Beavers take SouthEast SR team crown

   Dorchester led by girls' and boys' singles badminton champions Heng and Boldt

   while East Elgin Eagles' Wall and Cattrysse dominate girls' doubles

  April 21, 2022

By Rob J. Ross

ST. THOMAS - Selecia Wall and Ella Cattrysse have been best friends since early in their elementary school days.

No surprise the self described "partners in crime since kindergarten" are a force in girls' doubles with the East Elgin Eagles.

Wall and Cattrysse handily won the girls' doubles title, going 4-0 without dropping a game, at the Thames Valley Region Athletics (TVRA) South-East Division senior badminton championships, at Parkside C.I.

The Eagles defeated West Elgin Wildcats' Ella Mairleitner and Karlaigh Bodkin in the final.

"Our communication and how our coaches when they tell us stuff to do, we took that in to play. That really stood out," said Catttysse. "Putting it to the corners and the back hand stuff. That really helps."

Knowing each other for most of their lives, Wall and Cattrysse know each other's strengths on the badminton court.

"Her serves are so accurate," said Cattrysse, about Wall. "At practice I would touch a spot on the floor and she would serve it right there. Her hits are really good. She's powerful, so she can get it to the back line which doesn't happen very often in girls doubles. And she's fun to be around too."

Cattrysse has a skill that keeps Wall off balance at practice and certainly opponents during games.

"She's so good at tipping. At practice, she likes to put some tips on me and I fall over," laughs Wall, adding, "She's also really good at hitting the line with her hits. She hits it down so hard and she's a fun partner to be around so that's a plus."

Up next is the WOSSAA tournament, Thursday, April 28, at Strathroy.

Cattrysse and Wall placed fourth at junior WOSSAA back in 2019, but aim to be a few spots higher this time around.

"To get top three at least," said Wall. "We could get fifth again, but I'd prefer top three. Maybe first. That would be nice too."

Placing top two would mean a spot at OFSAA, the high school provincial championships, this year, in Paincourt, at the St. Clair College HealthPlex, May 5-7.

"I didn't know there was an OFSAA for badminton," Wall said. "Imagine. That would be so fun."

Dorchester team champions
 

Dorchester Beavers' Samantha Heng and Evan Boldt took longer routes than Wall and Cattysse, but both left with gold medals as well.

Their first place finishes carried Dorchester to the team title. Ingersoll and Woodstock C.I. tied for second in the team standings.

Dorchester's boys' doubles team of David Johnston and Ben Staeyart, were fourth, while both the mixed doubles team of Cole McLellan and Natalie Woods and the girls' doubles team of Grace McLean and Hannah Freer, finished fifth.

"I'm very proud of our team. We worked very hard," said Boldt, who took the boys' singles title, beating Ingersoll's Davin Gray twice in the final.

"It was very hard and tiring, but I just didn't want to give up. I worked hard for it," said Boldt. "I kept pushing him to the back and then dropping it when he was so far back. It wore him out."

The win avenged a loss to Gray a week earlier in the East final.

Boldt looks forward to WOSSAA and beyond.

"I'm excited. I want to go to OFSAA. That's the goal for my Grade 12 year," said Boldt.

Heng brought home gold in ladies' singles, beating Glencoe's Bella Eckert twice in the final.

"Overall it was a really good match. She made me work hard," said Heng, a grade 11 student, who recently moved to Dorchester from Moncton, New Brunswick.

"I was actually worried because she played on my weakness which was shooting to the far back of the court and I don't have the strength to hit it from the back of the court," Heng said "I had to keep her moving because I thought I was a lot more mobile."

Heng's lone loss was to Central Elgin Titans' Emma Westbrook early in the tournament, but beat Westbrook in the third place game to advance to the final.

The top four in each of the five disciplines, girls' singles, boys' singles, girls' doubles, boys' doubles and mixed doubles, advance to WOSSAA.

Ingersoll's Tye House and Emmitt Robinson won boys' doubles, while WCI's Cam Jansen and Sam Craven, took mixed doubles gold.

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Girls Singles

1.  Samantha Heng (Dorchester)
2.  Bella Eckert (Glencoe)
3.  Emma Westbrook (CECI)
4.  Maggie Nichol (College Ave)

	Alt: Julia Telford (PCI)

Girls Doubles

1.  Ella Cattrysse & Selecia Wall (East Elgin)
2.  Ella Mairleitner & Karleigh Bodkin (WESS)
3.  Brooke Readman & Claire Arnott (Huron Park)
4.  Savannah Page & Grayson Moore (PCI)

	Alt: Grace Mclean & Hannah Freer (Dorchester)

Mixed Doubles

1.  Cam Jansen & Sam Craven (WCI)
2.  Lillie Penner & Vince Moore (PCI)
3.  Caydence Ferguson & Max Vandenborre (College Ave)
4.  Alan Wall & Kaleigh Kummer (East Elgin)

	Alt: Cole McLellan & Natalie Woods (Dorchester)

Boys Singles

1.  Evan Boldt (Dorchester)
2.  Davin Gray (Ingersoll)
3.  John Van Bilsen (Glencoe)
4.  Adrian Barnes (Glencoe)

	Alt: Kalan Gillard (CECI)

Boys Doubles

1.  Tye House & Emmitt Robinson (Ingersoll)
2.  Andrew Doherty & Tyler Magoffin (WCI)
3.  Liam Miskelly & Marcus Sao (CECI)
4.  David Johnston & Ben Staeyart (Dorchester)

	Alt: Dustin Farrow & Ryan Smith (East Elgin)