Annual event celebrates community, athletics, and academics
The annual Guelph Gryphon Athletic Banquet dazzled in the new Gryphons Events Centre on Thursday, March 30.
The new centre allowed for more seating and space, with a stage for the awards presentations in the middle of the floor.
There were over 800 people in attendance and the state of the art facility also allowed for video streaming of the event and highlight videos to be played to the four-sided video board so everyone could have a good view.
Scott McRoberts, the director of athletics, boasted with pride throughout the evening.
“The awards and the wins are unbelievable, but I’m truly touched about how much we do for other people in the community and the outstanding accomplishments in the classroom and the grades that they have—I think that’s more than just a medal,” he said in an interview with The Ontarion.
The Gryphon track and field team took home four of the 11 major awards, claiming both rookies of the year in Keysean Powell and Shyvonne Roxborough, and the top honour of both athletes of the year in Ashley Connell and Tommy Land.
Connell, who competes in shot put and weight throw, was awarded female athlete of the year after winning two gold medals at the U Sports championships.“It was nice to be nominated, but I didn’t think I was going to win,” said Connell. “It’s tough for a thrower to win.”
The male athlete of the year award went to Land, who won the 600m race as well as helped lead the men’s track and field team to an overall victory at nationals.“Taking care of details is what gets you here and I am really appreciative of the award,” said Land. “It’s been a hell of a ride, great to win a team title. […] We’ve been second place for three years in a row, so finally, in my last year, we got it done.”
Throughout the night, nominations were presented in Oscars-style for the “Gryphie” award which goes to the best sporting moment of the year.
Nominations for this award included: Kyle Thompson winning the 60m sprint at the U Sports championship; Ivana Vujadinovic scoring a buzzer beater shot to carry the women’s basketball team to victory over Lakehead; the men’s rugby team’s epic win in penalty kicks in the OUA finals; women’s hockey winning back-to-back McCaw cups; and the men’s soccer team winning their first OUA championship since 1990.
In the end, Mark Perrin from the men’s rugby team took home the “Gryphie” for his winning penalty kick that won the team their first OUA championship title since 1998. Other major award winners included the sportsman and sportswoman of the year which went to Justin Springer from men’s soccer and Cierra Carere from wrestling.
Devon Stober from women’s rugby took home two awards, winning the Fred Ramprashad scholarship and the President’s Trophy—an award which is given to a male and female who exemplify balancing athletics and academics; Ethan Danielli from men’s soccer won the trophy for the male category.
The awards for athletes who have improved the most in their first three years as a Gryphon went to Olivia Lane from field hockey and Kendrick Kerr from men’s volleyball.
The student trainer of the year award was given to Jessica Johnston from men’s soccer, while the manager of the year was awarded to Brittany Thalen from women’s basketball.
The Gryphons will be back in action next year as they kick off their 2017 to 2018 seasons looking to beat the incredible achievements of this year.
Photo by Rebecca Thompson/The Ontarion.