By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

McMann, Butler named RDC Athletes of the Year

Apr 10, 2018 | 9:35 PM

A curler and a hockey player earned top honours at Tuesday night’s RDC Athletics Awards Night.

Sara McMann was named the 2018 Red Deer Bottling RDC Female Athlete of the Year.

McMann led the Queens curling team to a gold medal at the ACAC Curling Championships. The third-year student-athlete from Chauvin, Alberta, is in the Bachelor of Science Nursing program and has excelled in the classroom, receiving an Academic Excellence Award.

“Even though Sara switched from third to skip on the Queens this season, she made a smooth transition during the ACAC season,” says Brad Hamilton, Head Coach of RDC Curling. “She had a strong year in the conference and was recognized by being named the ACAC Female Curler of the Year.”

RDC Kings Hockey captain Tanner Butler was chosen as this season’s Red Deer Bottling RDC Male Athlete of the Year.

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The Kinesiology & Sport Studies student helped lead the Kings to a 19-7-2-0 regular season record and an ACAC bronze medal. In 28 games, the fourth-year defenceman recorded 12 goals and 21 assists, which included six goals on the power play and one game-winning goal. Butler was named to the ACAC First All-Conference team.

“I think that Tanner is the best two-way defenceman in the league. He is very good defensively, on special teams and one-one-one,” Kings coach Trevor Keeper said of the Souris, Manitoba native. “He leads by example, says the right things, and is very respected by his teammates.”

At Awards Night on Tuesday, 103 student-athletes received an RDC Academic Excellence Award for maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Five student-athletes were recognized as Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Academic All-Canadians. Tracie Kikuchi (Queens Hockey), Chelsea Webster (Queens Soccer), Miranda Dawe (Queens Volleyball), Chanelle Kayser (Queens Volleyball) and Adam Turlejski (Kings Volleyball) achieved honours (3.5 GPA or higher) at RDC and were selected to a 2017 – 18 ACAC All-Conference team.

Additional 2018 RDC Athletics Awards Winners

Al Ferchuk Athletic Leadership Award – Spencer Klassen

Team Awards

Kings Basketball
Coach’s Award – Spencer Klassen
Most Improved Player – Solon Ellis
Rookie of the Year – Omon Edobar
Most Valuable Player – Eric Bakker

Queens Basketball
Coach’s Award – Eva Bonde
Most Improved Player – Mary Krause
Rookie of the Year – Paige Schultz
Most Valuable Player – Emily White

Cross Country Running & Indoor Track
Coach’s Award – Adam Wass
Most Improved Player – Devon Gurney
Rookie of the Year – Lucas Wessner
Most Valuable Player – Jordanna Cota

Curling
Coach’s Award – Chloe Logelin
Most Improved Player – Austin Kelts-Larsen
Rookie of the Year – Shelby Primrose
Most Valuable Player – Sara McMann

Golf
Coach’s Award – Logan Hill
Most Improved Player – Paige Tichkowsky
Rookie of the Year – Justin Loro
Most Valuable Player – Shaye Leidenius

Kings Hockey
Coach’s Award – Michael Salmon
Most Improved Player – Tyler Berkholtz
Rookie of the Year – Lynnden Pastachak
Most Valuable Player – Tanner Butler

Queens Hockey
Coach’s Award – Jade Petrie
Most Improved Player – Camryn Wallan
Rookie of the Year – Catherine Longchamps
Most Valuable Player – Tracie Kikuchi

Kings Soccer
Coach’s Award – Matthew Elphick
Most Improved Player – Hugo Janssen
Rookie of the Year – Kyle Bett
Most Valuable Player – Koltan Childs

Queens Soccer
Coach’s Award – Reesa Garez
Most Improved Player – Nicole Phillips
Rookie of the Year – Erin Gill
Most Valuable Player – Krysten Strand

Kings Volleyball
Coach’s Award – Mark DeWit
Most Improved Player – Ben Hankins
Rookie of the Year – Tom Wass
Most Valuable Player – Adam Turlejski

Queens Volleyball
Coach’s Award – Hanna Delemont
Most Improved Player – McKenna Olson
Rookie of the Year – Kelly Heinemann
Most Valuable Player – Chanelle Kayser

The Comeback Award – Hayley Nassichuk-Dean (Queens Soccer)

This past season, Red Deer College Athletics added 15 medals to their historic totals. The RDC teams earned 10 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) medals (including three gold). Our student-athletes captured five ACAC individual medals (including two gold), 22 ACAC awards and two Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) awards. Trevor Keeper, Head Coach of Kings Hockey, was recognized as an ACAC Coach of the Year.