Manitoba’s top athletes announced

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This article was published 23/04/2017 (2558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, in conjunction with Sport Manitoba, announced their annual Manitoba Athletes of the Year winners at the annual Night of Champions awards Saturday night in Winnipeg.

Winning the Male Athlete of the Year Award was former U of M Bisons football great David Onyemata, who cracked the line-up of the NFL’s New Orlean Saints in 2016 in his first season since graduating from the Bisons.

Olympic swimmer Chantal van Landeghem was named the Manitoba Female Athlete of the Year for 2016. Van Landeghem won a bronze medal for Canada at the Summer Olympics in Rio.

And winning the Manitoba Team of the Year was baseball’s Winnipeg Goldeyes, the American Association champions in 2016.

The MSSA also presented the Cactus Jack Wells Impact Award to the 2016 NHL Heritage Classic, held at Investors Group Field last fall. The award recognizes the event or individual as having the greatest impact on the Manitoba sports scene each year.

Among other awards, Sport Manitoba also announced the their Junior Athletes of the Year, which included female winner Emma Gray from rowing; male winner Nolan Patrick from hockey; and the WHL champion Brandon Wheat Kings as the team of the year.

Earlier in the day, Sport Manitoa also announced the winners of the Coaching Manitoba Impact Awards.

Named the winner of the Peter Dick Award (School System Category) was Steinbach’s SRSS Sabres varsity volleyball coach Henry Kasdorf. The award is named after longtime SRSS teacher and coach Peter Dick, who presented the award to Kasdorf at Saturday morning’s ceremonies at the Club Regent Event Centre.