Another strong performance in martial arts saw Yorkton's KEE's Tae Kwon Do students bring home gold and silver medals Jan. 25-30 as the 2011 National Taekwondo Championships were held in the Winnipeg Convention Centre.
There were 11 participants from KEES Yorkton and a total of 14 athletes from Saskatchewan, says Master Wayne Mitchell of KEE's.
Each competition day featured different categories.
Yorkton had three fighters in the Junior "A" division, including Hayley Yaworski, Shane Varjassy and Francis Bazin.
Bazin has been achieving some great results going undefeated through five games to win the gold medal. He will go to the Junior Pan-Am Team Trials during the summer.
"It was pretty good there (for him)," says Master Wayne Mitchell from KEE's. "He had some close matches (but was) always going pretty good".
Yaworski had two tough matches but an ankle injury forced withdrawl from the tournament. Varjassy had some great games.
He gained much welcome experience through out the three games in Winnipeg, states Mitchell.
On Wednesday and Thursday was the adult division, including Matthew Bodnaryk, Rae Ashcroft and Autumn Ashcroft, who would be in for quite the fight, says Master Mitchell.
Autumn Ashcroft has a slow start in her first game but had a very strong finish, ending the match with a 1-0 win.
She just got stronger throughout every match. She went five games undefeated dominating her opponents in all of the games. Master Mitchell said she didn't have much trouble at all during her fights.
Autumn's final match was against Alberta's Cecillia Lee, who represented Canada in 2010.
At this 2011 National Championships, Autumn defeated Cecillia with a score of 7-2 in a very controlling and convincing manner.
"I don't think there was much pressure on her," states Mitchell.
Ashcroft will now represent Canada at the 2011 World Championships in Korea.
"This is the first time since 1999 that Saskatchewan has had an athlete represent Canada on the national team. This is a major accomplishment and we are very proud of Autumn," Master Mitchell told the paper via an email.
In Bodnaryk's case, Mitchell explained that he has just returned to competition from a two-year sabattical.
His first match was against a strong competitor from Ontario that settled for the silver medal.
Mitchell said that even though his student lost, he knows how to correct things for next time.
"He lost this game by a score of 5- 4. Three of the points that Matthew gave away were from the same technical error. We will easily be able to correct this error for the future games," he explained. Bodnaryk had three games but finished out of the medals, adds Mitchell.
The junior black belt nationals were held on Saturday and Sunday. The top three medalists in the Junior "A" group will move on to a Pan-Am team trials during late July. That will be held in conjunction with a Pan-Am Games team trial.
In Junior "B" Black belts: Samuel Lohnes, Kathryn Lohnes and Clark Bazin all captured gold medals to be crowned national champions.
In the junior "C" Division Austin Stinson settled for the silver medal.
In the junior B coloured belt division held on Friday, Devon Frounfelter had three matches of experience attain the silver medal in the advanced category.
Assisting the team this past week were coaches Master Mitchell, Rae Ashcroft and special trainer Chris Lohnes. Susanne Mitchell also was assigned as a referee for the Junior event.
The summary of results at the national championships for Yorkton was an impressive five gold medals and two silver medals.
