Two Kodiaks who have etched their names in ACAC history have earned top student-athlete honours for the Lethbridge College Kodiaks. Cross country national champion Sophia Nowicki earned the award on the women’s side, while ACAC men’s basketball record holder Michael Clemons was the men’s recipient at the 2019 KODIs on Thursday evening.
Nowicki and Clemons each earned the Tim Tollestrup Leadership/Athlete of the Year award. Named after long-time Lethbridge College athletic director Tim Tollestrup, the awards honour the student-athletes who best combined the three pillars of Kodiaks athletics: academic accountability, athletic excellence and the student-athlete experience.
“Sophia and Mike represent the best of what we strive for as an athletics program,” says Todd Caughlin, manager of Kodiaks Athletics. “Both of them bring it every time they pull on a Kodiaks jersey, but they also take the responsibility of being all-around ambassadors for the program in both the classroom and the community.”
The KODIs celebrated all aspects of another very successful Kodiaks season, which saw the program earn 49 conference or national athletic and academic honours.
Nowicki (second year, Nursing, Bragg Creek, Alta.) had a perfect cross country season, going undefeated to win both the conference and national championships. She was named ACAC runner of the year, and helped her Kodiaks team to an ACAC gold medal and a CCAA silver medal.
Clemons (fifth year, Exercise Science, El Paso, Texas) finished his ACAC career as the conference’s all-time leader in both assists with 868, and steals with 238. In his second season with the Kodiaks after transferring from Grande Prairie Regional College, Clemons led the ACAC in assists, averaging 11.7 per game, which was more than six per game higher than second place in the conference. He was second in the conference with 50 steals.
The coach of the year award went to soccer and futsal coach Sean Carey, who was the first coach to ever win both the ACAC men’s and women’s soccer coach of the year awards in the same season. The Kodiaks men’s volleyball team was named the Val and Flora Matteotti Team of the Year after earning an ACAC silver medal – the first conference medal in the program’s history.
KODI award winners are listed below:
KODIs major awards
- Tim Tollestrup Leadership/Athlete of the Year (Male) – Mike Clemons (men’s basketball)
- Tim Tollestrup Leadership/Athlete of the Year (Female) – Sophia Nowicki (women’s cross country)
- Outstanding team - Men’s volleyball
- Kodiaks coach of the year – Sean Carey (men’s and women’s soccer/futsall)
- Best championships performance – Men’s volleyball’s semifinal win over SAIT, en route to an ACAC silver medal
- Best upset – Women’s soccer upsetting higher-seeded The King’s University in the ACAC quarterfinal
- Best comeback – Women’s basketball rallying from 12 points down in the final three minutes to beat Briercrest and clinch and ACAC playoff berth
KODIs special awards
- Alvin Tietz/Knud Petersen Award for soccer – Aimee Santangelo and Dave Low
- Alvin Tietz/Knud Petersen Award for futsal – Christine Moser and Ben Knight
- Gerry and Brian Stewart Memorial Award for cross-country – Sophia Nowicki and Connor Jackson
- Fire Safety Award for cross-country and indoor track – Brooklyn Vogel and Rebecca Sweeney
- Emmalee Cherweniuk Memorial Award for women’s volleyball – Teah Simard
- Alvin Tietz/Knud Petersen Award for volleyball – Jamie Brown and Zach Wikenheiser
- 1981 Alberta Summer Games Athletic Award for volleyball – Matt Primrose
- John Jasiukiewicz Award for men’s basketball – Mike Clemons
- John Jasiukiewicz Award for women’s basketball – Juhee Anderson
KODIs pillar awards
- Men's soccer
- Pillar award: Seth Slomp
- Outstanding player: Wilson Ntignee
- Newcomer: Dave Low
- Women’s soccer
- Pillar award: Aimee Santangelo
- Outstanding player: Christine Moser
- Newcomer: Kayla Kehoe
- Men’s futsal
- Pillar award: Nathan Burton
- Outstanding player: Ben Knight
- Newcomer: Jaden Veluw
- Women’s futsal
- Pillar award: Vicki Noronha
- Outstanding player: Jasmin Salmon
- Newcomer: Haylie Shoults
- Cross-country
- Pillar: Sophia Nowicki
- Outstanding player: Tim Ngetich
- Newcomer: Connor Jackson
- Indoor track
- Pillar: Danny Robdrup
- Outstanding player: Danna DeGagne
- Newcomer: Tyler Larkin
- Men’s volleyball
- Pillar: Matt Primrose
- Outstanding player: Carter Hansen
- Newcomer: Quinn Buchanan
- Women’s volleyball
- Pillar: Laura Serafini
- Outstanding player: Jamie Brown
- Newcomer: Carley Doneff
- Men’s basketball
- Pillar: Jackson Kasko
- Outstanding player: Michael Clemons
- Newcomer: Orin Porter Jr.
- Women’s basketball
- Pillar: Madi Gladstone
- Outstanding player: Matlin McMurray
- Newcomer: Jocelyn Neilson