Members of the Estevan water polo team participated on Team Sask this weekend in the national championship league in Regina.

Mikayla Hack, Josie Andrist, Alex Andrist, Gabbi Jocelyn, Katryna Heleta and Breanna Sinclair from Oxbow all participated on the U16 Team Sask. There were seven players from Estevan on the U16 boys team: Cameron Gillingham, Tristan Threinen, Lyndon Sauder, Logan Dalziel, Lucas Dzeryk, Ethan Elliott and Nathan Threinen.

"The girls did really great," shared Melanie Dzeryk, "They are a youngish team, they have a lot of new players that have joined Team Sask for the first time. So the coaches were really impressed with how well they did do. They came away with four wins and two losses."

"In the first game, Team Sask narrowly beat Edmonton Tsunami (whose roster includes former Estevan resident Alia Burlock) 14 – 13. Alex Andrist added four goals in the early victory."

"In their second match, Team Sask fell to Pacific Storm 6 -7, Estevan’s Mikayla Hack scored 2 goals. Later in the day, Team Sask took on Fraser Valley, and in the narrow 12 – 11 win, both Alex Andrist and Mikayla Hack scored two goals. The Fraser Valley team was very experienced, with most players in their last year of eligibility in the 16u age group. Team Sask has only one player born in 2003, while every other swimmer is in her first year of eligibility, including all members from Estevan."

"Team Sask faced two Calgary Renegades teams next, and put points on the board in two easy victories. Josie Andrist scored one in the first 17 – 7 victory, while Hack scored 4 in the 13 – 8 win. In the final game of the tournament for Team Sask, they once again faced Fraser Valley. After falling behind 15 – 10 in the last quarter, Team Sask made a surprise comeback to come within just a single goal in the final 23 seconds. Mikayla Hack took the dramatic tying shot with zero seconds on the clock but it was stopped by the Fraser Valley goalie. Team Sask finished the game 15 – 14."

(Back Row) Lucas Dzeryk, Ethan Elliott, Cameron Gillingham, Tristan Threinen, Nathan Threinen (Front Row) Logan Dalziel, Lyndon Sauder (Photo courtesy Melanie Dzeryk)

"The boys' team is a very young team this year. They have some 12 years old on their team playing on the U16. The coaches were really excited to see them come away with any wins, to be honest. 

"In their first match of the weekend, Team Sask fell to Fraser Valley 5-14 with Cameron Gillingham scoring 1 goal.  Later that day Team Sask then took on Manitoba where they took the lead right from the first period and held it for a 12-8 win, with Cameron once again seeing the back of the next for a goal."

"On Saturday Team Sask then faced two extremely experience BC teams where they fell 16-5 against the West Coast Warriors and 20-4 against Pacific Storm.  Tristan Threinen scored one goal and Cameron Gillingham scored 3 goals against the West Coast Warriors and Cameron scored another goal on Pacific Storm."

"For their final game of the weekend Team Sask faced off against Calgary Wild on Sunday afternoon for what was probably their most unified team game.  The boys pulled off an energetic game and came away with another win of 11-9 where Lyndon Sauder, Tristan Threinen and Cameron Gillingham all saw goals in the game."

The teams will now prepare for a tournament in Calgary in January.