Two local athletes representing Team Ontario are celebrating after winning medals at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg.
Hayley Chase, 20, of Alma, won the gold medal with her team for quadruple sculls rowing and Emma Adams, 18, of Rockwood, and her softball team took home bronze.
The Canada Summer Games is a 16-sport athletic event held across Canada every two years. The event welcomed 4,000 athletes under the age of 21 and coaches to the 17-day event, July 28 to Aug. 13.
Chase only started rowing last year. In fact she hadn’t even thought of competing in the sport until she was picked out by a coach at a university fair.
“I just liked it. It’s fun, it’s different,” she said.
Her mom Robyn Chase, said Hayley has had an Olympic dream since she was young, but in running.
Now going into her third year at Laurentian University, she said she’s set her sights on an Olympic podium finish in rowing.
Hayley participated in two events at the Canada Summer Games. In quadruple sculls, she sits at the front and sets the pace for the team.
At the front, she cannot tell how well they are doing in the race.
“I can see the boats beside me, but I can’t tell where they are, because there’s so much more boat behind me,” explained Hayley.
But in the finals, she knew they crossed the finish line first. Team Ontario had a three second lead on second place winners from British Columbia and a four second lead over bronze medalists from Manitoba.
In her second event, Hayley competed in single sculls, placing fourth.
She said winning gold with her team was an exciting moment.
“It’s definitely a confidence booster and knowing that I was able to do it,” she said.
Softball
Adams has been playing softball since she was 10. She now plays at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
She said it took only a couple of months for Team Ontario’s softball team to band together.
“A lot of teams train together for two years or more, and we came together within a couple of months,” she said.
“It was just unreal watching all the teams play together and how well everyone connected.”
Team Ontario won all of its round robin games but lost to British Columbia in the first playoff game. That sent the team to a game against Alberta, the winner of which would go to the gold medal game while the loser would finish with bronze.
Team Ontario lost 7-1, to end up with bronze.
“It was really cool, because I didn’t really expect going in there to win a medal, I was really hoping to, but it wasn’t a for-sure thing that I knew we were going to do,” said Adams.
“Just winning a medal in general was unreal.”
Team Ontario, along with first place Team British Columbia and second place Team Alberta, received their medals at the closing ceremonies of the Canada Summer Games.
“It was awesome,” she said.
Adams also made the 2017 Canada’s Junior women’s national team.
