Rustlers Athletics wrapped up the 2022/2023 season
Rustlers Athletics wrapped up the 2022/2023 season with Lakeland's annual Rustlers awards banquet on Wednesday.
Around 200 student-athletes, coaches, volunteers and other staff were in attendance, along Georgina Altman, VP of External Relations & Infrastructure and Todd Sumner, VP of Academics & Research. Each team's head coach handed out several awards to the respective recipients, ranging from Rookie of the Year to the Rustler Award (highlighted by an athlete who exemplifies the values of the institution) and MVP.
Jenay Varga of the women's volleyball team and Giordano Ciccacci of Men's Soccer/Futsal were named the Male and Female Athletes of the Year. Varga's award win came just after being named ACAC Female Athlete of the Year across all sports, earned by her incredible performance on the Rustlers CCAA Championship team.
Ciccacci got the nod after being named Men's Soccer MVP and an All-Star at the ACAC Futsal Championship, where his team won bronze. A 4th year hailing from Rome, Italy, the veteran midfielder was also the featured student speaker for the evening, sharing his experience of coming to Canada and finding a home in Lloydminster.
Those weren't the only team sports where Lakeland earned hardware this season. Women's hockey took home bronze in their inaugural season, mix curling won gold one their home ice at the ACAC Championship and the Rustlers rowing team won silver and bronze at the Alberta Indoor Rowing Championships. Other highlights included men's basketball finishing fifth (their fourth top 5 finish in five years) and men's volleyball finishing sixth after a narrow loss for fifth place back in February (the program's best finish in it's history).
Many Rustlers achieved success at the Conference and National levels individually as well. There were seven All-Conference selections, two All Canadians and a CCAA Coach of the Year. There were also four Academic All Canadians, where athletes that were named All-Conference in their sport managed to hold a 3.5 GPA.
That academic success was present with the rest of the student-athlete body. Athletic Director Alan Rogan noted that the overall GPA of Rustler athletes has improved from 2.5 more than a decade ago to 3.0 this year. In total, 40 Rustlers athletes have the potential to achieve ACAC Academic athlete awards when marks are finalized in May. Each team highlighted the student-athlete(s) with the best mark amongst their teammates. The collective GPA of these top academic performers was 3.8.
| Michael Shelast | Men's Basketball | Angela Baran | Women's Basketball | |||
| Alana Olson | ||||||
| Adam Peters | Men's Curling | Grace Christensen | Women's Curling | |||
| Dakota Dawson | Men's Rowing | Anissa Halbert | Women's Rowing | |||
| Nicholas Durand | Men's Soccer | Sarah Mandeville | Women's Soccer | |||
| Gabriel Bjorkas | Men's Volleyball | Jana Laing | Women's Volleyball | |||
| Lane Blight | ||||||
| Laiken Swan | Women's Hockey | |||||
| Paris Appel |
Rogan also noted the impact the program has in the community. After having little reach a decade ago, there were well over 5000 student-athlete/coach contact hours this past season.
The full list of the rest of the award winners is below.
Rustlers Athletics Awards
| Women's Hockey | Rustler Award | MacKena Foisy | ||
| MVP | Hailey Carothers |
| Men's Volleyball | Rookie of the Year | Declan Mercer | ||
| Most Improved | Aiden Maier | |||
| Rustler Award | Jarrett Nelson | |||
| MVP | Lane Blight |
| Women's Basketball | Rookie of the Year | Susan Ayaa | ||
| Most Improved | Payton Grindle | |||
| Rustler Award | Anika Timmerman | |||
| MVP | Alana Olson |
| Men's Basketball | Defensive Player of the Year | Bahaeddin Selma | ||
| Offensive Player of the Year | Johnny Mims | |||
| Rustler Award | Michael Shelast | |||
| MVP | Noah Horobetz Simpson |
| Women's Soccer/Futsal | Rookie of the Year | Sarah Mandeville | ||
| Most Improved | Lindsey Slusar | |||
| Rustler Award | Amber MacLean | |||
| Futsal MVP | Megan Hockley | |||
| Soccer MVP | Kyla Franks |
| Curling | Rookie of the Year | Kevin Mizera | ||
| Most Improved | Grace Christensen | |||
| Rustler Award | Makaila Peutert | |||
| MVP | Spencer Rogan |
| Men's Soccer/Futsal | Rookie of the Year | Tyson Wagner | ||
| Most Improved | Nicholas Filipovic | |||
| Rustler Award | Gavin Quinlan | |||
| Futsal MVP | Sam Dosumu | |||
| Soccer MVP | Giordano Ciccacci |
| Rowing | Rookie of the Year | Patrick Bolivar | ||
| Most Improved | Alex Schroer | |||
| MVP | Connor Coleman | |||
| Rustler Crew | Brie Corley, Allecia McDonald, Anissa Halbert, Tiara Pihrag |
| Women's Volleyball | Rookie of the Year | Reegan Nicol | ||
| Most Improved | Seanna Trumier | |||
| Rustler Award | Kaylie Lueck | |||
| MVP | Jana Laing |
ACAC Awards
| Women's Hockey | Hailey Carothers | 1st Team All-Conference, Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year | ||
| Mackenzie Dojahn | 2nd Team All-Conference | |||
| Olivia Mann | 2nd Team All-Conference | |||
| Women's Basketball | Alana Olson | 1st Team All-Conference | ||
| Women's Volleyball | Kaylie Lueck | North Division All-Conference Team | ||
| Jenay Varga | North Division All-Conference Team, Player of the Year | |||
| Men's Basketball | Johnny Mims | 2nd Team All-Conference | ||
| Women's Soccer | Kyla Franks | North Division All-Conference Team |
Hailey Carother: ACAC Female Rookie of the Year across all sports
Jenay Varga: ACAC Female Athlete of the Year across all sports
Austin Dyer: ACAC Women's Volleyball North Division Coach of the Year
CCAA Awards
| Academic All Canadian | Jana Laing | Women's Volleyball | ||
| Jenay Varga | Women's Volleyball | |||
| Alana Olson | Womens' Basketball | |||
| Kyla Franks | Women's Soccer | |||
| All Canadian Selections | Jenay Varga | Women's Volleyball | ||
| Alana Olson | Women's Basketball | |||
| CCAA Coach of the Year | Austin Dyer | Women's Volleyball |
Congratulations to all our athletes!