Wrestling Romanos mine medals
The Romano wrestling family of Welland had a great spring.
Matteo Romano won a silver medal in the 57-kilogram division at the Canadian Junior Wrestling Championships in Ottawa, Arianna Romano captured a silver medal in the 41-kilogram division at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations wrestling championships in Hamilton and Bianca Romano won OFSAA antique bronze at 47.5 kilograms.
Matteo, a 12B student at Centennial, won silver medals at OFSAA last year and in 2020 but was only coaching there this year after deciding to focus on competing at nationals.
“It was a little bit of a tough decision. Every time I was on the mat I felt like I should be getting ready for OFSAA but I decided nationals should be my primary focus for this year.”
His wrestling season started slowly.
“It was a tough year. I started off at 61 kilos and it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I doubled out (lost both matches) in my first tournament at McMaster.”
In his next meet, he wrestled at 57 kilograms and placed fourth and was off and running. He won bronze and silver medals at a number of tournaments before mining silver at nationals. He went 3-1 in a round-robin action to see the silver medal hung around his neck.
“It was a good moment. I thought to myself that I did it. At the start of the season, I didn’t even think I would podium so to know that I got a silver medal at such a big tournament meant a lot to me. It felt like I had really accomplished something.”
The 18-year-old started wrestling in kindergarten with Team Impact and won a couple provincial championships and a Canada East crown. When his family moved to Niagara, he started training with the Brock Junior Badgers where he added a couple Canada East silver medals.
His goal is to wrestle for Brock and study history.
“They are determined and they are hungry. They want to win and the coaches take their time developing athletes for these big tournaments and it pays off. They have lots of champions and people going to the Olympics.”
Matteo has been training with the Brock team for the past two seasons.
“I am hoping to make the roster but I know that I have to take my time and develop. Come September, I have to see where the spots are at.”
He attributes the wrestling success in the Romano family to determination.
“We push each other and we tease each other off the mats about what happened on the mats. Then we work on that in practice.”
Matteo feels older sister, Samantha, who placed fifth at senior nationals this year, is the best wrestler in the family.
“I am bigger so I can accomplish more stuff against her and I am able to take her down but if we were the same weight she would kick my butt.”
Arianna kicked butt at OFSAA, rolling into the gold medal match with three straight wins.
“I felt very strong and powerful and I won all three of those matches 10-0. One was a pin and the other two were by technical superiority,” the Grade 10 student at Centennial said.
The final was a learning experience.
“I am definitely improving from that match. I didn’t do too well. I was winning 6-0 but then the match had other plans. I am growing from that.”
The 15-year-old ended up losing the match by pin.
“I learned that I need to have better defence on my head and arms and to just be stronger in the match.”
It was a special moment when an OFSAA silver medal was hung around her neck.
“I was very proud of myself because sometimes coming to practice can be a little tough. It is tiring so all the hard work that I had put in was going through my head.”
She described OFSAA as an incredible experience overall.
“It was really nice to have all my siblings there coaching me and pushing me to my OFSAA silver. Having all my teammates there to support me was also great.”
Arianna started wrestling when she was six with Team Impact before joining the Brock Junior Badgers program when she was nine.
The former Canada East champion placed fourth at OFSAA in Grade 9 and she is looking forward to the next steps in her wrestling career.
“I am going to see where the future takes me.”
She feels supporting each other is what makes the Romanos successful wrestlers.
“We are alway there for each other, pushing each other and giving each other advice and support.”
On her way to antique bronze at OFSAA, Bianca recorded two wins by technical superiority on the first day to qualify for the semifinals. She ended up losing her semifinal match to the eventual champion.
“It was so good. I wrestled that girl tons before and usually she just dominates me right away,” the Grade 11 student at Centennial said. “That match was such an improvement. I was scoring points on her and we had such a close match. That was a personal win for me because yes I lost the match but I had personal wins in it and I was very proud, my siblings were proud and my teammates were proud. It was amazing.”
She then won a match to qualify for the bronze medal match, but was pinned.
She has already set her sights on next season.
“I just want any placement better than fourth. Obviously the goal is to win but I just want better than last year. This year I did better than last year so I want to keep improving.”
Bianca started wrestling when she was in Grade 1 and coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, she began training at Brock University. She won the youth national trials in Grade 9 and placed fifth at OFSAA in Grade 10.
Training with Brock varsity athletes has helped her a lot.
“It is different wrestling university people because they have had so much more experience. They have been through so many tournaments and they are at a higher level. Being put into that intensity really prepares you.”
She loves being part of a big wrestling family.
“We push each other constantly. With my siblings being my coaches they are so tough on me but I know it is out of love. Pushing each other and having each other’s support makes us better.”
