With the high school calendar entering its final two months, badminton players from each of Humboldt’s four schools were hard at work looking to add another title to their resume before the end of the year.
It was a busy week for Humboldt’s four schools, with juniors competing in pre-districts, and seniors in both pre-districts and districts.
Junior pre-districts
The junior pre-district tournaments saw teams travel to various parts of the school division with the North West tournaments held in Wakaw, the North Central events in Humboldt, the North East competitions in Foam Lake and Humboldt, the South West competition in Humboldt and Wynyard, and the South East events in Wynyard and Foam Lake.
Humboldt
The pre-district championships saw schools broken up into one of four regional groups with St. Augustine and Humboldt Public in the North East region, St. Dominic in the South West region, and Humboldt Collegiate split between the North East and South West region.
It was a tough trip to pre-districts for each of Humboldt’s three public schools, with each managing just a single top four.
All three schools managed just a fourth place finish, with each failing to qualify for districts.
St. Augustine nabbed a fourth place finish in the boys doubles competition, Humboldt Public finished fourth in girls doubles action, and St. Dominic grabbed a fourth place finish in the mixed doubles category.
While Humboldt’s elementary schools failed to earn a berth to the district championships, their high school counterparts, Humboldt Collegiate, enjoyed a solid amount of success as seven teams finished in the top four, with six of those earning spots at districts.
The Mohawks swept the top two steps on the podium in a pair of competitions, finishing first and second in both North East boys doubles, and South West mixed doubles action.
The blue and gold added another gold to the medal haul, claiming the top spot in the South West boys singles competition, while also adding a fourth place finish.
The final of the Mohawks’ six district berths came in the South West girls singles event, where they claimed a silver.
Each of the Mohawks’ six badminton teams will now turn their attention to the district championships.
The boys and girls singles, and mixed doubles competitions will go May 2 in Wynyard, while the boys and girls doubles events will go the following afternoon in Foam Lake.
A number of schools enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, as 14 schools earned at least one district berth, with five claiming three or more.
Wynyard
The most successful of the 14 qualifying schools was Wynyard, who managed four top two finishes, including gold medals in South East boys singles, girls doubles, and mixed doubles, and a silver in South West boys doubles.
LeRoy
Nearly matching Wynyard medal-for-medal was LeRoy, who claimed four top two finishes, including first in South West boys and girls doubles action and second in South West girls doubles, and South East girls singles action.
Bruno
While Bruno failed to set a watermark for the most pre-district top two finishes, they were able to tie for the most gold medals, managing three top two’s with all three being gold, as they won the North West girls singles, mixed doubles, and boys doubles events.
Annaheim
Matching Bruno in number of top two finishes was Annaheim, who managed of trio, including a gold in the North East girls doubles competition, and silvers in the North East girls doubles, and North Central boys singles events.
Wadena
Going medal-for-medal with Annaheim was Wadena, who managed a trio of top two finishes, including gold in the North East boys competition, and silver in both the North East mixed doubles, and South East boys singles events.
Cudworth
While a number of schools were busy picking up no fewer than three top two’s, it was Cudworth who was the first of the schools to fail to reach that number as they posted two, finishing first in North West girls doubles, and second in North West girls singles action.
Kelvington
Kelvington managed to match Cudworth in total top twos with two, but they failed to replicated the medal output, managing just a pair of silvers after second place finishes in both North East boys singles, and South East girls doubles action.
Others
The remaining seven schools to earn a spot at the district championship all managed just a single qualifier.
Lanigan High, Middle Lake, and Rose Valley all earned their berth to districts courtesy of a first place finish, as Lanigan took home top honours in North Central mixed doubles action, Middle Lake in North Central mixed doubles competition, and Rose Valley in North East mixed doubles action.
Watrous, Wakaw, and Lake Lenore all claimed berths at districts thanks to second place finishes, as Watrous grabbed second in North West boys doubles, Wakaw in North West girls doubles, and Lake Lenore in North Central mixed doubles action.
The luckiest of the 14 teams might have been Viscount, who despite failing to reach the top two earned a district spot after finishing third in North West girls doubles action.
With the North Central pre-district event not having any boys or girls qualifiers, a third was opened up in North West girls action, which worked out perfectly for Viscount.
Each of the teams who qualified for districts will now enjoy a week off before returning to action with boys and girls singles, and mixed doubles action coming May 2 in Wynyard, and boys and girls doubles action in Foam Lake on May 3.
Senior pre-districts
The senior pre-district tournaments saw teams travel to various parts of the school division with the North West tournaments held in Wakaw and Humboldt, the North East events in Lanigan and Rose Valley, the South West competition in Holdfast, and the South East events in Wynyard and Englefeld.
A number of schools enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, as 14 schools earned at least one district berth, with five claiming three or more.
Humboldt
While the juniors were in the thick of pre-district action, the seniors were putting not only the finishing touches on their pre-district tournament, but also the district event.
The HCI Mohawks were the lone Humboldt team in action, and enjoyed a solid amount of success posting six top four finishes at the North West pre-district event, with four teams booking spots at districts.
