Erica Stutsky, Leyton Gouldie sweep badminton cities

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This article was published 23/04/2024 (539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everyone in the gym knew Erica Stutsky would be the last girl standing, even her final opponent Maitri Patel.

As the Vincent Massey Vikings teammates took the court for the varsity girls’ city badminton final, Patel told Stutsky she was just hoping to score 15 points. Stutsky almost let her get there, winning 21-7, 21-6 at Massey on Monday night.

“Many girls I play, they can’t hit deep shots as well as I can. I guess from hockey and other sports I have more arm strength than many girls I play,” said Stutsky, who cruised through nine matches without dropping a game.

Not bad for someone who’s never focused on the sport too much. Between skating for the Westman Wildcats of the U18 AAA Manitoba Female Hockey League and playing for Westman Volleyball Club’s 17U Wave squad, she doesn’t have too much time for other sports.

This year, she committed to a few more badminton practices and is noticing the payoff.

“It gives me confidence. I’m trusting myself,” Stutsky said.

“I don’t have a partner to help me up. If I make a mistake, I think about it and go out there and just do better.”

She’ll head to provincials for the second time on May 4-6 in Winnipeg. The top two athletes or teams in each category make the trip, so Patel punched her ticket with a win in a thrilling 2-1 semifinal over Neelin’s Rachel McCausland.

On the boys’ side, the men’s racquetball provincial champ showed his versatility. Massey’s Leyton Gouldie smashed a different object with a different racquet with the same level of dominance he’s grown accustomed to on the four-walled court.

Gouldie defeated Neelin’s Nazar Galinski 21-6, 21-7 for gold.

“Racquet skills are fairly (translatable) and I feel like the big gains I made this year compared to last year were,” said Gouldie, who finished ninth at badminton provincials in 2023.

“I feel much more like a badminton player … instead of just a racquetball player playing badminton.”

Gouldie admitted last year he just wanted to hit the shuttle low and hard like a racquetball, but has developed a deeper bag of shots and learned how to deceive opponents better.

The past few months of thrice weekly practices have made a difference as he, too, enjoyed an undefeated day.

Two years ago, he finished sixth in JV provincials but is trying to keep the bar realistic this time.

“It’ll depend on the way the draw’s set up. Some of the players in Winnipeg are better in badminton than I am in racquetball,” he said.

“There will be some tough matches for sure but if I can finish in the top eight, that’ll be really good.”

The tightest final of the way was boys’ doubles, as Massey’s Antoni Klonowski and Michael Bartolome edged Lucien and Leonides McDaniel of Neelin 21-16, 22-20.

Neelin’s Anne Gravelle and Maci Hlady downed Sydney Komanac and Ariana Mejia Cruz 21-9, 21-10 in the girls’ doubles final.

Kevin Lee and Jun Long beat Noah Stevenson and Deanna Smart in an all-Vikings mixed doubles gold-medal match.

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