SLHS Athletics Banquet Honors Their Panthers Of 2013

Jun 05, 2013

Melanie Robinson, who heads up the Phys Ed program at Sharbot Lake High School, emceed their annual Athletics Banquet on June 4, where a plethora of awards were given out to honor the school's junior and senior athletes. Though the school's winter season was cut short due to the climate at the school this year, Robinson decided to increase the number of awards given out to each team that played a full season, with two members from each team (and in one case three) receiving coach's awards and one member, the most valuable player award.

Called to the stage numerous times during the presentation were two athletes, one junior and one senior Panther, whose names are currently on the sign board in front of school. Both athletes received gold medals at the Eastern Regionals in Belleville and both will be heading to the OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) finals this Saturday, June 8 in Oshawa.

The first is a grade 10 student, David Cox, who won a gold medal for junior boys high jump with a jump of 1.75 metres. Cox, who made it to OFSAA last year and placed 13th, said he is hoping to make it into the top ten this year. He said the sport is all about form. Cox also received two MVP awards; one for the junior boys volleyball team and the second for track and field, and he was named the Junior Male Athlete of the Year.

SLHS teacher and coach, Ben Moser, who presented Cox with the Junior Male Athlete of the Year Award, said that Cox is “a true, natural, stand out athlete. In every sport that he plays and the way he moves tells you that he is natural. He's improved his personal best year over year to the point where he is now jumping 180 centimetres, which puts him in the top ten junior male jumpers in the province. Not only that but he's also a great student, a great teammate and a great person.”

Johnny “Boom Boom" Vinkle also made numerous forays to the stage to receive awards; as the senior boys MVP in volleyball and in track and field, as well as the Senior Male Athlete of the Year. Vinkle will also be heading to OFSAA in the shot putting event, having won gold in the Eastern Regionals where he beat out the silver medal winner by just under one metre. Vinkle also made it OFSSA last year in the same event. He will be competing against 23 others at OFSSA this year. Vinkle has been shot putting since grade eight and said he played it for years more as a “filler event” for him. Vinkle said he is seated 12th going into the event and he hopes to finish off in the top ten. He also said that he plans to continue playing volleyball at the post-secondary level. One of Vinkle's coaches, SLHS teacher Randy McVety said of Vinkle that he is "a great athlete who got the name “Boom Boom” because of hard hitting on the court... The thing is... Johnny is not at all an aggressive guy but rather, a very reliable player who can keep his cool and he is a player who plays hard but understands that sports are important but not the end of the world. He is also a player who always represents his school very well.”

Other notable athletes who made numerous forays to the stage to receive awards were Skyler Howes, Taylor Welch, Cadence Cumpson and Aadan Kempe. Congratulations to all of the Panthers who received awards this year.