Ten youth from Olds and one from Didsbury, ages 9 to 14, were named regional champions of the 2019 Knights of Columbus free throw championship after having placed in the Council and District championships March 9 at Holy Trinity Catholic School.
More than 60 kids participated from as far away as Red Deer County and Wetaskiwin.
The competition was sponsored by the Father Forsythe Knights of Columbus Council #4748 in Olds.
Local schools that participated in this year’s competition were Ecole Olds Elementary School (EOES), Ecole Deer Meadow School (EDMS), Holy Trinity Catholic School (HTCS), Olds Koinonia Christian School (OKCS), Reed Ranch and a school in Sundre.
Nine-year-old champions were Stella Plante of EOES in the girls’ bracket and Eli Scott of OKCS in the boys’ division.
Marielle Padiernas of OKCS was the 10-year-old girls’ champion and Kamsi Nzenwa of HTCS was the winner of the 10-year-old boys’ division.
In the 11-year-olds’ bracket, Nataliea Beaver Hawman of OKCS was the girls’ champion and Spencer Clifford of EDMS, the winner of his age group last year, won the boys’ 11-year-old regional championship.
Twelve-year-old winners in the girls’ and boys’ divisions were Grayson MacDonald of EDMS (another multi-year champion) and Shealyn Verhulst, also of EDMS.
The 13-year-old girls’ division was won by Katie Martin of EDMS and the boys’ by HTCS student Darrius Paul of Didsbury.
The 14-year-old champion in the girls’ bracket was Sana Mirza of EDMS.
Each of these winners will have their scores sent on to determine the overall provincial and international champions.
Each contestant was allowed 15 free throw attempts in the first contest with 25 free throw attempts in each later round. Ties were settled by successive rounds of five free throws per contestant until a winner emerged.
Organizers are grateful for the support of many local businesses.
Information for this story was provided by Matthew Cadrin of the Knights of Columbus.
