A number of Ponoka junior high students smashed their way to a title shot last week.
The north division of the Wolf Creek Grade 7 to 9 badminton playdowns were held at St. Augustine school on Tuesday, April 19 with several athletes earning berths to the zone tournament, which was held yesterday (April 26) in Lacombe after press time.
In the Grade 7 events, St. Augustine’s Cassandra Klinger captured top spot in the girls’ singles while Ponoka Secondary’s Emma Wilson finished up third. The girls’ doubles was dominated by St. A teams with first going to the pair of Kiana Mclean and Mary Mathieu, who defeated Alyssa de Grier and Taylor Havias from Ponoka Christian, while another St. A pair - Jordan Cire and Alisha Monaghan - ended up third.
In boys’ doubles, the pair of Cory McBride and Alex Brackenberg from St. A earned top honours with St. A’s Connor Hoag and Ramitha Wijarathna finishing in third and Crestomere’s Colten Bresee and Lane Gloss ended up fourth. Meanwhile, the boys’ singles event went to St. A’s Ralp Delicano, who got by Crestomere’s Kyle Frandsen. The mixed doubles event went to the St. A team of Ayra Acosta and Phillip Ayuno as they beat fellow St. A pairing of Tyrell Griffiths and Jillian Sinclair.
On the Grade 8 side, St. A’s Michaella Co won the girls’ singles with Ponoka Secondary’s Presley McAteer and Vanessa Henderson finished third and fourth respectively, while the girls’ doubles event went to St. A’s Alysha Balatbat and Angela Abadilla after defeating fellow classmates Maddie Fleck and Amanda Huchkauski with Ponoka Secondary’s Madi Hanson and Mariah Chisholm taking fourth.
The boys’ singles event went to AJ Perez of St. A’s while third was taken by Crestomere’s Jacob Simanton and fourth going to St. A’s Jerald Busalpa. In boys’ doubles, first went to Mecca Glen’s Mathais Sandis and Erik Mathieu with second going to St. A’s Emmanuel Baldiuino and Christian Bautista and third to Mecca Glen's Tade Tonneson and Colby Padgham. The mixed doubles was won by Crestomere’s Ryker Klassen and Paige Jensen with third going to the St. A team of Matthew Dela Cruz and Juliana Nicole Lee and fourth to Shanelle Remanda and Marschant.
For the Grade 9s, the boys’ singles was won by Ponoka Secondary’s Travis Hyink who defeated fellow student Jayden Nokohoo with third and fourth going to Mecca Glen students Michael Bloomquist and Shane Washlievich respectively. Mecca Glen’s Brennan Waldron and Riley Fullinger took the boys doubles over Ponoka Secondary’s Noah Hackett and Jared Bussiere with Karson Mathieu and Emett Norn of Mecca Glen ending up in third while Ponoka Secondary's Evan Neilson and Kelsey Stretch were fourth.
On the girls’ side, the singles crown went to Mecca Glen’s Madison McLaren who defeated St, A's Ella Agontila while third went to Auraura Carr and fourth to Roselynn Star, both from St. A's. The doubles event was taken by Ponoka Secondary’s Shelisa Baptiste and Tori McNalley over St. A’s Leah Jensen and Mackenzie Numan.
The mixed doubles was won by Ericka Geneblazo and Aidan Bratton of St. A’s over Emily Parker and Owen Feragen from Ponoka Secondary with St. A’s Jaymee Klinger and Kyle Roque taking third.