Saturday, December 9, 2023
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PHS sports banquet returns after decade hiatus

Liz Draper 213 Views

Pontiac High School brought back its annual sports banquet and award ceremony last Thursday. This is the first time the banquet has been held since 2013.
Over the course of the event, awards for hockey, track and field, basketball, overall athletics and sportsmanship were given out across age and gender categories.
“We’re pretty excited to be doing this. We’re back trying something new at night like this. It’s a great atmosphere in here and a lot of people which is awesome,” said teacher Chad Davis, during his opening remarks.
Physical Education teacher and host Darcy Findlay started off the event by thanking the coaches, volunteers and parents for all their help and sacrifices in making the various sports programs at PHS possible.
He then moved on to give an overview of the changes the school has seen to its sports program during the 2022-2023 school year, which include the newly reopened fitness gym and soon-to-be-built multisport court on school grounds that will be open to the community.
“This fall we were fortunate to have some former students of Pontiac High School donate some money that allowed us to renovate the Petty-Holmes Fitness Gym. We were able to raise over $12,000 and created a new fitness gym, which is directly off our gymnasium so that the kids have access to it every day,” said Findlay. “As soon as the school year ends, we’re fortunate as well to have partnered with our school board, the Municipality of Shawville, the Municipality of Clarendon and the Shawville Lions Club to revitalize the tennis court area into some multi-sport courts, which would include basketball, floor hockey, badminton, tennis, pickleball, you name it, you can do everything in one area. So that’s going to be a great project.”
A special video message from PHS alumnus and Panther Hall of Famer Teena Murray was then played for the student from the Pittsburg Penguins locker room.
During the message, she discussed her past ambitions of competing with boys in both hockey and basketball and how her career ultimately led her to the NHL as the Senior VP of Integrated Performance for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Overall she extolled the virtues of hard work over everything else as the key to success.
After that, the award ceremony began. The coaches presenting the awards spoke of the hard work, dedication, and attitudes of every recipient.
After the awards concluded, all recipients were congratulated.
Here’s a list of the winners not pictured below:

Charlie Ouellette
Senior Boys Basketball Rookie of the Year, Track and Field Top Male, Grade 10 Athlete of the Year
Cameron Bernier Winner of Grade 7 Athlete of the Year Award, Junior Boys Basketball Sportsmanship Award
Morgan Barr Senior Boys Basketball Most improved (1) Award
Ryder Lemay Senior Boys Basketball Most improved (2) Award
James Weston Heart of a Panther Award
Tristan Chales Senior Boys Basketball MVP (1)
Faith Hamilton Grade 8 Female Athlete of the Year Award
Issac Graham, Cross Country Most Improved
Hudson Sheppard Junior Boys Basketball Hustler Award
Ashton Deschenes Junior Boys Basketball Dedicated Award
Josephine Hutton Junior Girls Basketball Sportsmanship Award
Bryce Hudson Winner of Male Hockey Defensive Player of the Year Award

Brett Thoms
Shawville May 18, 2023

Brett Thoms THE EQUITY Left to right, Coach Luke Murphy, Paige Dubeau, winner of Female Hockey MVP Award and Track and Field Top Female Award, Laura Mayhew, winner of the Female Hockey Defensive Player and Coach Darcy Findlay.
Gibbson Lang, centre, winner of Junior Male Athlete of the Year Award, Grade 8 Athlete of the Year Award and Cross Country Top Male Award with coaches Chad Davis, left and Darcy Findlay.
Left to right, Coach Jodi Thompson, winner of Outstanding Contribution to Athletics by a Staff Member or Volunteer Award, Hunter Beauregard, winner of Senior Male Athlete of the Year, Male Hockey – Offensive Player Award, Grade 11 Male Athlete of the Year and Senior Boys Basketball MVP, Tristan Chales (Senior Boys Basketball MVP) and Coach Paul Elstone.
Left to right, Ruby Malony, winner of Junior Female Athlete of the Year, Grade 7 Female Athlete of the Year, Cross Country Top Female and Junior Girls Basketball Hustler Award, Emma Hobbs, Junior Girls Basketball MVP Award, Emilie Giroux, Junior Girls Basketball Coaches Award and Kori Sharpe, winner of the Dedication Award.
Left to right, Coach Darcy Findlay with Cade Kuehl, winner of the Male Hockey Bob “Fish” Findlay Memorial: Sportsmanship and Dedication Award and Bennett Rusenstrom, winner of Grade 9 Male Athlete of the Year Award, Male Hockey George Welsh Memorial: MVP Award and coach Matt Greer.
Left to right, coach Matt Greer, Julia Smith, winner of Grade 9 Female Athlete of the Year and Senior Girls Basketball Rookie Award, Peyton Ireland, winner of Grade 11 Female Athlete of the Year, the Outstanding Contributions to Athletics by a Student Award and Senior Girls Basketball Coaches Award and Hannah Twolan, winner of Senior Female Athlete of the Year, Senior Girls Basketball MVP and Grade 10 Female Athlete of the Year.