Fanshawe's mixed doubles team of Nathaniel Allard and Sarah Fuller coasted to an easy victory in the OCAA badminton finals over Seneca College.

This years' provincials, which were held in Barrie at Georgian College on February 15, marked Allard's fourth appearance after having won men's singles gold these past three seasons, while this was Fuller's first year at the provincials.

“I'm quite confident that they could very well bring back the gold medal,” said Mike Lindsay, Fanshawe's manager of athletics. “Nathaniel's experience and skill along with Sarah's smarts, they have a very good opportunity to keep Fanshawe on the map as one of the top badminton schools in the country.”

The pair cruised to a relatively easy victory over the Sting team 21-16, 21-17 in their gold medal match, which means they'll be headed to Sackville, New Brunswick's Mount Allison University between February 28 and March 1.

“I'm looking forward to experiencing a higher level of competition and hopefully watching some exciting matches,” said Fuller, who will be attending her first, and likely last, Nationals. “I don't know what the competition is going to be like, I've talked to Nathaniel and he says B.C. has a very strong team, the same mixed doubles team [that] has won the nationals three-years in a row. I'm hoping to finish in the top four, but as long as we play our best and have fun I am happy with that.”

Fuller thinks that a lot of the credit has to go to the athletic department and badminton coaching staff.

“We were able to travel to a lot of tournaments this year,” she stressed. “And had a lot of things supplied for us. A lot of colleges don't give badminton the respect it deserves- but Fanshawe definitely supports it's badminton team.”