Yorkton Regional High School played host to the 2014 Good Spirit School Division junior badminton district play downs on Wednesday, May 7.
A total of 16 athletes from the two Yorkton high schools, YRHS and SHHS, took part with four athletes, all from the Regional, securing a medal.
The Regional's Jihwan Sing claimed gold in boys singles with a dominating performance all tournament long. Sing never lost a set en route to the gold, beating Brayden Senger from Esterhazy 21-6, 21-4, Arthrine Pasaporte (Norquay) 21-10, 21-12 and Jed Ada (Churchbridge) 21-5, 21-9 in the round-robin before Ashton Shewchuk (Invermay) in the semi-finals and Pasaporte once again in the finals.
Derrick Budz of the YRHS also medaled in boys singles. Budz won bronze after defeating Shewchuk in the consolation final. Budz had previously beaten Shewchuk in the round-robin portion of the tournament 21-18, 21-18 before knocking off Zac McGriskin (Kamsack) 21-16, 21-17 and Brody Lutz (St. Henry) 21-9, 21-13.
Yorkton athletes didn't have as much success in girls singles. Kathryn Law (YRHS)lost to Clarizze Perpetua 21-3, 21-1, Rhianna Olson (Sturgis) 21-9, 21-6 and Shayna Dubas (Invermay) 21-7, 21-7.
Alex Flaman (YRHS) didn't fare much better. Flaman lost to both Alexis Frick (Melville) and Karissa Watson (KCEC) 21-14, 21-10 and 21-8, 21-16 before beating Morgan Steranka (Invermay) 22-20, 21-18.
The team of Brett Guenther and Mikayla Madsen (YRHS) walked away with the mixed doubles bronze medals. Guenther and Madsen dropped their first game to Taryn Broda and Bre Bland (Kamsack) 21-13, 21-17 before beating Parker Burns and Anna Leidl (Esterhazy) 21-13, 20-22, 21-16 and Jared and Jessica Groeneveld 21-19, 21-18 in the round-robin.
The YRHS pairing lost to Talon Frick and Bree Walchuk (St. Henry) in the semi-finals but rebounded to beat fellow YRHS team Mitchell Karapita and Abby Unrau in the bronze medal match.
Karapita and Unrau, meanwhile, lost to Frick and Walchuk (St. Henry) 21-19, 21-14 but defeated Kyle Teron and Brooke Olson (Sturgis) 21-19, 21-14, before eliminating the team of Jill Gulka and Vaughn Wilgosh (Canora) 21-9, 21-18.
Sacred Heart's Zach Goulden-Maddin and Nathan Pidperyhora finished third in their pool and failed to qualify for the medal round thanks to a pair of losses, first to Denton Dietz and Jaraden Bryksa (Kamsack) 19-21, 21-11, 21-14 and Cody Dubas and Skyler Wallin (Invermay) 21-15, 21-11. They did, however, beat the Esterhazy team 21-16, 21-23, 22-20.
Brayden Jarvis and Ben Koroluk (YRHS) fared no better in their boys doubles round-robin pool. Jarvis and Koroluk lost to Dylan Sies and Calyb Boychuk (Melville) 21-19, 22-20 and Austin Thomas and Michael Chan (Kamsack) 21-10, 21-13 before beating the team of Levi Minhinnick and Mark Cudal (Invermay) 21-12, 21-17.
In girls singles the team of JJ Chogata and Allison Berge (SHHS) had a tough go of it, losing all three matches, while the team of Alexis Guy and Oksana Yakimchuk (SHHS) fared better, finishing second overall after the round-robin play with a 2-1 record, losing to Ally Nicholauson and Stacy Moore 21-14, 6-21, 21-15 before defeating Kaleigh Folk and Payton Secundiak (Sturgis) 21-14, 21-19 and Cassidy Entz and Destiny Johnson (Churchbridge) 21-17, 21-17.
The team of Guy and Yakimchuk lost to Alli Thomsen and Regan Nichol (Kamsack) in the semi-finals, however their bronze medal match results were not reported.
The YRHS also finished in a first place tie with Kamsack for the Team Aggregate Award.
