Despite having her Pan Am dreams dashed in March, Brittanee Laverdure continues to log valuable mat time for Canada on the wrestling circuit.

The 33-year-old Watson Lake native recently returned from the 2015 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile, April 23 to 25.

There, she earned bronze in the 55-kg freestyle behind gold medal-winning American Sarah Hildebrandt and Ecuador’s Luisa Valverde Melendres, who took silver.

Canada went on to finish first out of 14 teams in the women’s freestyle team standings.

“I haven’t travelled that much or competed a ton in the last couple years,” Laverdure told the Star.

“As much as you train, you can’t mimic the matches and the stress and travel.”

She decided to take part in the tournament at the 55-kg level, which freed her from cutting weight.

She fought four times in one day, finishing with a 2-2 record.

“I actually had four matches in the first three hours of the tournament,” said Laverdure. “I had some good matches and some bad ones.”

She said the bronze medal win was somewhat bittersweet.

“As an athlete, you’re always disappointed,” she said. “It’s funny. For me, I’m OK with losses if you wrestled well. But I lost to an American and I made some mistakes. I was wrestling people that were a bit heavier than me, but if I had been on tactically, it wouldn’t have mattered.

“I’m happy that I won a bronze. As a country, we ended up winning the title, so that’s a positive.”

Following her performance in Chile, Laverdure spent a week in Montreal training with the national squad.

Next Wednesday, she heads to Greece and Germany where she will represent Canada at a couple of international tournaments.

“It will be the only tour they have before Pan Ams,” Laverdure said, noting the Greece event will take place in Olympia.

Laverdure said Pan Am Games team qualification took place at nationals in St. Catharines, Ont., in March, where she lost the 53-kg gold-medal match to Brianne Barry, a 23-year-old from London, Ont.

“Only No. 1 goes,” Laverdure said. “It was really sad because I hadn’t lost to her and then I was winning and got tossed in the final.

“That is life.”

Not only did the loss cost Laverdure a shot at the Pan Am Games, but it also earned Barry a trip to the world championships in Las Vegas and the No. 1 ranking entering the qualification process for next year’s Summer Olympics.

The 2015 Pan Am Games are set to take place in Toronto July 15 to 18. A total of 150 wrestlers will qualify to compete at the event.

Laverdure has never competed at the Pan Am Games.

“That’s the one thing I was really sad about,” she said about her loss at nationals in March. “I was always second to Tonya Verbeek.”

Laverdure also served twice as an Olympic alternate to Verbeek, a native of Beamsville, Ont.

The Yukoner’s ultimate goal continues to be representing Canada at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

She will enter the Olympic trials this December as the second seed in her weight class, thanks to her performance at nationals.

Laverdure is hoping for an opportunity to face Barry again in the best-of-three format.

To prepare, she has a busy summer scheduled, including events in Ontario, Spain and possibly Poland.

“I’m exhausted thinking about it, but I want to have no regrets. I don’t want to say: ‘I wish I did that, I should have done that.’ I’m going to do it.”

Last month, Laverdure was in the Yukon, where she joined local student-athletes for a day at sports school and enjoyed a community dinner in Watson Lake.

Last summer, Laverdure took silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

She currently works as a lawyer in Calgary.