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Perry has solid first year at U of Alberta

University wrestling

An injury was all that stood in the way of an even better year for Brandy Perry in her freshman campaign with the University of Alberta (U of A) wrestling team.

The former Coaster placed second and was voted female rookie of the year at the Canada West qualifying tournament in mid-February and followed that up with a third place finish at the Canada West championships. She did qualify for the CIS nationals, but a nasty concussion meant that she could not compete.

Despite the injury, Perry said she was happy with her first season.

“This first year was pretty enlightening and certainly tougher than I thought it would be, but I learned a lot,” she said. “The level of training and the long hours were very tough, but my teammates were super awesome and supportive. Our coach instilled in us that if you want to be a champion, you have to do the work. My goal was to make the nationals, and that would have happened had I not gotten injured.”

Perry was born and raised on the Sunshine Coast, and moved to North Vancouver in her late high school years, where she competed and graduated from Carson Graham Secondary School.

She was offered a scholarship from the U of A and at the end of August 2014 she packed her bags and headed off for the opening wrestling camp.

She is registered in the faculty of education as she wants to be a teacher and the university has an excellent program.

Perry said her first year of university life was also eye opening.

“Living in residence is OK, and I certainly wasn’t quite prepared for the cold weather, but overall the university is fantastic,” she said. “I feel pretty lucky that I’m here and a part of such a great team. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me this summer. I have to go back to the basics and go back to the fundamentals. My goal for the summer is to work more on technique, and if I do that, I know I can have a great year next year and get to compete at nationals.”