Bishop Ryan’s wrestling tradition

Hamilton’s Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary has, over the years, established a tradition of excellence in the sport of wrestling. BR has produced provincial and national champions, and Canadian Olympians.

The 41st Bishop Ryan Open will be the last one in this building. The school is preparing to move to a brand new building in January and it will have it’s own wrestling studio.

Sheldon Francis is one of the coaches: “One of the reasons we do so well is because a lot of these athletes commit and stay committed all year, from September to July, and we give them a one month break in August.”

Francis is one of several national wrestling champions who has graduated from the BR program and there could be some future champs in-training. Brad Magarrey hopes to wrestle for McMaster one day and so does his training partner Scott MacLellan, whose older brother Kevin won a national gold medal for the Marauders in 2012.

Scott MacLellan: “Everyone knows when they come to BR they’re gonna get some tough matches. Hopefully we come out the number one team.”

The Celtics were victorious in last year’s open, and are poised to repeat, as they welcome 350 athletes from as far west as Saskatchewan, and as far east as PEI.

Brad Magarrey: “The last tournament we sent out 30 guys and we got 21 medals. Really good outcome and expecting nothing less. Hopefully get a few more in there as well.”

The Bishop Ryan wrestling program has increased in participation by 25% in the last year alone, and now has 50 boys and girls participating.