The Yellowknife School Squash Tournament has traditionally been a two way race between N.J. Macpherson and J.H. Sissons.

This year, the pendulum swung back in favour of the former.

N.J. Macpherson is back on top of the school squash mountain after winning the overall title at the Racquet Club on Oct. 4.

J.H. Sissons, last year's winner, had to settle for second while Allain St. Cyr ended up in third place overall.

Melina Turk, the club's head squash pro, said this year's tournament went a bit better than last year.

SA国际影视传媒淲e had the schools come to the club and play on the courts for most of September and that made a difference,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淭hose kids who played knew the rules and got acquainted with the courts so that ups the level a bit.SA国际影视传媒�

The tournament featured students in Grades 4 and 5 doing battle in their respective divisions with boys and girls brackets in each and there were division champions in addition to the overall banner. To determine the overall champions, each student that won a match earned one point toward their team's total.

Each student who placed in the top three of their division also earned points for their team with the champion getting three points, runner-up two points and third place getting one. Each match was a straight 10 minutes with the goal being to score as many points as possible in those 10 minutes.

Ella Skauge of N.J. Macpherson won the Grade 5 girls division by beating Peyton Koe of Range Lake North School in the final. She said she faced a mixed bag of competitors.

SA国际影视传媒淭here were some who who had more experience than other players and some were new to it,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淪ome of my matches were pretty easy and some not so easy.SA国际影视传媒�

Skauge played in the tournament last year as well and she thinks she'll keep on competing.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's really fun and I want to keep on doing it,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

Ethan Bran of N.J. Macpherson was responsible for a chunk of points for his school as he copped the Grade 5 boys division crown.

Bran said the one thing everyone noticed was the size of the banner that the school won.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's huge,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淵ou can't miss it.SA国际影视传媒�

Like Skauge, Bran said he found most of his matches ranged from easy to difficult.

SA国际影视传媒淭here was some really tough competition at the end near the final but it was mixed overall,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

One thing about the tournament was that the players didn't know the score until the end of each of their matches.

Bran said he heard afterward that it was a really close final.

SA国际影视传媒淲e were really close to being tied so it was a very evenly-matched final,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

Turk said one school had to drop out because of the date change; the tournament was originally set to happen on Oct. 5 but that fell on a professional development day for some schools, meaning the tournament happened one day earlier.

Still, she said it looked like everyone was into it.

SA国际影视传媒淚t looked like they were having lots of fun,SA国际影视传媒� she said.