2019 H.L. (Krug) Crawford Memorial Award nominees

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/12/2019 (1556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

ARLYNNE HYRA

(Vincent Massey varsity girls’ volleyball)

Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun
Vincent Massey Vikings left side Arlynne Hyra
Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun Vincent Massey Vikings left side Arlynne Hyra

Arlynne Hyra plays way bigger than her five-foot-seven frame, and with an edge you can’t miss. She just about won’t look satisfied until a match is over and won, and had no shortage of victories as her Vincent Massey Vikings claimed a city championship and made it all the way to the AAAA provincial final. Hyra was named a graduating all-star and also cracked the provincial all-star team. The Grade 12 student is committed to Lakeland College of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference for 2020-21.

 

AUSTIN DOBRESCU

(Golf)

No golfer from Westman has had a year like Austin Dobrescu did in quite some time. Coming off his final season at Chicago State University, the Brandonite made history when he became the first Westmanite to win the provincial men’s match play championship to kick off the Golf Manitoba season. He finished runner-up at the men’s amateur championship at Quarry Oaks in Steinbach, earning an exemption to the Players Cup professional event on the Mackenzie Tour (PGA Tour Canada). Before the tournament, he was off to the Canadian amateur, where he became the first Manitoban to make the cut since 2016 and finished tied for 31st.

 

CALA KORMAN

(Golf)

(Photo courtesy Golf Manitoba)
Golfer Austin Dobrescu of Brandon
(Photo courtesy Golf Manitoba) Golfer Austin Dobrescu of Brandon

Cala Korman showed poise beyond her years, going into women’s provincials as a 13-year-old and coming out with a 12th place finish out of 15 in July. The Killarney native finished third at junior provincials, good enough for a spot on Manitoba’s provincial team at nationals in Lethbridge, Alta.

 

DANIKA NELL

(Softball and volleyball)

Danika Nell helped the Westman Magic to an under-14 provincial A softball championship and fifth-place finish at nationals. The 13-year-old from Boissevain was later named Softball Canada’s pitcher of the year and Softball Manitoba’s top player in her age category. Nell also played up with the 14U Cats Volleyball Club team that captured a national championship in Richmond, B.C., in May.

 

DAXX TURNER

Brandon Sun File
Golfer Cala Korman of Killarney
Brandon Sun File Golfer Cala Korman of Killarney

(Track and field)

Daxx Turner shattered the provincial U18 triple jump record this summer. Then beat his own mark of 14.59 metres by 45 centimetres. That 15.04m score ranked third amongst all Canadian triple jumps in 2019, and is just 15cm back of the national U18 record. He easily won provincial high school gold to go with a high jump silver. Turner went on to put up a 14.75m jump in the U18 triple jump at Legion nationals, good enough for silver in Cape Breton, N.S.

 

ELLIOTT VILES

(BU men’s volleyball)

Elliott Viles had unfathomable attacking numbers on multiple occasions as the Brandon University men’s voleyball team soared to the top of U Sports men’s volleyball for most of the season. He was named the Canada West player of the year, then the U Sports player of the year, becoming just the second Bobcat to earn that distinction. The third-year right side from Adelaide, Australia finished the Canada West regular season second in hitting percentage at .366 with 246 kills and just 53 errors. He also cracked the top 20 in blocks and digs per set as the Bobcats captured the conference title and won a silver medal at nationals.

 

GRANT WILSON

Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun
Softball player Danika Nell of the Westman Magic
Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun Softball player Danika Nell of the Westman Magic

(BU men’s volleyball)

Grant Wilson began his coaching career with the Neelin Spartans shortly after graduating from the Brandon high school. He patiently worked his way up to an assistant coaching job at BU, took the opportunity to head coach the team and ran with it in 2012. After leading the Bobcats to a Canada West title on home court, he was named the U Sports coach of the year for the first time in his career the following week in Quebec City. Wilson assistant coached Team Canada at the World University Games in Naples, Italy this past summer, and has his Bobcats back to the No. 2 ranking in the country at the semester break.

