The Laurentian Voyageurs gave out their annual awards on Tuesday evening.
Leading the way were rower Abbey Maillet, and track athlete Marvin Zongo, who were named the female and male athletes of the year, respectively.
Zongo doubled down as he was named Male Rookie of the Year while runner Kristen Mrozewski got the nod on the women’s side.
Fellow runner Paul Sagriff was named the winner of the prestigious Voyageur Award while cross-country and track coach Darren Jermyn was named the Voyageurs’ coach of the year.
A trio of individuals were awarded the special Voyageur award with Anna Baker, Myriam Bouffard, and Cole Giffin being honoured.
Maillet was dominant on the water all season long. She opened the fall with a double gold-medal performance at the Guelph Invite, winning both the women’s light and women’s open single races, before grabbing silver in the women’s light single race at the Brock Invite.
At the OUA Championships, Maillet powered her way to a gold medal in the women’s light single race, finishing 5.5 seconds ahead of the silver medalist.
Maillet wrapped up her season with a bronze medal in the women’s light single at the Canadian University Rowing Championships, garnering Laurentian’s first lightweight medal at the national championship.
Zongo announced his presence on the OUA track and field scene in a big way this season, winning the long jump at the York Open in December, his first varsity competition.
In the first competition coming out of this winter’s pause, Zongo grabbed silver in the triple jump at the Guelph Open before winning the long jump at the York Winter Invite a week later.
At the OUA Championships, Zongo earned a silver medal in the triple jump, becoming the first Voyageur since Leila Angrand in 2007 to stand on the OUA podium.
He wrapped up his season at the U SPORTS Championships with a 10th-place finish in the long jump and a fourth-place finish in the triple jump, eight agonizing centimetres away from a spot on the podium.
Kristen Mrozewski made her mark on the women’s cross-country team from the opening day of
training camp, finishing as Laurentian’s top runner in four of her five races this season. She translated her success on the trails to success on the track, earning a pair of silver medals during the season before turning in a 10th-place finish in the 1000m at the OUA Championships as the only first year runner in the field.
The Voyageur Award is a prestigious award presented to a graduating student-athlete who has made an outstanding contribution to their sport and to Voyageur Athletics throughout their university career.
This year, Paul Sagriff was the recipient of the award.
Sagriff will leave Laurentian ranked second all-time over 3,000 metres and fourth all-time over 1,500 metres on the indoor track.
He was a second team OUA All-Star in cross country in 2018 and twice led his team as the top finisher at the U SPORTS Championships.
Off the track, Sagriff was a strong leader within the residence community, fulfilling multiple roles at Huntington. He has also volunteered countless hours to support the Laurentian Elementary School Cross Country Challenge and High School Rumble on the Rock events. These events bring up to 2,500 primary and elementary students to Laurentian’s campus each year for an event that promotes healthy living and fair play.
The Special Voyageur Award is presented to someone outside of the immediate Voyageurs family who has made an outstanding contribution to Voyageur Athletics. This year, there were a trio of recipients with Anna Baker, Myriam Bouffard, and Cole Giffin being honoured.
Baker and Bouffard teamed up to keep the basketball teams healthy all season long. Initially
committing to be the student trainers for the women’s basketball team, the duo also agreed to take the men’s team under their care when their team’s trainers fell through. This meant committing to being in the gym at practice for five or more hours, six days a week, from September through March.
Game days also saw a commitment of at least six hours each day, both at home and on the road.
Committing to all of this, totaling over 600 hours each, while each maintaining a full course load was nothing short of remarkable and highlighted their dedication to the Voyageurs, said a news release.
Giffin, who is a PhD candidate in sport psychology and a former Voyageurs soccer player, worked with the men’s soccer team as a sport psychologist for the last two years and has overseen the implementation of an off-season cardio and strength and conditioning program. He has also spent countless hours working with players as a group or individually on proper training and exercise techniques as well as focusing on injury prevention workouts. Giffin also took it upon himself to receive training from the liaison department to be able to take recruited players and their families through detailed tours of the campus with a focus on their desired program of study and the soccer program.
After seeing his student-athletes take home both Rookie of the Year awards and the Male Athlete of the Year, Jermyn was awarded the Voyageurs’ Coach of the Year award in his first year at the helm of the programs.
Under his guidance, the cross-country teams each had solid seasons while the indoor track teams had their best seasons in years, culminating with the team’s first OUA medal in 15 years.
Team awards were also announced on Tuesday. Here are the recipients from the various teams.
Men’s Golf
Pride &Tradition Award – Conrad Naponse
Women’s Golf
Pride & Tradition – Melanie Kappel
Men’s Nordic Skiing
Pride & Tradition – Laydon Bursey
Women’s Nordic Skiing
Pride & Tradition – Logan Bach
Women’s Cross Country Running & Women’s Indoor Track
Pride & Tradition – Kristen Mrozewski
Men’s Cross Country Running
Pride & Tradition – Keon Wallingford
Men’s Indoor Track
Pride & Tradition – Marvin Zongo
Women’s Soccer
Pride & Tradition – Amanda Cuthbert
Men’s Soccer
Pride & Tradition – Graeme McLean
Men’s Basketball
Pride & Tradition – Haroun Mohamed
Women’s Basketball
Pride & Tradition – Maria La Rosa
Women’s Curling
Pride & Tradition – Julia Deklein
Men’s Curling
Pride & Tradition – Mark D’Arcangelo
Baseball
Pride & Tradition – Tyler Gysbers
With the awards in the books, the 2021-22 Laurentian varsity season officially comes to a close. Stay tuned to www.luvoyageurs.com for complete off season news and updates.
