A large number of Concordia’s athletes were honoured last Thursday night at the 2004 Concordia University Athletic Awards Banquet held at Buffet Crystal. The event, emceed by Stinger hockey players Philippe Ozga and Lauren Houghton was to pay tribute to teams’ and athletes’ accomplishments during the 2003-04 athletic season.
The athletics department honoured the CSU due to its strong contribution to athletic events and promoting athletic games amongst the general student population during 2003-04.
The athletic awards began with soccer player Kathleen Grzybowski and wrestler Tyler Marghetis receiving the Rector’s Academic Awards, which are presented to outstanding athletes who have a GPA above 3.4 over two academic years.
Grzybowski collected four CIS All-Canadian awards in her career at Concordia. She specialized in art education and has managed to keep a cumulative GPA of 3.90.
In only two years at Concordia, Margheti has been twice named CIS Academic All-Canadian while keeping up an outstanding 4.18 GPA in pure and applied mathematics.
The Marvin Cooper Award, which is presented to an athlete who successfully overcomes adversity through hard work and commitment, was presented to offensive lineman Alex Oliveira. Oliveira suffered many injuries throughout his five years with the football team and always managed to pull off major comebacks.
Football player Christian Giguere earned the award of fittest and rookie defender Marie-Pierre Cantin Drouin won the Fittest Athlete Awards.
Awards of Distinction were presented to hockey player David Comeau and rugby player Sommer Christie. Male hockey player Patrice Theriault won the Ron Lapointe Award for leadership, dedication and commitment to excellence. Stinger captain Janna Gillis won the Denise Beaudet Award for leadership, unselfishness and commitment to excellence. Gillis won the TSN Award in early March. The Rookie of the Year Awards were presented to two truly exceptional athletes. Wrestler David Zilberman won the Male Rookie of the Year, an award well-deserved: he won a gold medal in the 130 kg weight class at the CIS Nationals. Rookie Swedish import Cecilia Anderson received the Female Rookie of the Year Award. She posted a 11-1-3 regular season record with five shutouts in fifteen games. She was also named CIS and QSSF Women’s Hockey Female of the Year.
