St. Paul Regional High School hosted its annual Athletic Awards Banquet at the school’s gymnasium last Thursday to honour the efforts and successes of its vast athletic base.
A total of 109 athletes enrolled in extra curricular sports at Regional this year, amounting to 29 per cent of the school’s entire populous. Of the 109, Leigha Bishop and Jeff Hatch were named as the school’s female and male athletes of the year.
“It’s great. I’ve been wanting to get it since Grade 10, it’s been my goal for the last three years,” said Hatch, who competed in volleyball, handball, basketball, cross-country and track and field. “Sports are just my life and that’s what I do.”
Bishop was equally thrilled to be named the female athlete of the year, saying, “It means a lot, I really enjoy playing all the sports and getting to know people.”
It was a year that saw a great deal of success for St. Paul Regional’s athletes on a number of fronts.
The St. Paul Lions football team achieved its fourth Wheatland Football League title in 10 years, thanks in part to the efforts of Lions MVP and WFL offensive MVP Jason Jubinville, and WFL defensive MVP Zach Smith.
The basketball season saw both the boys and girls Saints teams take home the Lakeland Basketball Association banners, and the boys team followed it up with a third place performance at zones.
In cross country, Regional claimed the boys and girls SPAA championships, only to follow it up with the school’s 11th straight zones championship and a second place performance at provincials among 3A schools.
Track and field saw Regional claim its 13th SPAA combined points banner in a row, while also claiming the boys banner. The athletes went on to take the zones championship and a fifth place finish among 3A schools at provincials, where Nicole Kitt won a gold medal in the 3,000m and a silver in the 1,500m, while Jocelyn Laramee claimed gold in discus and Chanelle Gagne earned bronze in the 3,000m.
Regional’s badminton program commandingly claimed its 43rd straight SPAA banner and third straight zones championship, and Randi Drummond and Mikael Beaudoin claimed a bronze medal in the intermediate mixed doubles at provincials.
The volleyball season saw the girls team reach the point of zone finalists, while the boys team claimed gold at the zone championships before falling short in the provincial qualifying round.
To top it all off, the school took home the top spot at the RCMP road race for the 13th straight year.
Award recipients are as follows:
MVP: Nicole Kitt
Rookie of the year: Juliana Nunweiler
Heart Award: Chanelle Gagne
MVP: Matthew Gervais
Rookie of the year: Nicholas Lupul
MVP: Jason Jubinville
MVP: Mikayla Mailloux
Rookie of the year: Sydney Warchola
Most improved: Cara Sosnowski
Most sportsmanlike: Brooke Mulkay
MVP: Sheldon Warchola
Rookie of the year: Dyson Roy, Mathew Skyrpan
Leadership Award: Jeff Hatch
MVP: Chelsea Enriquez
Rookie of the year: Madison Mahdiuk
Most improved: Tanisha Gardiner
Heart Award: Randi Drummond
MVP: Jeff Hatch
Rookie of the year: Nicholas Lupul
Most improved: Ben Laing
Leadership Award: Zacharie Smith
MVP: Austin Kennedi
Rookie of the year: Dmitri Krys
Most dedicated: Bailey Baxter
Girls MVP: Randi Drummond
Boys MVP: Mikael Beaudoin
Outstanding female performance: Nicole Kitt
Rookie of the year: Jocelyn Laramee
Performance Award: Chanelle Ga=gne
Leadership Award: Hayley Smid
Outstanding male performance: Matthew Gervais
Rookie of the year: Jonathan Krankowksi
Leadership Award: Nicholas Lupul
