Ucluelet’s municipal council held a special celebration in council chambers to honour the West Coast’s BC Summer Games medalists.
Wrestlers Caitlyn Midlane, Wyatt Rhodes and Kennedy Bruno, ultimate frisbee star Mason Midlane and Special Olympian Maxtin Lengyel all returned from the games in Maple Ridge with medals in July.
“I’d like to celebrate each of them,” said Ucluelet mayor Marilyn McEwen at the start of Sept. 3’s council meeting before reading out each athlete’s name. “I’d like to congratulate these five outstanding young people…I’d like to also acknowledge their families because I’m sure they could not have gotten here without their families.”
After receiving the public applause and kudos, ultimate frisbee gold medalist Mason Midlane told the Westerly News he appreciated the community’s support.
“It’s pretty cool to come to this council meeting…It’s a good town and they support me well,” he said.
The 14 year-old said he was first inspired to get into ultimate frisbee as a spectator watching Ucluelet Secondary School’s team play.
“I thought it looked pretty cool,” he said. “I just grabbed a disc on the sideline and started throwing it around and thought ‘I want to play this sport next year.’”
He added he was excited to participate in the BC Summer Games and was stoked on how well his team played.
“It’s a team sport. You’ve got to play as a team,” he said.
Kennedy Bruno, 15, earned an individual bronze and team bronze in her first BC Summer Games experience and the Grade 10 student is now heading into her second year of wrestling at Ucluelet Secondary School.
Despite suffering a rib injury early in the competition, Bruno courageously wrestled her way through the pain to earn her individual bronze and help her team secure its bronze.
“I just wanted to keep going because I wanted to get a medal,” Bruno told the Westerly. “I thought it would be cool to have one…It’s exciting.”
Bruno was the team’s only Tofino athlete and said she enjoyed the opportunity to get some off-season wrestling action in.
“I was pretty happy because I got to wrestle again during the summer and participate with my team,” she said, adding she was happy to compete alongside her USS teammates Caitlyn Midlane and Wyatt Rhodes. “It’s cool that three of us made it because we live in such a small place and we don’t have that many athletes.”
Rhodes, 15, was excited to bring home team silver and bronze medals, but said he was disappointed by his performance and had wanted to earn an individual medal.
“It was pretty fun, but I didn’t do very well for myself,” he said, adding he has moved up in weight class and is now facing faster opponents than he’s used to.
The Grade 10 student said he’s working on his strength training and is optimistic about the upcoming USS wrestling season with a goal of earning a medal at the provincial championships.
He added that he enjoyed travelling to Maple Ridge with his team, but isn’t always looking to make friends when competing out of town.
“I’m friends with some people that I don’t wrestle. Sometimes I’m still friends with the people I do wrestle, but it depends how I do,” he said. “I’m just focused on beating them instead of becoming their friend.”
He added he was grateful for the West Coast’s support and appreciated council celebrating him and his teammates.
“It makes me feel good and I get to be in the paper and that’s cool,” he said.
Grade 12 USS wrestler Caitlyn Midlane, 17, earned an individual silver medal as well as a team silver and bronze.
“It’s pretty exciting because I got silver, but I was also not too happy because I was capable of winning first,” she said, adding she had wrestled the gold medal winner in previous tournaments and defeated her. “I was disappointed, but it was also exciting because I could have done worse.”
She said she got teched 10-0 by the gold medalist in her final match, adding the heat inside the building drained her energy.
“I feel like nothing she was doing I couldn’t match, it was more that I wasn’t very energetic. It was really hot,” she said. “I wasn’t not ready, but I wasn’t as ready as I could have been…It is different because you’re not in your natural environment. It was much hotter than we’re used to and there’s a lot of people, which made the room stuffy and hot.”
She added that the team stuck together and supported each other and she could feel their positive vibes during her matches.
“Wrestling is an individual sport, but your teammates are always there for you no matter how good or bad you do and through all of your emotions, no matter what, they’re always there on the sideline,” she said. “They’re emotionally supporting you and being physically there for you and cheering you on. I felt happy about my teammates on the BC Summer games team, but especially Wyatt and Kennedy…It really was nice to have someone from home on the sideline cheering me on.”
She added she’s proud to represent her home coast as well as herself on the wrestling mat.
“Being from such a small place, it’s good to show where you’re from because we don’t get mentioned very often,” she said. “I think it’s really cool to be able to tell people all the different things I’ve accomplished in my wrestling career.”
Midlane is heading into her final wrestling season at Ucluelet Secondary School and is hoping to put a strong finish on an already successful high school wrestling run.
She earned two silver medals at last season’s nationals as well as silver medals at the provincial and island championships.
“I want to have more of a first place year instead of a second place year,” she said, adding her key nemesis from last season has graduated and is no longer an obstacle between her and gold medals. “Hopefully I can be more successful.”
She added that she plays various sports throughout the school year, with volleyball being the first to have its season kick off.
“That will get me back into athletic shape and then wrestling season comes along,” she said, adding mixed emotions are swirling around this being her last wrestling season.
“Wrestling is definitely a very hard sport on your body and it’s hard to keep up your weight and different athleticness. I’m excited and I’m sad obviously…I’m definitely sad, but I’m also excited to maybe come back and help out our wrestling team.”
She also expressed gratitude for council’s kudos.
“It was nice to see people supporting us and what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished,” she said. “It’s not everyday that a few teenagers go and win some medals out at something really important like that. I liked to see that they see that and are happy and proud of us for what we do.”
Lengyel was not present at the presentation, though he had been the guest of honour at the grand opening of Westcoast Community Resources Society’s new Re-Use it Store in August for earning a bronze medal in the 200-metre men’s race, a silver medal in the 4 x 100-metre men’s relay race and a silver medal in the 4 x 400 metre mixed zone relay.
