Richard Froese
South Peace News
The High Prairie E.W. Pratt Chargers won the provincial championship banner for 2A schools at the Alberta Senior High School Badminton Championships May 2-3 in Red Deer.
Pratt finished with 24 points in the tournament and had 12 players compete, head coach Larkin Stokes says.
“It was the first time for Pratt to win badminton provincials as a team since 2003,” Stokes says.
“Though we had a pretty small team, we had many very strong and coachable athletes and they were able to have lots of success.”
The team was young with only three Grade 12s and only one Grade 12 at provincials, he notes.
Pratt had very strong teams in the late 1990s to early 2000 when the Chargers won six provincial titles from 1996 to 2003.
On the first day of round-robin play, Abby Bilyk, competing in intermediate ladies’ singles and Carley Cox in junior ladies singles, both qualified for the top eight in the A-side playoffs.
“This is a big accomplishment for the ladies,” Stokes says.
“Unlike other sports, that have their tiers by skill level or number of students in the school, badminton provincials have the top athletes there.
“Being top-eight in the province and beating out opponents from larger schools is very impressive.”
Bilyk and Cox had strong games in A-side quarterfinals but lost.
Jemma Hesse and Casey Billings finished second in the B-side in junior ladies’ doubles.
Brynn Amyotte and Dhyey Vandra placed second in the junior mixed doubles in the B side.
Darius Willier and Mariah Patenaude- Pedersen lost in the B-side bronze medal game in intermediate mixed doubles.
Pratt won the 2A Northwest Zone championship on April 26 for the first time since 2022.
Callie Calahasen and Jed Madrilejos finished first in senior mixed doubles.
Bilyk placed first in intermediate ladies’ singles.
Cox finished first in junior ladies’ singles.
Davin Greene and Logan Bruder finished second in senior men’s doubles.
Darius Willier and Mariah Patenaude- Pedersen placed second in intermediate mixed doubles.
Amyotte and Vandra finished second in junior mixed doubles.
Kendra Cunningham and Richelle Anderson placed third in intermediate ladies’ doubles.
Hesse and Billings finished third in junior ladies’ doubles.