Over 150 Taekwondo athletes from Canada and North Dakota made their way to Yorkton's Flexihall this past weekend to take part in the 16th annual Prairie Widlfire Taekwondo Challenge, hosted by Kee's Yorkton.
The event saw athletes from every skill level compete, from the beginner white belts to the deadly third and fourth Dan black belts and everyone in between.
In total some 23 Yorkton athletes also took part, highlighted by 18-year-old second Dan black belt Shane Varjassy's gold medal performance in which he defeated both of his opponents with ease, knocking off Nicholas Turchyn 13-1 before ousting Austin Brolund 9-3 in the gold medal final.
"The tournament went fairly smoothly," offered Master Wayne Mitchell following the end of the competition. "We had some technical issues which we always do but generally it went quite well."
Master Mitchell then mentioned that while the Yorkton team might not have taken home too many gold medals throughout the competition, the main reason for that is because the team is in a bit of a turnaround stage. "The bulk of our team is 13 and under right now with a couple of them aged 17 or higher," said Master Mitchell, continuing, "So that means that most of our team now is younger.
"We do have some that are in the 17, 18, 19 years old range but as soon as university starts up we usually lose them so now we're back looking at younger teenagers and building our team up again."
Results
Poomsae gold - Tyler Buenneke (Black Belt Male Junior), Stephanie Sliva (Black Belt Female Adult), Matthew Bodnaryk (Black Belt Male Adult 3 & 4 Dan), Brett Chepil (Mitey Mite Male Beginner), Taya Yanke (Peewee Female Taegeuk 4), Kallie Buenneke (Midget Female Taegeuk 7). Poomsae silver - Thomas Cursons (Male Executive Advanced), Tyana Daigneault (Junior Female Taegeuk 5), Jaxon Boyda (Cadet Male Intermediate), Elexa Daigneault (Peewee Female Taegeuk 4), Brandon Novak (Peewee Taegeuk 2). Poomsae bronze - Zane Chopik (Black Belt Male Junior), Pressleigh Dingham (Peewee Female Beginner), Drune Rugland (Peewee Taegeuk 1), Olivia Dumalski (Peewee Female Taegeuk 4), Simon Dumalski (Cadet Male Intermediate).
Sparring gold - Shane Varjassy (Black Belt Adult Middle), Elexa Daigneault (Female Mitey Mite Novice Light), Kallie Buenneke (Female Midget Advanced Light), Chance Corcoran (Male Midget Novice Heavy), Jaxon Boyda (Male Midget Intermediate Light). Sparring silver - Thomas Cursons (Male Adult Advanced Heavy), Brandon Novak (Male Mitey Mite Novice Middle), Tyana Daigneault (Female Junior Advanced Light), Matthew Popick (Black Belt Male Junior Middle), Tyler Buenneke (Black Belt Male Cadet Light). Sparring bronze - John Young (Male Peewee Novice Heavy), Drune Rugland (Male Midget Beginner Middle), Jakob Surjik (Male Midget Intermediate Middle).
Best Adult Male - Shane Varjassy.
