Cochrane High School, Bow Valley High School, and Midford Middle School, were awash with badminton over the weekend as the Rocky View Sports Association Divisionals took place.
Fifteen Cochrane Cobras athletes qualified for the South Central Zone badminton tournament – by winning gold or silver – which will be held next weekend in Three Hills.
Keegan Phaneuf and Eric Riddell both won gold in the juvenile boys doubles category, while Lyndsey Alderman and Jackson Edwards captured top spot in juvenile mixed doubles. Jessica Martens and Austin Ficzere also nabbed silver in the same category.
Brooklyn Bolstad won a silver in the girls singles competition, with Skylar Sieben and Thomas Robitaille nabbing gold in juvenile mixed doubles.
In the senior categories, Triesta Holliday and Serinah Gicuhi scored gold in the girls doubles, with Taylor Chace and Chris Alain scoring top spot in the mixed doubles.
Zoe Coombes and Annamaria Novello rounded out the first and second place finishers for the Cobras by earning silver in the senior girls doubles.
“We have around 50 kids on our team this year,” said Cobras coach Jason Crawford. “Which is typical considering we usually average around 40 to 60.
“We had multiple practices leading up to the competition this weekend, and now our athletes who finished in the top two move onto zones next weekend.”
Going into the event, what were Crawford’s expectations of his athletes considering the Cobras have always had a massive amount of success at divisionals?
“We always hope that we do well and play well,” he said. “Over the past 12 years, we’ve always done good, so hopefully we can continue to work hard throughout the year.
“Typically we have a third to half of our athletes move onto zones, and then normally we still have three to five players get to provincials, it all depends on the year and the current crop of players.
“I have no idea how many will make it this year, and I don’t want to jinx anyone but we have a few strong teams. I feel that we have a good chance though.”
