New NHLer!
Congratulations to a well-deserved early pick of Carter George in this past weekend’s NHL draft. The teen was taken in the second round 57th overall by the Los Angeles Kings. There were no first round net-minders and Carter was the third goalie drafted and first North American! The Toronto Maple Leafs had the very next pick at 58 and you have to think fans were dying for them to pick Carter with that position, often a difficult subject!
T and F record beaters!
At the Island Elementary Track and Field meets a couple of weeks ago five long-standing records were broken. The current records have been carefully documented over the years by a former Charles C. McLean teacher are now referred to as the Dan Smith era!
Last week, I had learned of one of the track records to fall when Nova Debassige’s (CMPS) effort in the 200m clocked her in at 29.44 seconds in the 12-year-old girls’ division! In the very next race, Gore Bay’s Finn Flanagan also made it around that notoriously tight corner into the home stretch for another record at 28.87!
Interestingly, the records page goes back to at least 1997 as the oldest record. In that year I see two set by then Central Manitoulin Public School’s Rachel Stadnyk! She still holds the 10-year-old girls’ record in the 200m and 800m! It was a real blast from the past looking back at all the records and student athlete names and the memories that came with them (having been there for many).
How about these ‘kids?’ Michael Laidley (LCPS) has a record for the long jump when he was 9 in 2005 and then standing long jump when he was 12! Mason Graham is still all over the record books for Charles C. McLean with six still standing! He has records in the 100m, 200m (3) and two in the 400m! Mindemoya’s Emma Tallman is still holding on to a pair of 800m tallies in both 2003 and 2004 although her younger self was faster! I still remember Wiikwemkoong’s Francis Cooper in 2014 in the 1500m, running smart and picking off runners faltering over the 7.5 lap race! You can’t think of Lakeview without remembering Maren Kasunich’s steady improvement on the track over the years and still is the fastest in the 11-year-old girls since 2009. Who remembers Assiginack’s Sammy Trimmer breaking the high jump record in 2005? There was a huge crowd around the 12-year-old boys’ pit as everyone held their breath before leaping 152 cm!
Twilight Meet
Congratulations to these die-hard track athletes who were still competing at Laurentian’s latest meet. Brodie Pennie set his new P.B. in the 800 metres and Alan Wilkin finished in 3rd place! Andrew Cooper had a PB in the 400 metre as well. How about the effort of Jack Carter taking third in the 200m and long jump!
Wind-emoya Classic?
The annual run, paddle, pedal triathlon took place on Sunday (June 30) on a super blustery day. Although just an annoyance on the running and cycling routes, the water course was whipped up into quite a froth, causing the odd team to take a refreshing dip!
The fastest result of the day was from ‘Smells Like Team Spirit’ made up of Classic veterans Brodie Pennie, Brooke Gibeault, Dane Gibeault and relative newbie Georgia Lepage finishing ahead easily in 81:54 minutes. The second fastest team and fastest pair was Team C.O. (Nick Chapman and Brian O’Neill). The quickest solo racer was Barrett Eubanks in 93:35 although close behind was teen Nathan Quackenbush! The fastest solo master was Tina Petrilli!
The quickest bike leg was put in again by Tehkummah’s Alex Anstice who trucked through the roughly 13km of bush trail and hardtop in 25:35! The fastest out in the chop was Nick Chapman and Brian O’Neill in 30:43 although teen siblings, Dane and Brooke Gibeault, were just a dozen seconds behind. Bidwell’s Brodie Pennie had a lonely run, finishing the 5.5 km in 18:11, some six minutes faster than second place!
Organizers of this event would like to thank the many volunteers who made the day, work. Founder Al Haner leant his experience once again. Also kudos to Rick, Julianne and Holly for keeping everyone pointed in the right direction. Thanks to Al Morka for his help with timing and Hannah and Mark taking great pics.
Breakaway Sports also hosted for Little Current’s Canada Day 5K! on Monday and results will be next week’s column.
A good sport is good for sports chipstoquips@gmail.com
