Caristo knocks off champion
Julia Caristo used a case of nerves to her advantage at the Zone 3 senior girls high school badminton championships.
The 16-year-old, Grade 11 student at Saint Paul edged Pooja Senthill of E.L. Crossley 22-20, 9-21, 21-19 to capture the girls singles title Thursday at Jean Vanier.
“I’m usually very nervous. I come in knowing I’m a pretty decent player and I’m able to get far but I think the nerves helped me win. It’s what pushes me to work harder,” Caristo said.
Caristo was taken to the limit by Senthill, who won the title last year.
“It was really close. We play the same so it was a really evenly matched game,” she said. “It got in my head a lot and I know when it gets in my head it’s really hard to come back from that.
“It feels great. I sat down and threw my stuff off and couldn’t believe it.”
Carsito said a chat with Saint Paul coach Kristin McDonald helped settle things down after a tough second set.
“My coach gave me a good pep talk between the second and third set,” Caristo said. “I was up 11-6 and I let her come back before I was able to close the gap and eventually win.”
Caristo participated at the senior level last season, even though she was still eligible for junior.
“I got to practice with the seniors and was able to use it to my advantage today and see how they play and work around it,” she said.
McDonald said she spotted Caristo’s potential early on.
“We’ve been competing with her since Grade 9 knowing that she was going to go the distance,” McDonald said. “Last year she played senior in Grade 10. We wanted to expose her to the competition so she would be ready for this year and it worked.
“Mentally, she has a little bit of maturing to do at times but I was confident coming in today she was going to take it and win.”
Caristo began badminton in elementary school playing doubles before switching to singles in Grade 9.
“It’s a lot of strategy and a lot of skill to it. With strategy comes the skill. It’s just practising and working at it,” Caristo said. “I love it. It’s not something you see every day, but I think that’s what I love about it.”
Caristo defeated Jen Kozelj of Port Colborne High School and Haven Sibley of A.N. Myer en route to the finals.
Morgan Robinson and Victoria Kuronen of Greater Fort Erie Secondary School defeated Katie Young and Abbey Weaver of Lakeshore Catholic in the girls doubles final.
Jessica Zheng and Nathan Koop of A.N. Myer topped Jade Bilodeau and Giulian Berezowski of Saint Paul 21-12, 21-12 in the mixed doubles final.
Winners advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) playoffs in Smithville at Heritage Christian next Wednesday.
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