BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
For her size, Teena Lalonde packs plenty of
power in her four-foot-ten frame.
 |
| name="valign"
top >
Teena Lalonde |
Recently, Lalonde became the first girl from
Ecole secondaire Macdonald-Cartier to win a gold medal in the
Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA)
wrestling championships.
Lalonde won the gold in the 41-kilogram
division. She was the only gold medal winner from Sudbury at
OFSAA.
"I was so happy. I was really excited because
no girl from my school ever won gold before. The school made a
big deal out of it. They had a presentation for me in the
gym."
Lalonde is also only the third girl from the
Sudbury area to win a provincial gold. Marissa Brown (Sudbury
Secondary) and Alyssa Unwin (Chelmsford) were the others.
Her win culminated a dominating year for
Lalonde, as she was the Sudbury and Northern Ontario high
school champion as well.
At the OFSAA event, Lalonde faced the 17 best
girls at the 41-kg division in the province.
Although she cruised through her first two
matches, Lalonde had some trouble with her semi final opponent
because she underestimated the girl's
skills.
Then it was onto the gold medal match that
had Lalonde pitted against a familiar foe.
"I was really worried about the final match
because I had to wrestle a girl who beat me at the Ontario
Cadet/Juvenile wrestling championships earlier this year," said
Lalonde. "I beat her 5-0, and I was really happy. I worked a
lot harder to beat her this time."
Lalonde opened a lot of eyes this past
season, which was only her third year in wrestling.
"Teena did very good this year," said
Macdonald-Cartier wrestling coach Patrick Quenville.
"Teena really improved a lot from last
season. She really out did her self this year. She showed a lot
of heart in every practice and event."
Her small, but mighty, stature makes Lalonde
a difficult opponent.
"Teena's really strong to begin with," said
Quenville. "Because of her height, she's also very stable on
the mat. She also never gives up. Teena's always fighting. We
practised a lot of leg shots with her this year, and it helped
her."
Quenville has already seen an immediate
impact of Lalonde's golden performance.
"It's great for wrestling at the school,"
said Quenville. "We didn't do good last year. This year we won
a gold and a silver (by Celeste Rodrigues in 67-kg)."
Lalonde's success has encouraged a lot of
other teen girls to show interest in joining the wrestling team
next year.
