SFU Athletics ends a successful year in the NCAA with their award ceremony
By Jade Richardson
Image courtsey of SFU Athletics
The Simon Fraser University Clan athletic teams wrapped up their seasons at the 48th annual Clan Athletic Banquet. Awards were presented in celebration of all the achievements earned by Clan athletes throughout their first official year in the NCAA.
The event was attended by numerous SFU dignitaries and faculty, including SFU president Andrew Petter, vice president students Tim Rahilly, the Clan’s faculty representative Peter Ruben, student affairs executive director Nancy Johnson, registrar Kate Ross, and many more.
The banquet was held at a new venue this year, the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, a fitting environment for the impressive celebration, where numerous student-athletes took home hardware.
The evening’s highlight award, Athlete of the Year, was a highly contested award this year, as the women’s honours were awarded in a three-way tie.
Mariya Chekanovych, Helen Crofts and Danielle Lappage were all recipients of the 2013 award, after all three of them won national titles.
Chekanovych won the Clan’s first-ever NCAA National Championship in the 100-yard breaststroke in an NCAA record time, and went on to win the 200-yard breaststroke as well, becoming the first-ever NCAA National Champion from a non-American Institution.
Crofts was also an NCAA National Champion, winning the indoor 800-metre championship. The senior came back from a debilitating injury in the 2011–12 season to win her first NCAA title, having already won two titles for the same event in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Lappage won her third consecutive Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) national title this season leading her team to WCWA National and National Duel titles. She boasted an undefeated record in her senior season not losing a single match out of 25 wrestled.
Michael Winter was the male recipient of the award following an impressive season on the men’s soccer team culminating in a Final Four appearance, where he was the 2012 Great Northwest Atheltic Conference Player of the Year, a GNAC firstteam all-star, a West Region first-team all star and an NCAA All-American, captaining the squad to a third GNAC title and a West Region title.
The Terry Fox Awards for the Most Inspirational Athletes were won by Bo Palmer and Trisha Bouchard.
Palmer captained the football team to their best season in the GNAC, helping the team make a name for themselves in Division II play, battling through injuries all season without ever missing practice, coming ready to play at every single game.
Bouchard is the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), as well as cocaptain of the Clan softball team. She played an instrumental role in raising $1,100 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Canada through the SAAC, as well as initiating the Athlete Ally campaign, where SFU student-athletes chose to sign a pledge to accept others regardless of their sexual orientation, real or perceived.
The President’s Team of the Year Award is given to the team that excels in competition, in the classroom and in the community, and was a two-way tie this year, with the men’s soccer team and the women’s basketball team sharing the honours.
Both teams had seasons that took them into the NCAA tournament race, with the men’s soccer team making the Final Four, winning the NCAA West Region Championships and the GNAC Championships along the way, and the women’s basketball team making it to the Sweet-16, coming second in both the West Region and the GNAC Championships.
Both teams are active in the community as the men work with young soccer players in the community, young athletes with autism, and at the local foodbank. The women run many basketball camps in the community, have raised over $5,400 for breast cancer research this season, and boast the highest team GPA at SFU.
Helen Crofts picked up a second award in the evening, ear ning the Depar tmental Scholar Athlete Award for the athlete with the highest overall GPA. The track and field captain boasts a 4.14 GPA on a 4.33 scale in Biology. This excellent academic record, combined with her athletic success, also earned her the Bill De Vries award, which is given to an athlete who displays excellence in the classroom and away from it.
Women’s basketball player Carla Wyman won the Lorne Davies Senior Grad Award, which is given to a graduating senior who excels in competition, in the classroom, and in the community.
The award’s namesake and original athletic director, Davies himself, was on hand to present it to the senior. Wyman captained her team to a sweet 16 performance in the NCAA tournament this year, and led the team through the transition process into the NCAA.
She is a strong student and a leader in the community, having worked with the Clan girls basketball camps, and organizing this year’s breast cancer fundraiser game where the team raised over 5,400 dollars for the cause.
The Bernd Dittrich Award, named for the late Clan quarterback, is given to an athlete who is a team leader on and off their field. This year’s went to Adam Berger of the football team, who returned to the Clan for his senior season after being drafted by the Calgary Stampeders. Berger led his team both on the field and in the classroom, spending much of his personal time tutoring teammates and also volunteers as a youth football coach.
Austin Trapp was the recipient of the Rick Jones Award that recognizes an athlete that has overcome great adversity. Trapp went through an incredibly difficult year travelling back and forth to Ontario to be with his mother who was battling cancer in the fall.
During the struggle he qualified for the NCAA West Regionals, flying from Ontario to Hawaii to compete, and then back to Ontario to spend the last few days with his mom. Despite these hardships he still made the GNAC AllAcademic team for cross-country and had a personal best season during indoor track and field.
The evening also marked the appearance of brand new trophies for each award that will be updated and displayed for years to come as the Clan continue to compete in the NCAA, commemorating the success of Simon Fraser’s student-athletes.
