In an effort to provide a more consistent approach to offering coverage for the wide variety of sports that are highlighted on SudburySports.com, we've decided to include a new feature. Bi-weekly league or sport specific updates will offer a wide array of statistical tidbits, roster updates, tournament results for participating teams and clubs. Combat sports (wrestling/boxing/karate/martial arts/etc..) will be featured every second Sunday - next update is December 28th

Rayside Wrestling Club athletes are at it once again, picking up no less than nine podium finishes while taking part in an invitational meet in Sault Ste Marie in early December. Gold medal winners from the local club included Ashley Smith (HWT - CVDCS), Spencer Burton (72kg - CVDCS), James Brebant (89kg - CVDCS), Sarah Hirschfeld (61kg - Sudbury Secondary), Simon Diebel (64kg - St Benedict), Teare Arnold (64kg - Thunder Bay) and Austin Desforges (38kg - St Charles).

Pete Barbeau (51kg - Lo-Ellen) and Mercedes Byrnes (64kg - Champlain) both earned Silver while Marc Drouin (64kg - Champlain) finished 6th in his weight class. The Rayside Club will next compete in January, heading to a large meet in Ottawa that generally attracts all of the top teams from Eastern Ontario.

A clean sweep for another wave of up and coming boxers at the Top Glove Boxing Academy as a quartet of athletes under the tutelage of Gord Apolloni return home as victors. Brian Derro, a 14 year old student at Lockerby Composite competing in the 96lb classification, stopped opponent Steven Brassard (Plassiesville) with a combination of body shots as the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

Yet another Lockerby student, Josh Paavola, went the distance for the win, dominating over much of the three round bout and outpointing his Quebec opponent 13-4. Ben Olilla, on the other hand, is not a pure local product. A native of Timmins who has boxed out of the Timmins Boxing Club, Olilla is a University of Waterloo student who has been in Sudbury on placement for much of the fall.

Competing in the ring for just the second time in his career, Olilla made the most of it, receiving the "best bout of the evening" award for his win in La Belle Province. Finally, Lee Thibeault made it a clean Ontario sweep, getting the better of hometown favourite Yoan Nadeau in the featured fight.

The next boxing card for the ONTC Top Glove crew will come on February 21st at the Academy off Brady Street.

Early signs suggest that the Chelmsford Valley District Composite School (CVDCS) Flyers are well-positioned to repeat in their bid for an overall grand aggregate championship come the Ron Preston City Meet in February. The Chelmsford crew captured the "Boot" trophy last Friday at a meet in Val Caron which attracted many of the top wrestlers from across Northern Ontario.

Local Gold medal winners included: Calvin Waine (64kg - Notre-Dame), Zack Mullin (72kg - Lo-Ellen), Spencer Burton (77kg - CVDCS), Brad Durigon (83kg - Lockerby), James Brebant (89kg - CVDCS), Austin Roy (HWT - St Benedict), Samantha Robillard (54kg - CVDCS) and Ashley Smith (HWT - CVDCS).

Many of the same competitors then trekked slightly East the next day, taking part in the NEO Championships in Sturgeon Falls, a qualifying meet that helps rank athletes in preparation for Provincials in February. Local winners on the day were:

Competing with the esteemed Brock Badgers Wrestling Team, a pair of young ladies with local connections travelled to Vancouver last month, taking part in a pair of tournaments that featured wrestlers from Russia, the United States and India, including a handful of Olympic and World Medalists.

Sudbury-native and Macdonald-Cartier graduate Celeste Rodrigues finished 6th in the 59kg weight classification while former Nova Scotia native Diana Ford, who moved to the Sudbury area to pursue her wrestling career, picked up a fourth place finish in the 51 kg grouping.

Ford followed up with a Bronze medal performance at the 2008 Ontario Sr Championships in Guelph in November. Lee-Anna Taillefer, yet another SDSSA product, is also with the Badgers, studying Nursing at Brock and competing in her rookie year.

Both Ford and Rodrigues will be on hand Thursday in Chelmsford, addressing the high-school athletes competing for the Flyers this year.