 

KRISTEN CAMPBELL

(Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey)

The Brandon goalie was absolutely perfect in the NCAA Division 1 women’s hockey playoffs last season, earning shutouts in all three games and compiling a .940 save percentage in 41 appearances overall. She was named most valuable player of the Frozen Four as Wisconsin won its fifth national title.

 

Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun
Track and field athlete Daxx Turner of the Prairie Storm Athletics club
Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun Track and field athlete Daxx Turner of the Prairie Storm Athletics club

LARA DENBOW

(Track and field)

Lara Denbow leapt her way into Westman sports history with a 1.70-metre high jump to win under-16 gold at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships at UCT Stadium in 2018, earning the Krug award in the process. Stepping up to U18 this year, she set a new personal best at 1.72m to claim Legion gold again in Cape Breton, N.S. And she wasn’t done there. The Neepawa product spent the season developing her triple jump, and pulled off an 11.98-metre hop, skip and jump to add a silver medal one day after the gold.

 

MARLY PELLERIN

(Neelin varsity girls’ volleyball and basketball)

In her third year of varsity volleyball, Marly Pellerin was everything the Neelin Spartans could have wanted in a leader. Statistically, the six-foot-one middle was dominant, leading her team in kills and blocks on a regular basis. She was also a vocal leader and motivated her teammates by example, helping them to their third straight AAA provincial title. Pellerin was named MVP for a second year in a row. She also played a key role in the Spartans’ AAA basketball provincial championship run in March.

 

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Volleyball player Elliott Viles of the Brandon Bobcats
Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Volleyball player Elliott Viles of the Brandon Bobcats

NOLAN RITCHIE

(Brandon U18 AAA Wheat Kings hockey)

All Ritchie did was win the Manitoba U18 AA Hockey League regular season scoring title with 94 points in 47 games, and then add 21 more points in 11 playoff games as the Wheat Kings won their fifth U18 title. The league MVP then graduated to the Western Hockey League’s Wheat Kings, where he had five goals and six assists before suffering a broken leg on Nov. 22.

 

PAT LAMONT

(Trap shooter)

The most decorated trapshooter in the counry didn’t attend the Canadian Trap Shooting Championships this season to defend the five titles he won in 2018. At the world’s largest and most prestigious shoot, the Grand American World Championship in Sparta, Ill., where Lamont is one of two men to win every available category, he tied for runnerup in high overall, tied for runnerup in high all-around and was fifth in singles. Each event had more than 2,000 competitors.

Brandon University Bobcats men's volleyball coach Grant Wilson
Brandon University Bobcats men's volleyball coach Grant Wilson

 

ROBIN BAGHDADY

(BU men’s volleyball)

The Swiss Cyborg wasted no time making his name known in the Wheat City and across western Canada. A six-foot-nine outside hitter from Geneva, Switzerland, Robin Baghdady climbed to third in Canada West hitting percentage at .326, earning conferece rookie of the year honours. Baghdady is second in that category at the semester break, apparently finding another level with plenty of years to come.

 

SETH FRIESEN

(BU men’s volleyball)

Nobody exemplifies dedication to being a student-athlete at BU like Seth Friesen. The fifth-year left side was named a tournament all-star at nationals in March, shouldering a big load in crucial conference playoff matches and putting up 24 kills in the national semifinal. And he did it while preparing for medical school interviews after scoring in the 99th percentile on the medical college admissions test (MCAT). He wore the Maple Leaf at the World University Games, and deferred his acceptance to the University of Manitoba’s medical school to play out his university career with his hometown Bobcats this season.

File
University of Wisconsin goalie Kristen Campbell
File University of Wisconsin goalie Kristen Campbell

 

SIMONE TURNER-CUMMER

(ACC women’s hockey)

Simone Turner-Cummer was a top-pairing blue-liner turned elite scorer when the Assiniboine Community College Cougars hit the ice at the American Collegiate Hockey Association women’s Division 2 nationals in Texas. The Carman product notched six goals, including both the Cougars’ markers in a 2-1 semifinal victory over Lakehead University, and the only goal in their 1-0 upset of Minot State University to capture the program’s first national title. Turner-Cummer was named tournament MVP.

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