecca Mazzalupi
Isabelle Harris (U-16)
Parmvir Waring
Marcel Lafonde
Connor Slooyer (U-18)
Connor Jones
Melina Potvin
Jeff Swadden
Sam Clearly
Bronze
Logan Simpson
Brayden Simpson
Byron Edwardson
David Ens
Turner Cyr
Devan Beattie
Connor Slooyer
Brandon Slooyer
Harman Waring
Amy Lewko