Dave Leaderhouse, Special to the Herald
It was a historic weekend for a pair of St. Mary High School students and their coach as the group captured that school’s first-ever Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association championship in curling.
“It was an honour,” acknowledged coach Brooklyn Fetch in being a part of the team that accomplished something no one had ever done at the school before. “It was great to take the kids down there and to watch all of their hard work over the year turn into success.”
The St. Mary team of Jadon Sosnowski and Sara Pawlyshyn was on a roll heading into the provincial doubles competition having swept through the regional qualifying event held in Prince Albert at the end of February. In Estevan this past weekend, Sosnowski and Pawlyshyn continued their brilliant play by opening the eight-team event with an 8-3 victory over Moose Jaw Central and following that up with a 7-6 triumph over Beechy.
Then came a bump in the road when the pair lost 11-8 to Muenster in the opening game of the Page Playoff, but Pawlyshyn says they were confident in their play, especially since they had outscored Muenster 6-2 at regionals.
“We had to regroup; it sucks losing,” says Pawlyshyn. “We just had to take a couple of breaths. We knew we could win.”
“We had to play our own game; be decisive with our shots,” added Sosnowski.
The St. Mary duo rebounded with a 7-3 decision over the host Estevan squad in the semi-finals and then completed the historic run with another 7-3 verdict, this time over Muenster in the championship final.
“There was a lot of emotion,” says Pawlyshyn in reference to the final game when they knew they had secured a favorable outcome. “We didn’t want to get too excited when we were up. It just felt really cool.”
It was the second straight year Sosnowski and Pawlyshyn qualified for provincials. They won bronze a year ago in Wynyard. For Sosnowski the provincial title caps a successful high school career.
“When I started curling in Grade 9 I never thought anything like this was possible,” said the high school senior. “It felt amazing; it is a great way to end my high school career.”
Pawlyshyn still has one more year of eligibility, but she will have to find a new partner if she hopes to seek a third trip to provincials next year.
The region that St. Mary advanced from, Region C, dominated the provincial championships this year as in addition to Sosnowski and Pawlyshyn winning the doubles title, Wynyard took home gold in the boy’s event with an 11-3 victory over Moose Jaw Peacock and Wadena claimed the mixed championship with a 7-2 triumph over Warman. It might not have been a golden finish for La Ronge, but they narrowly missed out on making it a sweep when they fell 5-4 to Saskatoon’s Holy Cross in the girl’s title game.
