The award may one day have to be named after Kelsey Serwa.
For the third time in five years, the Kelowna ski cross racer has been named the City of Kelowna’s female athlete of the year.
Serwa captured the imagination of the community and her country in 2014 by winning the silver medal in ski cross racing at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Serwa, 25, also won the award for 2010 and 2011.
Other recipients in sports categories at Civic Awards ceremony Thursday at the Kelowna Community Theatre were:
• Male athlete of the year: Robbie Yochim, Okanagan Sun.
As a kick returner, Yochim set several team, conference and national records in his fifth and final season of junior football, including six kick returns for touchdowns.
• Brian Couling Memorial Award, team of the year: Okanagan Rockets.
The Rockets won just the second B.C. Major Midget League championship in team history in 2014, then added a bronze medal at the Telus Cup national midget championship in Moose Jaw, Sask.
• Bob Giordano Memorial Award, exceptional voluntary service: Tom Maxwell.
Co-founder of there Kelowna Kodiaks homeless street soccer team, Maxwell has been dedicated to helping those suffering from addictions, mental illness and homelessness to find a place where they can become part of a team.
• Augie Ciancone Award, outstanding student athletes in Central Okanagan (female and male): Emma Johnson and Jeff Tubbs.
Johnson has been a star with the basketball, volleyball and soccer programs at Immaculata over the last three seasons, leading the Mustangs to the B.C. girls AA basketball title this spring.
Tubbs, captain of the Mt. Boucherie senior boys basketball team, also led the Bears’ volleyball squad to back-to-back bronze medals at the AAA provincials.
