The 10th annual Nanaimo Sport Achievement Awards were held Friday at the Coast Bastion Hotel.
The event brought together more than 50 nominees in 18 different awards categories across all sports in the city.
One of the big winners this year was Vancouver Island University’s women’s soccer team, which was chosen Team of the Year, and the team’s coach Anup Kang was selected High-Performance Coach of the Year. The Mariners won their first provincial championship since 1993, also finishing in first place in the Pacific Western Athletic Association.
V.I. Raiders graduating receiver Marshall Cook was selected Male Team Athlete of the Year after leading the Canadian Junior Football League in catches (64) and yards (1,084) and scoring nine touchdowns.
Kesa Van Osch is the Female Team Athlete of the Year, as she won a provincial championship and represented B.C. at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts last winter. She was named the News Bulletin’s 2014 Athlete of the Year last month.
Matt Haddad of the VIU Mariners golf program is the Male Individual Athlete of the Year after winning a PacWest individual provincial championship and representing VIU at nationals.
Carey Mark was named Female Individual Athlete of the Year after a season in which she won the women’s elite titles on the Island Cup mountain bike series and the Cross on the Rock cyclocross series.
Longtime B.C. Special Olympics Nanaimo executive director Sylvia Taylor received the Michael Rhode Memorial Award for longtime dedication to sport.
Other award winners are: Cole Virtanen, Male Junior Team Athlete of the Year; Kelsey Hutt, Female Junior Team Athlete of the Year; Reid Della-Rosa, Male Junior Individual Athlete of the Year; Faye Tuck, Female Junior Individual Athlete of the Year; Derek Steel, Masters Athlete of the Year; Martin Barakso and Tim Schrijver, Partners of the Year; Barsby Bulldogs AA varsity football, Junior Team of the Year; Bob Saunders, Grassroots Coach of the Year; Shawn Swanson, Sport Administrator of the Year; Terry Ryan, Official of the Year; B.C. Summer Games, Sports Story of the Year.
The event raised money for local high-performance athletes.
