Rower Patrick Keane qualified for what was a surreal Olympics last summer in Tokyo. Field hockey star Anna Mollenhauer is working to get to the next Summer Games in what are hopefully more normal times at Paris in 2024.
They were named the respective male and female athletes of the season during the University of Victoria Vikes athletic awards banquet held Tuesday as the CARSA gymnasium was transformed into more of a red-carpet venue for the night.
“It was a dream fulfilled, and even with the restrictions, it was an awesome Games experience,” said Keane, of this Tokyo Games journey through trying times.
On the home front, the 24-year-old out of St. Andrew’s Secondary School, has been the heart and soul of the Vikes men’s rowing program since being named Vikes male rookie athlete of the year in 2017. This was a fitting bookend to Keane’s UVic career.
Mollenhauer, out of St. Michaels University School, was named U Sports player of the year in leading the Vikes to the national field hockey championship. In national-team appearances, Mollenhauer led Canada to the 2021 junior World Cup through the Americas qualifier in Chile and then played for the senior national team as Canada qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1994. A dominating two-way defender, she covers much of the field, and will again this summer for Canada at the World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Then she will look to follow her mother, former Canada great Nancy Mollenhauer, into the Olympic Games over the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 cycles.
The President’s Cup, awarded to the UVic athlete best combining athletic and academic achievement, went to Trinity Kettyls of the Vikes women’s soccer team.
Swimmer Sophie Tarrant was named Vikes female rookie athlete of the year and rower Giancarlo DiPompeo and intriguing six-foot-eight basketball guard Elias Ralph, also named Canada West rookie of the year, were selected top UVic male athlete rookies.
The Provost Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest GPA. All three winners held a perfect 9.0 grade-point average — Kettyls from soccer, Kate Martens from golf and former Harvard rower converted to Vikes cross-country and track runner Sofia Donnecke.
The Chancellor’s Award, presented to athlete who made the most impactful contribution to their team both in and out of the competition venue, went to Chanelle Edwards-Challenger of the Vikes women’s rugby squad.
The Times Colonist Publisher’s Award — awarded annually for individuals within the broader community who have made an outstanding volunteer contribution to the UVic athletic program — was a sign of the times as Times Colonist publisher and editor-in-chief Dave Obee presented the award to the Vikes COVID Task Force made up of Dr. Steve Martin, Traci Vander Byl, Allison Rodway, Dr. Peter Visolyi and Nancy Duncan who helped advise the program and kept it safe through the difficult two years presented by the pandemic.
The Classes of 2020 and 2021 were inducted into the UVic Sports Hall of Fame as part of the evening gala. Enshrined were UVic national-champion runner and former Canadian international Trish Fougner, former Vikes golf star Christina Spence Proteau, the late national-champion Vikes basketball player Cord Clemens and the national-champion 1984-85 women’s basketball team.
cdheensaw@timescolonsit.com
