Knights good at their day jobs in the classroom

Nine women’s volleyball players and 32 athletes overall earn all-academic honours

That good ol’ college try was more than good enough for 32 student athletes at Niagara College.

Not only did they pass their courses at the region’s community college, they also ended 2019-20 with an overall average of at least 80 per cent.

They are among 700 athletes earning all-academic honours from the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.

This year, women’s volleyball had the most players who were especially successful in juggling academics and athletics, with nine.

Men’s basketball and men’s volleyball each had five, followed by women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, each with four.

Following are the Niagara College recipients, listed by sport:

Basketball, men’s: Abel Rahim Bardi, Connor Jolliffe, Kennan Larmand, Daniel Lokole, Reese Radobenko. Basketball, women’s: Elisabeth DeBoer, Leanne Dekorte, Lysa Lowe, Jessyka Maliksi. Golf: Christopher Hallborg. Soccer, men’s: James D’Annunzio,

Patrick Ioanidis, Simon Silverio, Fabian Vargas Murcia.

Soccer, women’s: Julieanne Buist, Maria Gamba, Wiktoria Keller, Katelyn Mix. Volleyball, men’s: Nicholas Buckborough, Elijah Bugiardini, Ashton Fehr, Owen Pols, Robert Zalewski. Volleyball, women’s: Alexis

Barclay, Madelyn Berg, Natasha Desjardins, Tamara Edwards, Anica Haberstock, Taylor Morrison, Kristen Oudman, Marissa Steele, Montanna Taylor.

OCAA All-Academic Awards are presented annually to fulltime varsity student-athletes who achieve honours standards in the classroom, successfully completing one academic semester.

Status of presentation of the college’s 2019-20 athletic awards remains unclear. Communications and events co-ordinator Lindsay English said other than “aiming” for the rollout of the winners Thursday, April 16, the athletic department is not yet at the point to make an announcement.

Planning for an awards presentation remains ongoing.

“We’re trying to work with a few different parties on campus,” she wrote an email.

Brock University’s sports awards gala was conducted entirely online this year. Rather than postpone the event due to COVID-19 crowd restrictions, the event was streamed.

An interactive event that featured presentation of 12 major awards included an interactive aspect. Guests were invited to type in comments and deliver the digital version of fist bumps and high-fives using their favourite emojis.