WolfPack winners
The hard-court ruled the night at the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack’s annual awards banquet on Thursday, March 22.
Basketball players Chas Kok, a fifth-year forward, and Diane Schuetze, a fourth-year post player, were named the Pack’s male and female athletes of the year, respectively.
“This is a great honour,” said Kok, who will move into an assistant-coaching role with the men’s basketball team next season.
“Just being nominated was an honour. To be honest, I was shocked to win it.”
Schuetze, unlike Kok, was pretty much a shoo-in to win the women’s award.
She became the first female basketball player in the WolfPack’s seven-year history to be named a second-team Canadian Interuniversity Sports all star.
The tourism student from Vernon earned Canada West all-star status, to go along with the national award.
Schuetze finished the season among the conference’s top scorers and rebounders.
“This was a great way to cap off the year,” Schuetze said.
The male and female Doctor Roger H. Barnsley Scholar/Athlete awards, given to the students who posted grade-point averages above 3.5 and exhibited outstanding play on their respective teams, were handed out to Alex Condon and Ashley Piggot.
Condon manned third base for the WolfPack men’s baseball team, while Piggot patrolled the midfield for the women’s soccer squad.
“I really struggled this year to keep the grades up and perform on the field,” said Piggot, a sciences student.
“It’s my last year and the courses are tough.”
She was a Pacific Western Athletic Association and Canadian Colleges Athletic Association all star.
The TRU Sports Task Force awards, which go to athletes who contributed greatly to the Kamloops community, were given to men’s hockey player Andrew Fisher and women’s basketball player Jen Ju.
Brad Pape, who is retiring after 28 years of coaching badminton at the school, was given the TRU WolfPack Appreciation Award.
A new award — the Tyler Lowey award — was presented at the banquet.
Lowey was the first recipient of the award, which will be given annually to a player who comes back from adversity.
The baseball player lost an eye in October when he was struck by a pitch while at bat.
— With files from TRU
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