Oh the memories! While some of us have no hope of retaining any memories from the evening, others will cherish them forever. The 39th Annual Night of the Dino took place Tue., Apr. 4, honouring many deserving athletes.
The big winners of the night were Dan Federkeil and Brittanee Laverdure, who took home the Dr. Dennis Kadatz Athlete of the Year trophies.
Federkeil, a football team member, joined the Dinos in 2001 and has been a starting defensive end for four years. He played in this year’s east-west shrine game put on in the U.S.A. for outstanding college football players. He was also Canada West’s nominee for the J. P. Metras Trophy for Canadian Interuniversity Sport Lineman of the Year.
Laverdure has been wrestling for the Dinos for five years and became the first wrestler to be named the University of Calgary Female Athlete of the Year. She was undefeated this season, winning the CW and CIS titles in her 55-kilogram weight class.
The finalists for the Athlete of the Year Award were given Athletic Awards of Merit. Joe Bentley, Chad Hankewich, Geoff Kerr and Chris Wright were the male recipients and Laura Grant, Shannon Popowich, Natalie Schwartz and Taryn Swiatek were the female recipients.
Bentley went undefeated in the 68-kilogram division in CIS wrestling this season. Hankewich was the gold medalist in the 100-metre freestyle at the CIS Swimming Championship and won five silvers. Wright threw down an average of 15 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for the basketball Dinos this season and was the only fifth year on the team.
Grant won her 50-metre freestyle event at the CIS Swimming Championship this year along with three silvers. Popowich placed fourth in this season’s CIS Cross-Counrty Championship and was a First-Team All-Canadian. She was also named Performer of the Meet at the CW Track and Field Championship, winning gold in the 1,500- and 3,000-metre runs. Schwartz, the women’s volleyball team captain, led her squad to a national bronze this season. She has led CW in assists for the last three seasons. Swiatek stopped many goals on the Dinos women’s soccer team’s path to their first CW Championship. For her efforts at the CIS Championship, she earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Kerr and Megan Gould received the Calgary Booster Club Scholar Athlete of the Year awards for outstanding athletic and academic achievements.
Kerr was a Second-Team All-Canadian in both cross-country and track and field this year. He won the 1,500- and 3,000-metre runs at the CW Track and Field Championship and silver in the 3,000-metre run at the CIS Track and Field Championship this season.
Along with his athletic successes, Kerr kept a 3.5 grade point average in the Haskayne School of Business this year.
Gould, a third-year women’s soccer team member, is deeply involved on campus and in the community. Along with playing soccer, she coaches a youth team and volunteers at the Special Olympics.
Gould, who recently healed following a knee injury, managed to pull off a super-human 4.0 GPA despite her soccer team commitments.
The winners of the Bill Popplewell Rookie of the Year Awards were Tanis Bartolome and Travis Friedley. Bartolome was named Canada West Field Hockey Rookie of the Year and Friedley was Canada West’s highest-scoring defenseman in hockey.
Runners up for the award were Leah Callahan of wrestling, Katelyn Murdoch of swimming, Ross Bekkering of basketball and Josh Ratzlaff of track and field.
The Margaret Southern Award for the greatest contribution to Dinos athletics by a female went to Lindsay Minor. She has a five-year history recording stats at basketball games.
The Dr. Lou Goodwin Award for the greatest contribution to the Dinos by a male went to Wayne Thomas, an assistant coach of the men’s basketball team. He sends out game reports to subscribers, founded the ball-boy program–allowing young basketball players to observe the Dinos on game day–and helped expand the mentoring program that many Dinos teams participate in. He played on the Dinos men’s basketball team in the 1960s.
The Murray Fraser Award for student-volunteers was given to Jessica Moser and Nick Comeau. Moser, an athletic therapist, has put in 600 hours for her schooling, but volunteered over 700 hours of her own time. Comeau was an integral part of the CIS Women’s Volleyball Championship that took place here at the U of C Mar. 2-4.
Recipients of the Gauntlet Extra Effort Award were Brett Thurston and Deanna Delisle. See page 33 for details.