Hunter and Carson Lee will be adding two medals to an already crowded trophy chest.
Both earned spots on the podium after standout performances for Team Manitoba in last week’s Canada Games in Winnipeg. Hunter won a gold medal in the men’s 98-kilogram classification, while Carson won silver in the men’s 76-kilogram group.
Neither of the two lost a match during the first portion of the tournament, and earning byes to the semifinals. Hunter faced Saskatchewan’s Austin Shupa in his semifinal match on Friday, defeating him on grand superiority and making his way to a shot at gold.
Carson also punched his ticket to the gold medal match by beating PEI’s Jesse Heartz on technical superiority.
Neither got an easy matchup in their gold medal matches. Carson faced off against Alberta’s Adam Thomson, while Hunter wrestled Kyle Jordon of Ontario. Both had faced off against their final opponents during the round-robin round, and both won their first matches.
Carson went first. After a spectacular bout and a late swing in his favour, Carson fell to Thomson in his final, losing a 6-5 decision on points.
“I knew the guy I was going to face in the finals was going to be my toughest match, and he was,” said Carson. “He gave me the toughest two matches I had in the tournament.”
Some confusion late in the match didn’t help matters.
“I thought they gave me two points and I thought I was winning the match for 15 seconds in the last 45 seconds. Then, I realized I had to score,” Carson said.
He tried to close the gap by pushing his opponent out of the ring. “I was pretty close in the last 10 seconds to getting some points, but I just missed it,” Carson said.
In Hunter’s gold-medal match, he hit the mat against Jordon.
Jordon was one of Carson’s Team Canada teammates in this year’s United World Wrestling (UWW) Pan-American Championships, where he earned a gold medal in his weight class.
Hunter scored an early takedown on Jordon.
“Once I got the first takedown, the second one followed it pretty quick after,” said Hunter. “Once I took him down, I locked up a lace and the match was over. I rolled him three times pretty quick.”
Calling the match one-sided would be an understatement. Hunter earned a fast victory, taking a 10-0 win on grand superiority in less than two minutes.
Hunter will add his gold to a bronze medal from last year’s Pan-Am Championship, while Carson’s silver medal will join another silver he earned at Pan-Ams earlier this year.
Climbing on the podium is a familiar feeling for the Lees, but medalling at the Canada Games was slightly different.
“It felt pretty good,” said Hunter. “We got interviewed quite a few times. It was the same level of competition as Nationals, but with more attention to it.”
The Lees still have a busy month ahead of them. After his silver-medal winning performance at this year’s Pan-Ams, Carson has earned a berth on Team Canada at this year’s UWW World Cadet Championships, set to take place in Athens, Greece from Sept. 4 to 10.
“I’m leaving for Ukraine in two weeks for a training camp, then I fly out for Worlds in Athens. Then I have a couple months’ break before I start the season again,” said Carson.
Hunter will be moving to Saskatoon this month to join the University of Saskatchewan Huskies wrestling team.
“My coach said to just train with Carson until he goes to Ukraine, then take a week off. By then, I’ll be moved into U of S and I’ll be training there,” said Hunter. “They already have two solid heavyweights there that are older, more experienced guys, and they’re bringing in me and two other heavyweights. It’s going to be a really solid training environment.”
