The 2024 year was an exciting year of sports on many different levels when it comes to North Bay area athletes and teams.
Just like 2023, the year was full of both heartbreak and glory.
A panel of BayToday staff with help from your votes will decide the 2024 Sports Story of the Year.
Jaimee Bull wrapped up another memorable Water Ski season.
The North Bay waterskier secured her fourth Water Ski Pro Tour title with a tight victory at the Miami Pro Tour which wrapped up on November 4, 2024. Bull captured four first place finishes during the 2024 tour schedule en route to the tour title.
North Bay's Ryan Hunter brought home his second Grey Cup.
The Algonquin Barons alum was named the CFL's top linesman at the 2024 Grey Cup Banquet, won his second Grey Cup with the Argonauts as he adds to his trophy case which includes a Super Bowl title with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.
Chippewa secondary school athlete Raine Bradley won multiple medals at multiple high profile track and field meets in 2024.
The 16-year-old won silver in discus (U16) at Legion National Track and Field meet in Calgary and won gold in the same event at the Ontario Summer Games in London.
In the spring of 2024, Bradley won the 2024 Fergie Dowdall Trophy as the top athlete at the NDA Track and Field Championship in his first year and went on to break a long-standing NOSSA Novice discus record set by current Toronto Argonauts lineman and Algonquin alum Ryan Hunter when Bradley threw the disc 50.20 metres. At OFSAA in June 2024, he threw a personal best 51.22 meters on the province’s biggest stage to beat the nearest competitor by 5 meters at the OFSAA track and field championships in London. It was an impressive performance as four out of the six throws by Raine were far enough to win the gold medal.
Still on the glory side, the Algonquin Barons senior football team went through an unbeaten NDA season and rolled to a NDA title in the fall of 2024 They beat the West Ferris Trojans 31-6 in the NDA football final.
However, the Korah Colts broke the Barons unbeaten streak defeating the city champs 37-6 to win the Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA) senior football title in mid November in Sault Ste. Marie.
Other sports stories include another inspiring playoff run by the North Bay Battalion.
The Troops, led by rookie netminder Mike McIvor battled back from a 3-0 deficit against the Oshawa Generals only to suffer defeat in a heartbreaking game seven in Oshawa during the Eastern Conference Final.
It was the third straight year the Troops made it to the final four in the OHL, and the second time in a row they were beaten in a seven-game series.
The Battalion got to the Eastern Conference final again by defeating the Kingston Frontenacs in the opening round in five games and then dispatched their rival Sudbury Wolves in four straight.
The Powassan Voodoos, who finished third in the eastern conference made a valiant run to the NOJHL championships - a run which included six overtime victories including an exciting seven-game series victory over the defending NOJHL champion Timmins Rock in the Eastern Conference Final.
However, the Voodoos ended up losing in five games to the Greater Sudbury Cubs in the NOJHL final.
The Nipissing Lakers varsity women's soccer team made it all the way to the OUA finals to the University of Ottawa which gave them OUA silver for the first time in the program's history and sending them to nationals in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the first time as well.
However, the Lakers came up short in their 2024 BMO U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Championship quarter-final, falling in a shootout, 2-2 (4-2) to the Cape Breton Capers. They went on to beat Trinity Western 1-0 in the fifth place game at Nationals.
Rob Shaw fell in the quarter-finals of the quad singles wheelchair tennis event as he was defeated by world No. 2 Niels Vink of the Netherlands in straight sets at the Paris Paralympics in September of 2024.
Reaching the quarter-finals was still the best Paralympic result in Shaw’s career. His first-round win over Ymanitu Silva was his first-ever match win at the Paralympics. Shaw was the lone Canadian wheelchair tennis player competing in Paris. Shaw also competed at the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021.
To vote on the poll scroll down on our main page or click HERE.
We will announce the winner next week.
