Two more zone titles are coming back to Flin Flon, courtesy of Hapnot Collegiate’s junior and senior varsity badminton teams. Both took the Zone 11 banners home after last weekend’s tournament in Thompson.
The co-ed teams picked up not one, but two wins, with players from both teams making the tournament final. In the senior varsity girls’ singles draw, Gianna Watt would end up winning the whole shebang, finishing first in the category, while Teslynn Beauchamp, playing in the junior girls’ singles draw, finished second in her category. Both Beauchamp and Watt qualified for this year’s badminton provincials, which will be held in Winnipeg at Sport Manitoba May 4-6.
The two girls would not be Hapnot’s only athletes on the podium. Six Hapnot players would end up finishing third in their events, helping put both Hapnot teams ahead of the competition. Zachary Antoniw, Ariana Bellisle and Walter Stenbeck each finished third in the junior varsity categories, while Seth Ames, Chris Francoeur and Paxton Moore each finished third in the senior boys’ categories.
The school’s athletic focus will now turn towards track and field, a sport that the school has already started the annual transition to. Hapnot held its first track and field team practices April 24 in the school gym and will gradually move toward outdoor practices, leading up to track and field provincials in Brandon at the Community Sportsplex June 8-10.
