Royals' James, Weber finish fourth at provincial badminton tournament

By David McIver

Rayna James and Jacob Weber of Rosetown Central High School competed in the high school provincial tournament in Saskatoon on Saturday.

James and Weber finished fourth in Pool B of the eight-team mixed doubles category.

They lost 21-14, 15-21, 21-18 to the team of Eng and Calpatura of O'Neill High School of Regina in their first match.

Weber and James then lost to Prisiak and Hoberg of Wynyard 21-17, 15-21, 21-15.

Their final match went quicker, a straight-sets loss to Guadalupe and Cey of McLurg High School in Wilkie.

Comments and photos weren't available at press time Saturday afternoon.

The pair had placed second with a 4-1 record at regional playoffs held in Moose Jaw on May 2.

Fellow Royals and a Dinsmore Composite girls doubles pair also competed in the regional playoffs, held at A.E. Peacock Collegiate.

The other Royals "had a pretty good day as well," said Paproski.

Hailey Burton finished third in girls singles, "just shy of making provincials," said Paproski.

Griffin White placed fourth "in a strong boys singles group," said the coach.

Bennett Ironside and Mark Mofolasayo finished fifth of six boys doubles teams, "but it doesn't reflect how they played. They had some really close matches and represented RCHS very well," he stated.

"Overall, it was a really good day!" said Paproski.

Dinsmore Wildcats Charity Pajunen and Macey Edstrom played girls doubles matches against teams from Kenaston, Leader, Herbert, Rockglen and Lafleche but came up short in each.

At regionals, James and Weber opened with a three-set win over a team from LCBI, according to the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) website.

They followed that up with a 21-11, 21-16 win over one Leader team (Cunningham and Prokopchuk) and then a 21-11, 18-21, 21-15 victory over another Leader duo (Dale and Elsasser).

The Royals pair then lost 21-4, 21-11 to Salido Porter and Nguyen, a team from Central Collegiate of Moose Jaw. They were last year's provincial champions, said Royals coach Gary Paproski.

James and Weber won their final match, over another Central duo, Fu and Shi, 21-13, 21-13.

Burton won 21-18, 21-8 over Doell of Biggar, 21-9, 21-12 over Ulm of Ponteix and 21-14, 21-16 over Bock of Maple Creek before losing two matches, 21-8, 21-17 to Baluyut of Vanier Collegiate of Moose Jaw and 21-13, 21-14 to Qiu of Central.

White opened with a three-set win over Menzies of Kenaston and then lost two matches, 21-12, 15-21, 24-22 to Hawkins of Mossbank, and 21-19, 21-5 to Quimio of Central. He bounced back with a three-set win over Girardin of Leader before losing 21-11, 21-14 to Dueck of Shaunavon.

Mofolasayo and Ironside lost 21-12, 18-21, 21-14 to the LCBI team of Tran and L'Heureaux and 21-16, 21-10 to the Frontier duo of Miller and Kinrade Malbeuf before getting a win, 25-23, 14-21, 21-7, against Charnetski and Biermann of Leader. They then lost 21-11, 21-14 to Parreno and Picones of Vanier and 21-16, 21-10 to Clarke and Dayton of Rouleau.

Edstrom and Pajunen's last match was their closest, a tight first set against Bouffard and DeWulf of Lafleche before dropping the decider.