Lancer runner to share hometown honour

Lancer runner Matt Walters, winner of provincial and national medals in both cross-country and track and field, is winning recognition from his hometown of North Bay.

He is a co-recipient, along with University of Missouri swimmer Dominique Bouchard, of the 2011 sports achievement award from the city’s Downtown Improvement Area.

Walters captured gold in the 2011 Ontario University Athletics track and field championship, helping the Windsor Lancers 4x800-metre team to a first-place finish. He also won a bronze medal in the men’s 3,000-metre race.

At the 2011 Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship, Walters took home a silver medal in the men’s 1,500-metre event.

In the 2011 cross-country season, he was named a first team all-star at both the provincial and national levels, racing to bronze medals at the OUA and CIS cross-country championships.

He topped this pace in 2012, winning gold medals in the 1,500 and 3,000 metre runs at the CIS meet and earning male track athlete of the year honours.

His performance earned him the right to represent Canada at the 2012 World University Cross-Country Championships in Poland last weekend, where he finished fifth among Canadians and 58th overall.

Walters and Bouchard will be honoured at the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame’s annual induction and awards dinner April 28.