A trio of local judokans hit the mat on the national stage late last week.
Talon Moen, Eliot Perrault, and Blake Rempel of the Swift Current Judo Club represented Judo Saskatchewan at the 2025 Open Nationals Judo Championships held from May 15 to 18 at Calgary's Olympic Oval.
Nancy Filteau, the head instructor with the Swift Current Judo Club and one of the Judo Saskatchewan coaches, said, unfortunately, they returned home without medals, but the event can be used as a building block for her local students.
"I'm very proud of their performance," she said. "They fought hard, applied what they have been working on. Every time you do something like this, it's a learning experience. You figure out the things you did right and the things that you need to work on."
Moen finished 13th out of 20 participants in the U16 66 kilogram category, and he also finished 9th out of 11 athletes in the Ne-waza 66 kilogram class. Rempel placed seventh out of 13 in the U16 46 kilogram class and 13th out of 16 in the U18 50 kilogram class. Perrault was 25th in the U16 55 kilogram class and 17th out of 24 in the U18 55 kilogram division.
"It was a great experience for them to represent not only the Swift Current Judo Club but also the province of Saskatchewan at their first nationals," she said.
Filteau said this was the last event for two of the three participants until the fall, as the local club shuts down for the summer months.
"Talon's a baseball player, and he also does football, so he's going to a bunch of football camps," she said. "Blake is going to be going to the US Open in July down in Florida, and he's also going to a judo camp in Montreal. Eliot's family is unfortunately moving to Alberta, but he's already planning out where he can practice judo once they get moved in and settled.
"It's sort of bittersweet (with Perrault's departure)."