Local competitors attend 2022 Provincial Taekwondo Championships

YORKTON - The 2022 Provincial Taekwondo Championships were held March 5 in Regina at the Turvey Centre. 

With the long COVID layoff it had been almost three years since the last provincial championships. 

The event was a combined provincials and Grandmaster Kim’s annual challenge event.

There were a lot of unknowns going into the start of competitions. It is very encouraging that there were 150 competitors from around the province that included clubs from Kipling, Regina, Moose Jaw, Shaunavon, Swift Current, North Battleford, Canora, and Yorkton. 

There were also schools from Winnipeg and Medicine Hat. 

The sparring format was a double elimination giving each competitor a chance for a second match. 

Kees Yorkton and Canora took 15 athletes, four referees and three coaches to the event. 

The referees were Ariel Alfelor, Joey Garcia and Jack Geraldoy with Master Susanne Mitchell overseeing the event as Provincial Referee Chair. 

The Coaches were Master Matthew Bodnaryk and Autumn Bodnaryk. 

The sparring team is quite young and on a new cycle of development.  The two-year layoff has seen many older experienced competitors move on to other endeavours.

This was a great warm-up event for the 24^th Prairie Wildfire Taekwondo Challenge scheduled for Yorkton  April 23. 

The full results for the 15 Yorkton competitors are:

                                                Division                                                    Sparring                  Patterns

Brandon Novak                    Junior Black Belt male Welter           Gold

Drune Rugland                    Junior Black Belt male Heavy            Gold

Justus Jaquet                       Cadet Advanced male Middle           Gold                                       4^th

Jariz Geraldoy                     Cadet Advanced female Light           Gold                                       Bronze

Kenley Strutynski                 Cadet Intermediate female                                                            Silver

Turner Strutynski                 Youth Intermediate male Heavy        Bronze                                   Silver

Ty Strutynski                         Youth Intermediate male Heavy      Gold                                       Bronze

Kerr Pendleton                     Youth Intermediate male Middle       Gold                                       Gold      

Eva Agar                               Youth Intermediate female                                                           Gold      

Alex Ubongen                      Midget intermediate male Middle      Gold                                       Gold

Bennet Gramyk                    Midget intermediate male Middle      Silver                                      Bronze

Shennae Ethier                    Midget intermediate female Middle  Silver                                      Gold

Gage Agar                            Midget intermediate male Middle     Bronze                                   Bronze

Everett Pendleton                Midget Beginner male Middle            Gold                                       Silver

Cole Barton                           Midget Beginner male Middle          Silver                                      Bronze