Photo by: Brenden Cowan
The Brock Badgers had their annual awards gala on April 5 at the Americana Conference Resort Spa and Waterpark to recognize the 2022/23 season’s most impressive individual athletes, coaches, teams and performance staff.
Here are the winners from the 2022/23 Brock Badgers Awards Gala:
2022/23 Male and Female Athletes of the Year
Stephen Harris from men’s rowing took home the Male Athlete of the Year award while women’s wrestling’s Mia Friesen won the award for Female Athlete of the Year.
Harris, who was this year’s men’s rowing captain won a medal at every rowing competition for the Badgers this year. He was an OUA all-star, the OUA Oarsman of the year and the Canadian University Rowing Championships co-Oarsman of the Year. The rowing phenom also won the 2021/22 Badgers’ male athlete of the year award, making him the first male back-to-back recipient of the award since the 2006/07 season.
Friesen dominated her 56kg weight class every time she stepped on the mat this season. In addition to taking home numerous medals across different provincial, national and world competitions, she was an OUA First Team All-Star, a U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian and was named the U SPORTS Female Wrestler of the Year.
Women’s and men’s Team Coaches of the Year
Badgers’ women’s volleyball team head coach Steve Delaney was awarded Women’s Team Coach of the Year while men’s rowing’s Tom Kent received the Men’s Team Coach of the Year award.
Delaney, who also won the award last year, has coached the women’s volleyball team to two consecutive Quigley Cups. He also took home the OUA Coach of the Year award for the third consecutive time.
Kent, who also received the OUA coach of the year award, led the men’s rowing team to a second straight OUA championship and second overall at the Canadian University Rowing Championship.
Male and Female Teams of the Year
Badgers men’s and women’s wrestling were awarded the Male and Female teams of the Year awards.
An overall superb year for the Badgers wrestling programs, the female team received their eighth consecutive OUA championship banner and finished second overall at the U SPORTS national championship. The male team won the OUA championship for the seventh year in a row and the U SPORTS national championship for the eighth straight year.
Other Individual Major Award Winners
The David S. Howes Spirit of Brock Award is for an athlete who best embodies the Spirit of Sir Isaac Brock which includes leadership, courage, innovation, inspiration and community service. This award was taken home by Badgers women’s fencing’s Tamara Tait.
The David Atkinson Surgite Award and the R.M. Davis Surgite Award are respectively awarded to the female and male athletes who succeed both in their studies and as an athlete. Women’s figure skating’s Daniella Scurto took home the David Atkinson surgite award while men’s rowing’s Connor Dodds was the recipient of the R.M. Davis surgite award.
Student therapists Brendan Tymec and Katie Cameron were awarded the Joseph P. Kenny Student Therapist Award of Excellence. Greg Taylor was named the Brock Sports Performance’s Student intern of the Year and Paris Forlin was awarded the Brock Sport Performance’s Impact Award.
The Marilou Iusi Memorial Service Award is given to an individual who shows tireless dedication to Brock Sports. Sports Administrator Irene Henry was the recipient of this award.
Team Athlete Awards
Titles such as “most valuable Badger,” “emerging Badger” and “most improved Badger” were awarded to individual athletes from all Badger varsity teams.
Most Valuable Badgers
This year’s most valuable Badgers include Reid Lunney for baseball, Jordan Tchuente for men’s basketball, Madalyn Weinert for women’s basketball (T.J. Kearney MVB), Joseph Dick for men’s cross country, Robyn Adamo for women’s cross country, Owen Henry for men’s curling, Sarah Bailey for women’s curling, Pilar Dietrich for women’s fencing (Ken Douglas MVB), Nathaniel McDonnell for men’s fencing, Alyssa Cross for figure skating, Tate Smith for men’s golf, Melanie Burgess for women’s golf, Jacob Roach for men’s hockey (Ed Davis MVB), Kenzie Harmison and Claudia Murphy for women’s hockey, Macgregor Allen for men’s lacrosse, Ryanne Logan for women’s lacrosse, Thomas Markewich and Stephen Harris for men’s rowing, Zoe and Isabella Durcak for women’s rowing and Zach Zorbas for men’s rugby.
Others include Tess Armstrong for women’s rugby, Taylor Miskolczi for men’s soccer, Grace Tawil for women’s soccer, Faith Westman for softball, Tyson Schille for men’s squash, Meg Tuff-Berg for women’s squash, Anthonie Korstanje for men’s swimming (Joe Kerkhoven MVB), Jami Fuson for women’s swimming (Joe Kerkhoven MVB), Alex Cristiano for men’s tennis, Aleks Paramentic for women’s tennis, Colton Spencer for men’s track and field, Emily Good for women’s track and field, Sara Rohr for women’s volleyball, Grant Reddon for men’s volleyball, Bobby Narwal for men’s wrestling and Mia Friesen for women’s wrestling.
Emerging Badgers
This year’s emerging Badgers are Ben Grant for baseball, Xavier Fearon for men’s basketball, Oluwatito Akinnusi for women’s basketball, Adeline Steiger for women’s cross country, Ethan Lamothe for men’s curling, Julia Markle for women’s curling, Jacqueline Chen for women’s fencing, Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia for men’s fencing, Kailyn Davidson for figure skating, Robbie Pemberton for men’s golf, Hannah Showers for women’s golf, Jordan Stock for men’s hockey (Denholm E.B.), Mitchell Armstrong for men’s lacrosse, Jenna Toguri for women’s lacrosse and Grant Meadows for men’s rugby.
Others include Jordan Smith for women’s rugby, Tiago Pereira for men’s soccer, Makenna Williamson for women’s soccer, Emily campbell for softball, Luque Lockhart for men’s squash, Allison MacPhail for women’s squash, Thomas Galvez for men’s swimming (Herb deBray Progressive E.B.), Paige Moore for women’s swimming (Herb deBray Progressive E.B.), Alec Fraser for men’s tennis, Sogolene de Vries Reilingh for women’s tennis, Michael Ivanov for men’s track and field, Grace Kugler for women’s track and field, Madison Tuck for women’s volleyball, Devin Cooney for men’s volleyball, Carlos Vargas for men’s wrestling and Vanessa Keefe for women’s wrestling.
Most Improved Badgers
This year’s most improved Badgers consist of Kylar Code for men’s volleyball, Meera Sayal for women’s volleyball, Hayley Keith for figure skating, Isabella Ricetto for women’s curling and Benjamin Harbridge for men’s curling.
The 2022/23 season was a promising one for Badgers athletes, teams, coaches and staff.
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