By Mike Maltais
Scores of youngsters from around the county and beyond descended upon Liberty Bell High School last Saturday for the annual Youth Wrestling Tournament held in the Lions’ Den.
“We had over 200 kids show up this year,” said Liberty Bell High School varsity wrestling coach Paul Schmekel, one of many volunteers who helped coordinate the tournament. “Some came from Cashmere and Chelan in addition to the usual competitors we get from Oroville, Omak, Okanogan, Brewster and points closer.”
Schmekel said the record turnout of kids was partly due to the outstanding refreshments available at the event and partly to a recent change in the awards handed out to the winners.
“As we did last year, we gave out trophies to all the first-place winners and medals to second and third place,” Schmekel said. “The kids really like to get the trophies so we try to attract as many as we can since ours is the last tournament of the year.”
