Katie Desveaux has just achieved one of the most successful seasons by a Brock women’s figure skater in the program’s history, and on Wednesday night (March 29) she was rewarded with the Female Athlete of the Year title from Brock Sports.

Joining her in the major award category is two-sport athlete Eric Bradey, who was named Brock’s  Male Athlete of the Year for 2016-17.

The awards were announced in front of a loud, cheering crowd as more than 850 Brock varsity athletes, coaches, family, friends and staff packed the Holiday Inn and Suites in St. Catharines for the annual Athletics Awards banquet.  

Desveaux, who hails from North York, helped lead the Badgers to a school-best silver medal finish at the OUA Championships, and a bronze medal at the OUA Winter Invitational. At the 2017 OUA Championships, she and teammate Laura Holbrough captured gold in both the Women’s Open Short Dance and Women’s Int. Similar Pairs. In one of the strongest skates of the championships, Desveaux captured her third gold medal of the event winning the Women’s Open Solo Dance. For her performance she was named an OUA first team All-Star. 

Bradey, meantime, was busy posting another strong season in both soccer and then curling. The Guelph native was captain of the men’s varsity soccer team for a third season, and was one of the top centre backs in the OUA West Division, constantly disrupting opposition attacks as well as contributing play build up. 

During the winter season, he was skip and team captain of the Brock men’s curling team leading them to an OUA bronze medal for the second-consecutive season. He was named an OUA All-Star after shooting an impressive 80 per cent at the OUA Championships, where Brock posted a 7-2 record. He also led the Badgers to the 2017 Brock Bonspiel title. 

Overall, the Brock Badgers had a very successful 2016-17 season capturing three provincial and two national championships giving the University 115 championships in school history. Brock teams also took home four provincial silver medals and four bronze medals.

Other major award winners included men’s rugby’s Jeremy Brownridge (Sunderland, ON), who took home three major awards, two-sport athlete Lauren Kniewasser (Ottawa) who received two awards and women’s hockey’s Brenna Murphy (Odessa, ON).

Brock Badgers skater Katie Desveaux, left, who is shown here with teammate Laura Holbrough, was named the 2016-17 Brock Sports Female Athlete of the Year.

Brownridge received the R.M. Davis Surgite Award while Murphy took home the David Atkinson Surgite Award. Both student-athletes have excelled in the classroom and on the field throughout their university careers.

Kniewasser and Brownridge received both the Dallas Beaton Award and David S. Howes Spirit of Brock Athletics Awards.

The Dallas Beaton is named after former Brock men’s hockey captain Dallas Beaton because of the dedication he showed towards academics, athletics and the community during his time as a Brock student-athlete. The Spirit of Brock Award is named after David S. Howes, who was committed to Brock University and the community. It is presented to students who best embody the spirit of Sir Isaac Brock – leadership, courage, innovation, inspiration and community service. 

The Wally Barrow Memorial Brock Coach of the Year award was awarded to Brock figure skating head coach Katie Dortono. She led her team an OUA silver medal highlighted by five individual golds. She was also named OUA Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. She has been an instrumental part of building the Brock figure skating program.

The Marilou Iusi Director’s Awards, were presented to Dr. Phil Sullivan and Brock University Vice-President, Administration Brian Hutchings for their dedication and commitment to Brock University and the athletics program. This award is named after Marilou Iusi who worked for the Department of Athletics and Recreation for 39 Years. Marilou was a tireless worker who cared deeply for the athletes and the people she worked with and Brock University.

The Tom Kearney Athletic Therapy Award was presented to student therapists are Joanna Juszczak, Gabriel Mendonca and Steven Lam.

The 2016-17 Brock Women’s Team of the Year was the Brock women’s wrestling team, which captured its seventh USPORTS National title and 16th OUA title in school history. The Brock women dominated both the OUA and U SPORTS championships. They had six USPORTS All-Canadians, eight OUA All-Stars and the team was ranked No. 1 the entire season. Head Coach Marty Calder was named both the OUA and USPORTS Women’s Coach of the Year. 

The 2016-17 Brock Men’s Team of the Year was the Brock men’s wrestling team, which captured its 17th National title and 19th OUA title in school history. Like the women, the men’s team dominated the championships with eight All-Canadians and nine OUA All-Stars.