Fruitvale’s Macy Verigin was doubly golden at the the Zone 1 and 2 Karate B.C. provincial qualifier on Saturday in Penticton.
Close to 100 competitors from eight Dojo’s from across the Thompson-Okanagan and Kootenay-Boundary regions competed in a variety of katas and kumites to see who would advance to the provincials at the Olympic Oval in Richmond in May.
The 10-year-old Fruitvale Elementary student won gold in both kata and weapons kata but not before a little drama played out on the mat.
Verigin faced a challenge right from the start in having to go first, but she shook off any nerves and scored a very respectable 18.2 for her Kata, eventually tying another competitor for first place.
Normally a high or low score can be dropped to break any ties but their scores were identical, so they had to do a tie-breaker kata. Going first again, Verigin scored an even better score, an 18.4, and her competitor must have felt the pressure scoring only a 17.9 sending Verigin to the top of the podium.
In weapons kata Macy also did very well scoring an 18.2 for another gold medal. Beaver Valley Rec’s Chito-Ryu Karate Dojo competitor joined eight athletes from The Castlegar Shotokan Dojo in the competition.
Qualifying from Castlegar in various categories was Arin Calder who also picked up double gold in kata and kumite. Brenden Anderson claimed gold in kumite and silver in kata, while Micah Beatty won silver in kata, and bronze in kumite. Robert Aylwin captured gold in kata, Reg Koodrin took bronze and a silver in kumite.
Next is the team training session in april then off to the Olympic Oval in May for the Provincial Championships. For more information about the Beaver Valley Recreations karate program call B.V. Rec at 367 9319.