Saints celebrate success at annual athletic awards
The St. Clair College Saints celebrated a solid year of athletics on Tuesday at the school’s 51st Annual Athletics Banquet. “We’re thrilled to add to our history this year,” St. Clair vicepresident Ron Seguin said. “We won five medals. Two in crosscountry, a silver in softball, a bronze in volleyball, and gold and a national championship in baseball.
“Whenever you’re running 16 sports and get four or five in the top echelon, you’re pretty happy with that.”
Shannon Kennedy, from women’s basketball, and Kyle Breitner, from baseball, captured the Mason MacDonald Female and Male Athlete of the Year awards at the banquet, which was held at the St. Clair Centre for Performing Arts.
Kennedy, a St. Joseph high school product, finished her five-year career with the Saints as the school’s all-time leader in points and rebounds, the OCAA’s all-time leading scorer, and was a five-time all-star. Breitner, who also completed his five-year career, was a fivetime OCAA gold medallist and finished with a career record of 17-3 with a 1.52 ERA and 300 strikeouts in 280 innings. He was a four-time OCAA all-star and named pitcher of the year three times.
“They’ve both been with us a long time and I don’t know if those numbers will be passed for a long time,” Seguin said. “In the history of women’s basketball in the OCAA, Shannon’s the alltime leading scorer.
“With Kyle, it will be hard to argue if there’s a better athlete that has ever played at St. Clair College.
“These certainly are milestones we’ll celebrate.” Jessica Masse and Tyler Jones were named Al Hoffman athletes of the year for outstanding achievement.
Masse, an Essex high school product, helped the women’s volleyball team to its first medal at the OCAA championship in 21 years. In her third season with the club, Masse was fourth in the conference in stuffs and sixth in kill percentage. An all-star selection on the court, she’s also a three-time OCAA all-academic member and a national academic all-Canadian.
Jones, who is a Sandwich high school athlete, won an individual silver medal in men’s cross-country as a freshman and helped the team to a silvermedal performance. He was a national all-Canadian as well as making the conference and national all-academic team. Dave Cooper won the InterCollegiate Coach of the Year Award after leading a rebuilding Saints team to its fifth straight OCAA title as well as a national championship. Cross-country coach Paul Boots won the John Strasser Coaching Award for success athletically and contributions to the community. He has taken a team to nationals in all three seasons with the club and annually assists with the Windsor Goodfellows.
The late Ken Ambrose was awarded the Jack Costello Exceptional Service Award posthumously for his years coaching, recruiting and marketing. Team academic awards went to women’s basketball, which held a 3.02 grade-point average, and the cross-country team, which held a 3.43 grade-point average.
Jones, Kennedy, Masse and Korede Adepitan, from men’s soccer, were presented with the academic all-Canadian awards.