Lucas Punkari
Six members of the Muskie badminton team are hoping to earn a trip to the all-Ontarios in Aurora next month.
The first obstacle is doing well at the NorWOSSA finals today in Dryden.
Among the black-and-gold taking part is senior boys’ singles competitor Rory Bagacki, who placed first in last week’s qualifier in Atikokan.
Bagacki has been to OFSAA the last two years.
“Rory has been to the provincials as a doubles partner and a singles player,” said Muskie coach Manami Alexander.
“And in the NWOSSAA finals last year, he finished with a perfect mark so I would expect him to not have any major problems in Dryden,” she added.
Also heading to the NorWOSSA finals is the senior boys’ doubles tandem of Robert Stevens and Spencer Pearce, who placed second at last week’s qualifier to Eli Anderson and Duncan Wright from Atikokan.
“They have a good chance to go far once again as they just missed out on a provincial berth by one match last year,” Alexander noted.
“The only thing that worries me a little bit was that they placed second in the qualifier, so we are working hard to refine their skills and enhance their strategies to make sure that they are ready and have more than enough to compete at that level,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, a trio of junior players also will be competing at NorWOSSA today.
Bryson Skirten nabbed a second-place showing in the qualifier for the junior boys’ division while Andre Emond and Samantha Stahn placed third overall in junior mixed doubles to advance.
“I was very impressed with Bryson as he hadn’t competed in the singles level before, but he’s been really picking up his level of competition,” Alexander lauded.
“Andre and Sam didn’t play together last year, so it might be a challenge for them at this event,” she admitted.
“But they’ve been playing enough over the years to make it further if they can work well together,” she reasoned.
At stake today are berths at the NWOSSAA showdown, which takes place next Wednesday in Marathon.
