Year in Review: July 2016

July 2016 had a number of individual accolades for Chatham-Kent athletes. Here are the top stories from July 2016:

Blades Alumni Signs With Maple Leafs – The Toronto Maple Leafs signed former Blenheim Blades forward Matt Martin to a 4-year, $10 million contract as NHL free agency opened. Martin, who has played 6 NHL seasons with the New York Islanders, led the NHL in hits five times. The 6’3″ Windsor product had 10 goals and 19 points in 80 games with New York last season.

Seys Makes NCAA Commitment – Port Lambton’s Brenden Seys, a UCC student, committed to play NCAA golf for Wayne State University. Seys is a member of Maple City Country Club. He has multiple LKSSAA high school championships, and an OFSAA appearance, as well as three seasons as part of Team Ontario on his resume.

Kucera Strikes Silver – Chatham’s Lee Kucera took home some hardware from the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Edmonton, Alberta. Representing the London Western Track and Field Club, Kucera won a silver medal in the Junior men’s javelin event throwing 57.25m.

Wammes At Worlds – Bothwell’s Nick Wammes competed at the World Junior Track Cycling Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. Nick raced the 200 meter sprint event at the Championships and finished in 29th place with a time of 10.831 seconds, and reaching a top speed of 66.475 km/h.

Broad Wins National Gold – The 15-year-old Chatham Pool Shark swimmer, Madison Broad won three medals at Nationals including a silver in the 200m back and 100m back, as well as a gold in the 50m back. Other locals, Genevieve Sasseville and David Tran both found the podium in day three of the Age Group Nationals with Sasseville winning silver and Tran taking bronze.