Golden Hawks Celebrate Top Athletes

Chatham-Kent Secondary School held their annual athletic awards banquet Tuesday night at Lawson Hall in Chatham, honouring their top Golden Hawks atheltes from this past school year.

Blayne Bechard and Sidney Holmes took home top honours as the male and female athletes of the year.

Accepting the Mark Lindeman Memorial Award as the Most Sportsmanlike atheltes at CKSS, Soteris Stylianou and Chelsea Chana-Johnson took home hardware. Ashwin Roy and Kelly Young were named the Most Dedicated athletes, winning the Greg Way Award.

For her excellance on both the basketball court and soccer field, Lakeisha Cato won the Joe Garcia Memorial Award which honours the school’s top athlete in those two sports.

Moving out of the senior level awards, Rick An and Madie Green were named the school’s top Junior athletes, while Lee Kucera and Kianna Shepley were the school’s rookies of the year.

Kelly Young took home her second honour receiving the Earl Grant Memorial Award and Bursary, while Hope Olexa won the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame Award and Bursary.

Nicole Protopapas and Luke Hueniken were recognized for both their accomplishments on the athletic field, and in the classroom as the school’s top academic athletes. Hueniken will also represent CKSS at Thursday’s Dr. Jack Parry Awards, and will be joined by Hope Olexa, who is the school’s female nominee.

Sport specific awards handed out, went to Tayler Carey, who was given the Brandon Markham Memorial Award, as the cross country team’s most dedicated runner, while Ashwin Roy received the Jon McCubbin Memorial Award as the football player who has given the most to the program over his career.

Finally, Ellen Sinclair and Jacob Simpson were inducted into the James Dean Hall of Fame, in recognition of their long contributions to CKSS athletics. Both are CKSS alumni who enjoyed impressive athletic careers while wearing Golden Hawks uniforms.