The lone competition to see the Mohawks post a pair of top four finishes came in the boys singles event, where they managed finishes of second and fourth, with their second place finisher moving on to districts, and the fourth place finisher going home.
The Mohawks’ best finish came in the boys doubles event, where they claimed a first place finish.
The blue and gold added a pair of other second place results, claiming silver in both the girls singles, and mixed doubles competitions.
The final of the Mohawks’ top four finishes came in the girls doubled competition, where they claimed a third place finish, missing out on a spot at districts by one position.
Englefeld
The most successful of Horizon’s senior pre-district teams was Englefeld, who claimed five top two finishes, including first place finishes in North East boys and girls singles, mixed doubles, and South East girls doubles and a second place finish in South East boys doubles.
Wadena
Falling just one top two finish shy of matching Englefeld was Wadena, who posted a first place finish in North East boys doubles action, and second place finishes in North East boys singles, mixed doubles, and boys doubles competitions.
Wynyard
Wynyard managed a trio of top three finishes, and four top three’s, including first in South East girls singles, silver in both mixed doubles and girls doubles action and third in girls doubles.
Despite finishing in second in girls doubles action, that pair was unable to attend districts, meaning the third place finishers, and their teammates, moved on in their place.
Raymore
Raymore also saw one of their own unable to attend districts as they saw a trio of teams finish in the top two, with just two moving on to districts.
The Rebels picked up a first place finish in South West boys singles action, and second place finishes in both South West mixed doubles and boys doubles action.
The second place boys doubles team was unable to attend districts.
Watrous
Watrous also picked up a trio of top two finishes, unfortunately for the Wildcats however, due to the availability of their teams, only one squad moved on to districts.
The Wildcats claimed a first place finish in South West boys doubles action, and seconds in both boys singles, and girls doubles, with just the girls doubles team available to compete at districts.
Wakaw
Despite managing just a pair of top two finishes, Wakaw enjoyed excellent results picking up a pair of first place finishes, claiming gold in both North West girls singles and girls doubles events.
Unfortunately for the Warriors only their girls singles competitor was able to compete at districts.
Lanigan
Rounding out the multiple district berth schools was Lanigan, who rode a bit of luck to a pair of district berths.
The Lazers managed a pair of top four finishes, grabbing second and fourth in the North East girls singles competition.
Despite finishing fourth, the Lazers’ second girls singles competitor also booked a spot at districts, after the South West girls singles competition had just one entry, the North East were given a third.
LeRoy claimed the third spot, but after their competitor was unable to compete at districts it opened the door for Lanigan’s second spot.
Others
The remaining seven schools to earn a spot at the district championship all managed just a single qualifier.
Middle Lake, Cudworth, and St. Brieux all earned their berth to districts courtesy of a first place finish, as Middle Lake took home top honours in South East boys doubles action, Cudworth in North West mixed doubles competition, and St. Brieux in North West boys singles action.
Lake Lenore, and Rose Valley each claimed berths at districts thanks to second place finishes, as Lake Lenore grabbed second in North West girls doubles, Rose Valley in South East boys singles.
The luckiest of the 14 teams might have been both Viscount, and Kelvington, who despite failing to reach the top two earned a district spot after finishing third in South West boys doubles and North East boys doubles action respectively.
With the South West pre-district event sending just one boys doubles team to districts, a third was opened up in South West boys doubles action, which worked out perfectly for Kelvington.
Viscount meanwhile, earned their spot at districts after the top two teams were unable to attend.
Senior districts
The senior district tournament saw teams descend upon Foam Lake on April 28.
A number of schools enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, as four schools earned at least one regional berth, with one claiming three.
Humboldt
After a couple of days rest, the four Mohawks’ badminton teams who were left standing after pre-district action, traveled to Foam Lake for the district playoffs.
With just four teams in action, the Mohawks enjoyed tremendous results, posting three top two finishes, with all three teams earning spots at the regional competition.
After picking up first place at the pre-district event, the HCI Mohawks senior boys team turned the trick once again at districts, claiming their second gold of the season to earn a spot at regionals.
The Mohawks added a pair of silver medals to their gold, as they finished second in both boys singles, and girls singles, with each booking a spot at regionals.
Each of the Mohawks’ three senior squads will now enjoy a week off before returning to action May 5 in Foam Lake.
Englefeld
The Eagles were easily the most successful school at the district championships, as their five qualifiers brought home top two finishes including gold in boys singles, mixed doubles, and girls doubles action.
Others
The remaining three schools to earn a spot at the regional championship all managed just a single qualifier.
Wakaw earned their berth to districts courtesy of a first place finish, as they took home top honours in girls singles action.
Lake Lenore, and Middle Lake meanwhile, each claimed berths at regionals thanks to second place finishes, as Lake Lenore grabbed second in girls doubles, Middle Lake in boys doubles.
With regionals now set, each of Horizon’s five local-rural teams will enjoy a week off before heading to Foam Lake on May 5 in search of a spot at provincials.
