News

This past weekend the Thunder Badminton team travelled to Olds to participate in the first tournament of the year. It was an Alberta Series Event hosted by Olds College.  Overall it was a great weekend and there were many great results by Concordia athletes.  The Thunder accumulated 73 points over the weekend and are currently in 2nd place in the team event.  They are 12 points behind the NAIT Ooks and well ahead of Olds and Kings College.   Points are accumulated by getting 3 points if you are in the A side, 2 points for the B side and 1 point for the C side.  If you lose your first match you go to the C side and if you lose your 2nd match you go to the B side.  If you keep winning you stay in A.
On the individual side there were many great results.  Connor Reinson had a really good weekend in Singles.  He was a little rusty at the start as he was recovering from a hockey injury but he steadily improved over the weekend and got back in game shape.  He went 5 – 1 in Singles play and won the B division.  Coady Duncan also had a good weekend in Singles.  He went 4 – 1 and won the C division because he lost his first match.  Andre Leblanc also went 3-2 in Singles but lost in the B semifinals.  On the girl's side, Rachael Smillie had a really tough draw and lost her first match, but went 3 – 1 and won the C division.  Lindsay Ross went 2-2 but also had a strong weekend.
In Doubles action Coady Duncan and Andre Leblanc cruised through their first two matches in the A side, but lost in the quarter finals to a team from Calgary that eventually won the entire tournament.  Other Doubles teams of Erin O'Neill/Lindsay Ross went 2-2 and Angela Cheng/Alysha Berkner went 1-2, but both teams had some great matches.
In mixed action Coady Duncan and Willow Frissell went 3-2 and lost in the B final, but played very well.  Rachael Smillie and Connor Reinson once again had a very tough draw, losing their first match but going 3-1 and winning the C division.  Erin O'Neill and Andre Leblanc lost out in the quarter finals but won their first two matches in the A side.
Andrew Rank and Alexander Stewart – both first year players – had a very strong tournament and improved so much with the experience they received and they will continue to improve more and more.
The Point Standings after Tournament #1 are:
1st: NAIT – 85 points
2nd: Concordia – 73 points
3rd: Olds – 25 points
4th: Kings – 22 points
The next tournament of the year is coming up in a couple weeks hosted by Royal Glenora and NAIT.  The ACAC Championships will be hosted at Concordia this year on Saturday February 21st.