Kodiaks celebrate top student-athletes
Two basketball stars shone at the Lethbridge College Kodiaks annual athletic awards banquet Monday night. Sunder West from the women’s basketball team and Chris Maughan from the men’s basketball team were named the winners of the Tim Tollestrup Leadership/Athlete of the Year awards in an event at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.
West, a third-year player from Raymond, had an excellent regular season for the conference-champion Kodiaks, earning an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference south division first-team allconference selection. She finished fourth in ACAC scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game.
She elevated her play in the playoffs, winning MVP honours in both the ACAC and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship tournaments as the Kodiaks went undefeated and won the fourth national championship in the college’s history.
Maughan, a fourth-year player from Mesa, Az., returned to the Kodiaks following one year at the University of Lethbridge and led the Kodiaks in scoring with 15.4 points per game, shooting percentage with 55 per cent, rebounds with 7.9 per game, and blocks with 29.
He was an ACAC south division first-team allconference selection, and an ACAC championship all-tournament team selection.
The KODI awards celebrate all aspects of the Kodiaks season, This year, the program earned more than 45 conference or national athletic and academic honours.
“It was another successful season for the Kodiaks as every sport was in a position to step onto the pitch, track or court and compete to win,” Todd Caughlin, manager of Kodiaks Athletics, stated in a recent news release.
Other notable KODI award winners were head coach Brad Karren of the women’s basketball team, who was named ACAC and CCAA coach of the year, and the women’s basketball team as top team, after winning the CCAA championship, having the highest combined team GPA and becoming actively involved in the Kodiaks community.
The Kodiaks also introduced a new student award, named after Emmalee Cherweniuk.
Cherweniuk, named newcomer of the year by the women’s volleyball team, was killed in a motor vehicle collision in March.
The $500 award, sponsored by the Kodiak Athletics Association, will be named after Emmalee and will be awarded to a Kodiaks women’s volleyball player in her honour for at least the next three years.