Badminton playoffs remained the main focus for the South West Athletic Conference this past Saturday. The last major sport of the year will be Track and Field and section meets take place on May 22 (Blue Section) and May 23 (White Section).
The junior district badminton championship took place in Swift Current. The top four teams from Cypress Hills, Rolling Hills and Whitemud sections were vying for top honors. The teams were assigned into one of two pools and top two teams from the pools would make the playoff rounds.
After round robin pool play, a semifinal cross over playoff, both #1 teams out of girls/boys/mixed doubles and girls singles met in the final. These finalists were undefeated heading into the championship game. In boys singles, the top two teams in Pool A ended up making it to the gold medal game.
SWAC Junior Badminton Results:
Boys Singles:
1st – Micky Bradford (Cabri)
2nd – Navi Singh (SCCHS).
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Girls Singles:
1st – Joran Gramlich (Fox Valley)
2nd – Chloe Shumaker (SCCHS).
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Mixed Doubles:
1st – Munay Htoo/ Hailey Carlson (SCCHS)
2nd – Carter Munro/Reese Evjen (Irwin).
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Girls Doubles:
1st – Sierra Ross/Daniela Palaganas (Ponteix)
2nd – Kelsey Klippert/Haley Tumback (Leader).
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Boys Doubles:
1st – Gauge Conkin/Noah Bosch (Fox Valley)
2nd – Charlie Pawluk/Riley Desautels (Cabri).
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The senior badminton players, representing SWAC, were in Regina for the SHSAA Regional Tournament at Luther Collegiate. They were placed into one of two pools of four teams. You had to be top two two to advance to the playoff round.
In boys doubles, Kim Mednoza/ Tyson Goffient from Ponteix were 1-2 in their pool and did not advance to the playoffs. Jayesh Budhrani/Grady Rogers from SCCHS finished pool play with a 1-1 record. That was good enough for second place in their pool. They lost in semifinal to eventual champions and then rebounded to win the third place game (2-0).
Our girls doubles teams of Kerstyn Wenzel/Megan Tumbach (Leader), Justine Bennet/Lara New (SCCHS) and girls singles Hillary Lacelle (SCCHS), Kaitlynn Bradford (Cabri) all finished their pools with 1-2 records. None of these athletes/teams advanced to the playoff rounds. In mixed doubles play, Connor Drever/Morgan Bock (MC) finished with a 1-2 record. Jade Stimson/Ty Strutt (Leader) had a 0-3 result. Both teams were eliminated before the playoff rounds.
SWAC’s best results came in the boys singles competition. Frank Chou (Fox Valley) was perfect in pool play (3-0). He came up against Garrett Mitchell (Frontier) in the semifinal. Mitchell had a 2-1 record and was second in his pool. In the semifinal, Chou won in straight sets over his SWAC counterpart. Frank then moved onto the final, but lost 2-0 to finish second. Garret Mitchell won a hard fought third place game (2-1).
Frank Chou will be SWAC’s lone entry into the SHSAA provincial championship. Come out and support him on Saturday, May 11. The top teams in the province will be in Swift Current for the SHSAA Provincial Badminton Championship.
The Chinook School Division Sports Report is submitted by Valerie Gordon.
