Two gold medals for the Weyburn Hurricanes Water Polo Club were the spoils of the Bantam and Atom Provincial Championships this weekend in Weyburn and Estevan respectively.

At the bantam provincials, which were held at the Weyburn Leisure Centre on Sunday, the Hurricanes were joined by bantam teams from Estevan and Regina.

They first played a double round-robin of regular seven-on-seven water polo, with the top two teams advancing to the gold medal round.

Weyburn remained undefeated through the round robin, winning four straight games against Regina (10-7, 9-7) and Estevan (11-4, 10-5). Regina defeated Estevan 11-4 and 7-2, making them Weyburn's opponent in the gold medal match.

Weyburn's strategy against Regina was to protect their goal while defending the shallow end of the pool and scoring as many goals as possible. It paid off, and Weyburn was up 6-1 at the half.

Switching ends, Weyburn had a harder time defending the deep end, but managed to retain their lead and increase it to 11-6, giving them the gold.

Scoring for Pierre Lenferna (15 goals), Jason Stepp (11 goals), Brandon Hoffman (5), Taylor Hoffman (5), Brody Ward (5), Randi Johnston (3), Courtney Gerger (2), Megan Kalk (2), Aaron Mahnic (2) and Allison Swertz (1). Drew Bakken also played with the team.

The afternoon ended with the Hurricanes' raffle. Dane Colbow of Weyburn won first prize of a weekend for two at the Moose Jaw Mineral Spa, Britt Pegg won an X-Box console and Rob Hippe won a Mediterranean Bistro voucher.

Atom seniors win gold medal

A day before the bantam provincials, two Atom teams from the Hurricanes club were competing at the Atom Provincials in Estevan on Saturday.

The Weyburn atoms were split into junior and senior teams for the championships, which were held in a five-on-five format at the Souris Leisure and Activity Centre. They were joined by junior and senior teams from Estevan and one team from Regina.

In the round robin, the Weyburn seniors defeated the juniors from Estevan (12-1), Weyburn (9-1) and Regina (11-0), but lost to the Estevan senior 2-5. This put them in second place, pitting them against Estevan in the gold medal match.

At first, the Weyburn seniors appeared to be the underdogs, as Estevan was up 3-0 after the first quarter.

A goalie change, however, proved to turn things around, as Weyburn prevented Estevan from further scoring. The second half was all Weyburn, as they rebounded and assaulted the Estevan goal, with Alesha Johnson scoring two goals in the third quarter.

Down 3-2, Weyburn got a boost from Claudia Lenferna, scoring with less than a minute of the game left. The game ended in a 3-3 tie, forcing Erin Genoway, president of Saskatchewan Water Polo, to consult the rules to determine a winner.

Weyburn won on a technicality, as they had only one major foul to Estevan's two. It was a dramatic victory for the senior team's final game of the season.

Scoring for Weyburn were Johnson (eight goals), Jane Pegg (six goals), Kayla Oberg (6), Kaylyn Jensen (6), Jordan Huebner (5), Chantel Johnston (4) and Claudia Lenferna (2). Also playing with the team was Paige Mahnic.

The juniors, meanwhile, lost to the Estevan seniors 0-11, but defeated the Estevan juniors 8-3 and Regina 8-3, advancing them to the bronze medal match.

The fifth game of the day proved to be too much for the juniors, who struggled to stay focused and made some simple errors that cost them goals in the fourth quarter. In the end, Estevan squeaked by Weyburn with a 7-4 victory, slotting Weyburn into fourth place.

Scoring for Weyburn were Brenna Moser (5), Bailey Oberg (4), Russell Lenferna (4), Courtney Walkeden (3), Breanne Walkeden (3), Alynn Regier (1) and Sydney Huebner (1). Also playing with the team was Jordan Kerr.

The Weyburn Hurricanes are now finished their season and look forward to the challenges of the 2003-2004 season, starting with registrations in September.