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Wrestler from Sturgeon Lake, locks up with the world’s best
A man from Sturgeon Lake First Nation says waving his home community’s flag at the Pan-American Championship in Argentina, meant everything to him.
Cole Sanderson, 21, did not medal at his first Pan-Am appearance but instead returned home with a wealth of knowledge. He told paNOW the atmosphere at the tournament and level of serious competition, was very new to him.
“You know you are just trying to warm up and train and you don’t really know it but you are training beside world olympic champions,” he said.
Sanderson had two matches, and his first opponent from Guatemala, the top seeded wrestler at the tournament, went on to win bronze. Sanderson’s second American opponent won the gold.