Athletes recognized for work in the classroom

You may not notice them without the jersey and equipment, but every Stinger is a student, too.
The Student’s Excellence in Recognition gala awarded those athletes who have excelled in every academic category.
The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team stood out, having six of the players take home the silverware. Veteran forwards Mike Baslyk and team captain Simon-Pierre Sauvé both received the Paul Lemieux Award, and goaltender Maxime Joyal was the winner of the Paul Arsenault Award.
Marc-Andre Élément, Nicolas Lafontaine and Renaud Des Alliers won the Richard Renaud Award.
For Élément, the important thing is about finding the balance between being a student and being an athlete.
“It’s fun to win awards, especially as a third-year athlete and a Francophone,” said Élément.
“I’m really proud of our athletes,” said men’s hockey coach Kevin Figsby.
“To be in such great company is thrilling for our athletes to be a part of it.”
Veteran forwards Mary Jane O’Shea and Donna Ringrose of the women’s hockey team split the win of the Theresa Humes Award, given out to student or students who exceed in academic and athletic excellence.
“When you look at the numbers, it shows that the girls have a lot of strong time management skills,” said women’s hockey coach Les Lawton.
The football team also was very successful, taking home several awards. Players rewarded included defensive end Tom Kuchiran, slotback Corey Greenaway, and defensive tackle Alexandre Turp.
Rookie centre Gabriel Plante was recognized for his 4.0 GPA in his first semester as an Economics major.
“What we’re achieving is very important for the university,” said Stingers football coach Gerry McGrath. “Student athletes are great ambassadors for the institution. It’s what we’re all about.”
Of the approximately 40,000 students enrolled at Concordia, 280 of them belong to a sports team.
Concordia University will be holding the “Buzzies,” its annual athletic awards banquet this Friday at Centre Mont-Royal in downtown Montreal.