Rowing Program earns 4th annual UFV President’s Shield
Department of Athletics honors two student-athletes for Academic Excellence
The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades department of athletics is pleased to announce 29 student-athletes have achieved a grade point average of 3.3 or higher (GPA) and 16 of the 29 have earned Academic All-Canadian standards. With 120 student-athletes participating on 8 different teams, in 2010-11, 26% of those student-athletes achieved 75% or higher average in their studies. The overall GPA average of the student-athletes was 2.66 in 2010-11.
Dr. Mark Evered, President of UFV, will present to the men’s and women’s rowing program, the 4th annual President’s Shield for having the highest team GPA, at 3.21, at today’s reception honouring the 29 student-athletes. The previous three recipients of the UFV President’s Shield were the women’s volleyball team in 2007-08 (3.24 GPA) and 2008-09 (3.22 GPA) and the men’s and women’s rowing program in 2009-10 (3.72 GPA).
“We are extremely proud of the academic accomplishments of our student athletes. These student athletes and their coaches are to be commended for their success in achieving this honour and being great ambassadors for our university in the classroom, in competition and in the community,” said Rick Nickelchok, Director of Athletics
The following are the student-athletes who are bring recognized for their academic accomplishments in 2010-11:
Basketball (Men)
Josh Kufske
Kyle Grewal
Hardeep Braich
Ryan Fahandag
Sheldon Bjorgaard
Basketball (Women)
Tessa Klassen
Nicole Wierks
Rowing (Men)
Spencer Landsiedel
Caleb Davisson
Rowing (Women)
Courtenay Landsiedel
Kelly McLeod
Lianne Graham
Becky Hildebrandt
Ciana Morrison
Jamie McKeen
Bethany Whitehead
Soccer (Men)
Andrew McCulloch
Soccer (Women)
Michela Fiordo
Danika Snook
Danielle de Bruin
Danielle Schmidt
Lyndsay Munro*
Megan Webster
Selina Miller
Volleyball (Men)
Alec Dumerton
Peter Van Brederode
Kyle Leinweber
Trevor Nickel
Volleyball (Women)
Brittany Stewart**
*denotes Canada West All-Star
**denotes PACWest All-Star
Rowing’s Landsiedel and Basketball’s Wierks to share inaugural UFV Cascades Athlete Scholar of the Year Award
The University of the Fraser Valley department of Athletics is pleased to announce a new academic award for the top Scholar. Candidates may be chosen from any of the female and male student athletes who have represented the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades on one of the nine interuniversity varsity programs in the past year. The award will be presented to a student-athlete with one of the highest GPA (Grade Point Average) in the department, with consideration to their contribution to their team and the community.
The inaugural award will be shared between two equally qualified recipients, Nicole Wierks, women’s basketball team, and Courtenay Landsiedel, women’s rowing program. Both student-athletes have shown excellence in the classroom, community and in their respective sports.
Landsiedel, who graduated this past June, 2011, with a degree in Sciences (Math major with minor in Business Economics) anchored the women’s rowing team and earned all the Cascades points at the Canadian Western Rowing Championship (CWRC) to help UFV to a third place finish. Among Courtenay’s outstanding academic awards are two UFV Outstanding Achievement Letters in Math and Physics, she qualified for the Dean’s list several times and recipient of the 2011 Undergraduate Research Excellence Award for Economics. Courtenay has been named the rowing programs’ most valuable player the past two seasons.
Wierks, helped lead the UFV Cascades women’s basketball program to the inaugural CIS Regional Basketball tournament, in Fredericton, NB. The Chilliwack, BC native has twice been named a CIS Academic All-Canadian The third year basketball guard is majoring in Science with
aspirations of medical school after graduating from UFV. Nicole was the recipient of two, UFV Cascades/Abbotsford Heat Athlete of the week, awards last year. In addition to her studies and basketball, Nicole assists with the Holiday food drive, Breast Cancer awareness drive and Operation Red Nose.
