Area athletes perform well this month,
Accomplishments abound, from Bédard to Schmidt
The sports calendar is like the Energizer Bunny: It keeps running and running, regardless of the time of year.
Here, in alphabetical order, are dozens of athletes and teams who, during the first 20 days of August, performed in noteworthy fashion or were honoured for previous efforts.
PHILIPPE BéDARD, Tennis
OK, so Bédard is from Montreal, but he belongs here after winning the Capital City Classic wheelchair tennis championship at the Ottawa Athletic Club, defeating Russia’s Sergei Ivanov 6-1, 6-4 in a showdown between former champions in the main singles draw final.
CHAD BUSH, Goalkeeper, Ottawa Fury
The Ottawa native was named Premier Development League goalkeeper of the year on championship weekend at Austin, Texas.
Bush finished the 2013 regular season with an 8-0-2 record along with a league-best nine shutouts, and he led with a goals-against average of 0.104. The Fury keeper was also nominated for the PDL young player (under 21) of the year award, but that was presented to Peter Caringi of the Baltimore Bohemians.
The Fury compiled the PDL’s top defensive record, but it was eliminated by the Ocean City Nor’easters in the July 28 final of the conference tournament at Ocean City, N.J.
SARAH BLACK, ROSIE DEBOEF, KATE GOODFELLOW AND CONLIN MCCABE, Rowers
Black, DeBoef and Goodfellow, all members of the Ottawa Rowing Club, and McCabe, from the Brockville Rowing Club, were all named to Canada’s team for the 2013 world championships at Chungju, South Korea, between Aug. 25 and Sept. 1.
Black and DeBoef, from Ottawa and Victoria, respectively, will be part of the women’s eight crew, and four members of that crew will be selected for the women’s four competition, as well. Goodfellow, from Perth, will be in the women’s quad event, and McCabe, part of the Canadian men’s eight in the 2012 London Olympic rowing competitions, is scheduled to be in men’s four in South Korea.
GRAHAM COOKE, Golf
No, he’s not from the National Capital Region, either, but Cooke earns a mention here after capturing his fifth Quebec senior men’s amateur golf championship.
The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member from Summerlea shot rounds of 73, 68 and 73 at Valleyfield to finish three strokes ahead of Whitlock’s Greg Wilson (71-73-73).
There were two capital-region golfers in the top 10 on the final leaderboard. Camelot’s Mark McBride (76-74-75) tied for eighth, and Rideau View’s Bill Holzman (74-7478) tied for 10th.
ANNIE DAI, REILLY JONES, ALEXIA LAMOTHE AND ERINN STENMAN-FAHEY, Track and Field
The Ottawa Lions track and field club quartet ended the Canadian youth championships at Langley, B.C., with a record-setting bang, winning the girls 4x400-metre relay final in a time of three minutes 49.85 seconds.
That was more than 4.5 seconds faster than the previous mark, 3:54.42, set by the Laurel Creek Track Club.
Dai ran an opening leg of 59.7 seconds, followed by Jones (57.4), Lamothe (58.0) and Stenman-Fahey (54.8).
Dai, Jones and Lamothe also ran with Ali Chiarelli on the Lions’ silver-medal team in the girls 4x100metre relay final. Their time was 49.09 seconds.
In addition to her relay gold, Stenman-Fahey ran personal bests to earn silver medals in the under-18 girls 800 (2:10.89) and 400 metres (56.07).
The Lions’ final medal of the week was won by Matt Bedard, who picked up a silver in the under-18 boys 300-metre hurdles. His time of 38.58 seconds in the final was nearly a second faster than his previous personal best.
AUGUSTA EVE, Wrestling
The National Capital Wrestling Club member finished third in girls 43-kilogram division of the Pan Am cadet championships at Medellin, Colombia.
Renfrew Amateur Wrestling Club member Athena Mitchell was fourth in girls 65-kilogram competition.
They had been selected for the trip to Colombia by Wrestling Canada based on their prior performances at the nationals at Saskatoon in April.
JENNIFER HOPKINS, Paratriathlon
Hopkins was one of six athletes named by Triathlon Canada to the country’s team for the paratriathlon world championship grand finals in London Sept. 8 to 14.
A two-time world champion, Hopkins will compete in the Les Autres (Tri 3) category, one of six to be contested in London.
REBECCA LESLIE AND JAMIE LEE RATTRAY, Hockey
Leslie, 17, of Ottawa, was named to Hockey Canada’s under-18 women’s team for a three-game series against the United States in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Aug. 22 to 25. That 22-member roster was chosen after a nineday camp at Canadian International Hockey Academy in Rockland.
Rattray, a 20-year-old Clarkson University student from Kanata, was one of 13 players selected to join the 27 already centralized with the national women’s team for a Red-White series of games at Calgary on Aug. 21 to 25.
She was also part of the Canadian under-22/development team that won the Meco Cup tournament at Fussen, Germany, in January.
HENRY MCKAY, Diving
Henry McKay, a 13-year-old diver with the Nepean Ottawa Diving Club, earned medals in each event in his age group of the junior development national championships at Saskatoon.
In March, McKay broke a metatarsal in his right foot while practising on the three-metre springboard. He missed two major provincial competitions but returned to an intensive set of workouts, peaking with 10 practices a week in July.
In Saskatoon, McKay was high points winner for his age group after claiming gold in one-metre springboard, silver in three-metre and bronze in platform. Those results also helped him earn selection to Canada’s team for the UANA Pan American Junior Championships at Tucson, Ariz., in late September.
MYERS RIDERS, Football
Three Rivers teams reached their respective finals in the Ontario Varsity Football League, and two of them returned home from the championships in St. Catharines with trophies as victors. Myers defeated the Niagara Spears 34-7 in the bantam division final, while winning a 42-20 decision in the varsity final.
However, the junior varsity Riders lost 58-13 to the Cambridge Lions in their final.
NEPEAN KNIGHTS, Bantam Lacrosse
The Nepean Knights returned home from the Ontario Lacrosse Festival in Durham Region as provincial champions in the bantam E level division. The Knights won all six games they played over three days, capped by an 8-4 triumph against Sault Ste. Marie in the division final.
“Winning provincials at any level, at any age, is tough,” head coach Mark Ventrcek said. “You can’t make many mistakes and have to battle through fatigue.”
ONTARIO, CANADA SUMMER GAMES
Ontario’s team led both the medal count and the flag-points standings of the Canada Summer Games at Sherbrooke, Que. Ontario athletes won 95 gold medals, 69 silver and 49 bronze for a total of 213, 41 more than host Quebec.
As well, the Ontario entry in the two-week multi-sport competition collected 289 flag points, 30.5 more than second-place British Columbia, with Quebec in third place overall at 258.0.
RIDEAU VIEW COUNTRY CLUB, JUNIOR GOLF
The Rideau View team won the Ottawa Valley Golf Association junior intersectional match-play finals with 61 points.
Mississippi placed second, at 53, in the one-day final at eQuinelle, followed by Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club (44) and Brockville (34).
MADELINE SCHMIDT, KAYAKING
The Rideau Canoe Club member won a gold medal in the women’s K1 kayak 500 metres during the Canada Summer Games. That came mere days after Schmidt claimed bronze in the K-1 200 metres and placed sixth in the 500-metre final of the world junior and under-23 championships in Welland, Ont.
“I am speechless. This is incredible,” Schmidt said after winning world bronze in the 200. “I can’t even explain. This is my goal. This is all I wanted.”
Schmidt was one of a handful of Rideau club members who produced five gold, seven silver and three bronze in the Canada Summer Games.