May 5, 2003

CLACKSON REPEATS AS CHAMPION

At this years National Junior Champs in Charlottetown, PEI, BC was represented by 20 juniors, 10 boys and 10 girls. It was very gratifying to see our province so well represented considering the cost to fly there and the outbreak of SARS in Toronto. The effects of jet lag were very evident during the early rounds but everyone adapted quickly to the 4 hour time change.

We had many "best ever" performances, but Ashley Clackson's winning the Girls Under 17 title for the second year in a row was the highlight. Ashley cruised through the draw and defeated Neha Kumar(Ont) in the final 3/0. Well done Ashley.

In the Girls Under 19, Jennifer Blumberg reached the final without dropping a game, but came up 2 points short against Kyla Grigg(Alb), losing narrowly 7/9 in the 5th to take home the silver medal.

In the Girls Under 15, Sarah Parsons showed how much she has improved this
season by losing to the gold medalist Becky Dudley(Man) 1/3 in the semi final and then winning the bronze medal by defeating Jackie Moss(Ont) 3/0.

Another girl who impressed was Nikki Sequeira in the Under 15 event. She had two upset wins over the #3 and 4 seeds to finish 5th, her best ever finish.

In the Girls Under 17, Kathryn Masson defeated the #4 seed Neha Chawla(Ont) en route to an 8th place finish.

The best finish by our boys was Eddie Gudewill in the Under 15 event. Eddie had a very good win over the #4 seed Amar Gupta(Ont) 3/2 en route to a very impressive 6th place finish.

Other meritorious performances were;
Kristie Tyrrell 6th in the Girls Under 19
Shannon Roche Bronze winner in the Girls Under 17
Vanessa King Bronze runner up in the Girls Under 17
Kurt Woodman Bronze runner up in the boys Under 17

A special thanks to the coaches and parents who assisted in PEI - Stuart Dixon, Tim Saunders, Leigh Skelton, Dave Senick, Rob and Kathy Parsons and Sheini Bhaloo. It was a well run tournament and most memorable for the good behavior of all the team and the best ever results achieved.

Next years championships will be in Calgary. Lets start training to better this years results!