Drumheller is well represented in the Alberta Summer Games coming up this week in Leduc.

 Payton Zacharuk, 16, is competing in the track and field throwing events. She competed last year in the discus and shotput. This year she qualified for all four throwing events, including the hammer throw and javelin.

“She is the only one in the zone to qualify for all four events,” said mother Elizabeth Zacharuk.

 This was an exceptional feat, considering that at last year’s event she tore her ACL and MCL and was not able to take on her usual five days a week training regime.

Payton has been having a strong season. Last weekend she competed at the Midget, Youth and Masters Provincial Championships in Sherwood Park where she won bronze in the hammer throw.  The weekend before, she went to the Junior Provincials in Calgary, where she went up an age group to the junior level and won bronze. Her mother Elizabeth competed at the master and won four medals. 

This will be Payton’s last Alberta Summer Games, but it is surely not the end of her track and field career. It was just announced that she made the Alberta team for the Western Canadian Tri-Prov Championships. This event brings together the top athletes from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This year the event is in Regina.

The Alberta Summer Games are from July 14-17 and features more than 3,000 athletes of ages ranging from 11-17 competing in 14 different sports.

    With the Calgary Flames' most recent acquisition, there is one hockey fan in Drumheller who will be cheering louder than most for their new goalie.
    Chad Johnson signed a one-year contract with the Flames in free agency after a respectable season with the Buffalo Sabres posting a 22-16-1 record with a 2.36 GAA. He is the son of Karen Johnson, nee Laslo, and grandson of local resident Alice Laslo.
    “That’s sure exciting, you bet,” Alice told The Mail. “This will be the first year since he graduated college from Alaska Fairbanks, that he will be playing in Canada.”
    In fact, he will be playing in his hometown, where as a youngster he grew up seeing the jerseys of Mike Vernon, Rick Wamsley, Trevor Kidd and Miikka Kiprusoff on the ice or in the rafters of the Saddledome.
    “It’s been a dream since I can remember to be a part of the Flames organization. I grew up here in Calgary. It’s very surreal,” said Chad. “The hometown thing for me and where the team is at and my role and opportunity was just too over-powering for me to go somewhere else.”
    While he has been on rosters throughout the NHL, Alice says he always comes home to Calgary to train in the off-season.
    “It’s nice to be playing on a home team for sure, but for a young fella starting out, just to get a chance to be able to play on a team would be very exciting,” said Alice, who saw her grandson play in the Saddledome last December, as reported in The Mail.
    His mother Karen says the whole family is excited.
    “We can’t even put into words how happy we are for him,” said Karen. “How often do you get to play in your hometown. It’s nice we don’t have to travel to see him play.”
    She adds that Chad is also a newlywed as of June.
    The Flames home opener is Friday, October 14 versus the Edmonton Oilers.
    “Hopefully everyone will be able to come down for it,” said Karen. “We will be so proud to see him in a Flames jersey.”