Eric Hedlin, who is has his sights set on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in open-water swimming, isn’t too shabby in the pool, either. The engineering major was named University of Victoria male athlete of the year Friday night at the annual Vikes awards banquet at the Victoria Conference Centre. Hedlin won gold medals in the 1,500- and 400-metre freestyles at the Canada West championships and then was named to the U Sports first all-star team for winning the national 1,500 metres in a U Sports record 15:34.16.
Hedlin beat out Vikes male-athlete finalists Gradyn Bowd of rugby and Luc Brodeur of rowing.
Danielle Hanus added to a splashy night for the Vikes swimmers by being named UVic female athlete of the year for winning three Canada West gold medals, two in conference record times, and gold, two silvers and a bronze at the U Sports nationals. Hanus beat out fellow finalists — basketball star Amira Giannattasio and junior national-team field-hockey player Anna Mollenhauer — for the Vikes female award.
Red Deer-native Bowd, who is on the Canadian national team radar, led the Vikes to the U Sports men’s rugby sevens championship and received the President’s Cup for best combining athletic and scholastic excellence. The other finalists were Daan Arscott from rowing and Alison Irvine from track and cross-country.
The Vikes rookies of the year came from near and far to play varsity sports at UVic. Field hockey player Anne-Sophie Hannes from Cologne, Germany, and rugby player and Oak Bay High-grad Nicholas Carson were named the top first-year female and male athletes.
Vikes men’s field hockey player Christopher Lee was named the repeat winner of the Provost Award for the varsity athlete with the highest grade-point average with a perfect 9.0 for a second consecutive year.
Taylor Snowden-Richardson won the Chancellors’ Award for team leadership to cap a big-splash night for the Vikes swim team.
The Times Colonist Publisher’s Award for outstanding community contributions to UVic sports teams went this year to the Camosun bachelor of athletic and exercise therapy program, which has offered placement opportunities for its students with Vikes varsity teams.
Meanwhile, the 17th annual UVic Sports Hall of Fame inductees were enshrined as part of Friday’s ceremonies. The Hall of Fame Class of 2019 consisted of two former Canadian national team athletes, Sara Brant (née Ballantyne) and Lori Clarke, along with rugby builder Mike Holmes.
The 1988 Seoul Olympian Brant was a member of the first Vikes team to win the national field-hockey championship during her standout career from 1982 to 1987.
Clarke was a seamlessly fluid yet tough post player for UVic on the basketball court in leading Canada West in rebounding in all her three seasons. The native of Abbotsford won national championships with Kathy Shields’ powerhouse Vikes teams in 1985 and 1987 and made it to the national championship game in 1986. Clarke went on to lead Canada to the bronze medal at the 1986 world championship, still the highest placing ever for Canada in women’s hoops internationally, and captained Canada to seventh place at the 1990 world championship.
“Lori simply loved to play and practise and was a pleasure to coach,” said Shields.
Holmes inaugurated a drive to raise nearly $800,000 for the Vikes rugby program and initiated a drive to help fund assistant coaches. He has also initiated a tour fund to help future Vikes rugby teams travel overseas to gain international club experience, and also a scholarship that has already exceeded $120,000, to help fund Vikes rugby players who are studying in UVic law school, from which he graduated.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
