Owls smash competition:Senior team dethrones Atikokan

By Don Gall
Senior Team Coach

On Wednesday April 11 the RRHS Owls won the SR Badminton NORWOSSA Team Championship for the first time ever. Points are awarded to each individual team for how well they finish in their event at the NORWOSSA Tourney. There are 6 teams in each of the 5 categories and points are awarded as follows 1st = 10pts, 2nd = 8pts, 3rd = 6pts, 4th = 4pts, 5th = 2pts and 6th =1pt. All of the points are added up at the end of the tourney to determine a SR Champ and a JR Champ.
The SR team ended up with 34 points which was 8 ahead of its nearest competitor (Atikokan) to win the senior school title.
Individually we did the following:
Hillary Hansen and Chantel Heyens went a perfect 5-0 to capture SR Girls Doubles Gold. This is the 3rd time in a row (once as juniors and twice as seniors) that they have accomplished this feat. No other Owl has ever done this before. They played well and once again proved to be the best. Super Accomplishment!!!
Molly Bartlett and Kristin Moen finished the SR Girls Doubles tourney 4-1 with their only loss coming to fellow teammates Hillary and Chantel. They earned a Silver medal for their efforts and they too played exceptional throughout the day. Awesome Job!!!
All 4 girls are off to NWOSSA Wednesday April 18 in Atikokan.
In Mixed Doubles action Nick Ashworth and Carling Nordin went a picture perfect 5-0 to capture NORWOSSA Gold The two played extremely well all day and were in control throughout the tourney. This is Carling’s 2nd straight Mixed Doubles title and with the win they pair have also earned a trip to NWOSSA next Wednesday in Atikokan. Outstanding Achievement!!!
In SR Boys Doubles action, Kam Kuzyk and Danny Usiski battled hard all day winning some close ones and also losing some tight matches. They finished the day at 3-2 and earned themselves 3rd place. I will say that they played in the toughest division in the whole tourney and played in some fantastic matches. Their games were fun to watch and were very intense to say the least. Even though the two missed going to NWOSSA by one spot, their efforts and 6 points helped the team win the overall trophy. Super work Guys!!!
This is the first year that overall trophy has been split up into to Senior and Junior Divisions. Atikokan has dominated the badminton circuit by winning the overall championship for the past 22 years. So granted Atikokan did win the Junior Division this year, the Senior OWLS have put their face on the map and are showing the rest of the league that we may be a small school but we are mighty on the court.
I would like to at this time congratulate the Junior team on a great showing at the NORWOSSA tourney as well and wish good luck to the Girls Doubles team of Brenley Anderson and Kate Bartlett at NWOSSA.
I want to finish by saying thanks again to the Senior team for all their hard work at practice and utilizing your skills into these great accomplishments on the court.
Good Luck at NWOSSA!!!