Lucas Punkari
A pair of local squash players turned in impressive performances at the Canadian Junior National Squash Championships in Calgary over the weekend.
Anika Alexander was ousted in the “silver” semi-finals of the girls’ U15 division to eventual winner Nada Kheiralla (Halifax) in three-straights sets Sunday morning after having rattled off victories over Jamie Nelson (Ottawa), Janel Gaube (Victoria), and Michelle Garceau (Surrey).
“The girl that she lost to in the semi-finals kind of flew in under the radar, really, but she was very strong competitor,” noted coach Bob Tkachuk.
“Anika was very happy though with her win over Garceau because she had lost to her in a tournament earlier this year in five sets,” he added.
“And this time around, she was able to beat her in five sets with a narrow 11-9 victory in the final set.”
Alexander had won her opening-round “gold” match over Laura Huck (Medicine Hat) on Thursday, but dropped down to the “silver” grouping with a second-round loss to Tara Shannon (Calgary) that evening.
Angel McCormack, meanwhile, was eliminated in the “silver” quarter-finals Saturday afternoon by Shannon after having posted victories over Gillian Chick (Calgary), Charlotte Copas (Toronto), and Mia Kirbyson (Winnipeg).
McCormack had gotten off on the wrong foot on Thursday, losing her opening “gold” match to Hannah Treleaven (Calgary).
“She had lost to her [Treleaven] before in Calgary in a couple of really close games, so there’s a bit of a battle that’s starting to build there,” Tkachuk said.
While the Junior Nationals marked the end of the competitive season for both girls, the local duo will be working on their game during the summer months to prepare for next year.
“They both got an invite out to a camp in Winnipeg in July, so that will be good for them to head out and be involved with that,” Tkachuk noted.
“And they also want to do some more training during the off-season here locally, so it looks I’ll be working hard with them again in the summer,” he added.