On Friday, March 29, Niagara College’s Athletics and Student Engagement Department celebrated athletic excellence at the College’s 53rd Annual Athletic Awards Banquet.
The banquet was held at NC’s Welland Campus and recognized top student athletes for their performance on the court, field, ice, and more importantly, in the classroom. The night was also an opportunity to highlight the teams’ success and recognize individual accomplishments from the 2022/2023 season.
“I’m extremely proud of all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff members,” said Michele O’Keefe, Director Athletics and Student Engagement. “NC’s annual Athletic Banquet is a fantastic way to say thank you to our team for their hard work throughout the season and to energize everyone for the year ahead!”
Niagara College’s Athletic Banquet saw a total of 88 individual awards handed out, including the Ralph Nero Memorial Award, which is awarded for coaching excellence and outstanding contributions to student recruitment and retention. This year’s recipient was Head Coach Bryant Karner of the OCAA/CCAA Women’s Curling Silver Medal team and Mixed Doubles OCAA Silver Medal team.
Sidney Sica, NC’s Female Athlete of the Year.
This year, NC’s top award for Female and Male Athletes of the Year were presented to Sydney Sica, a midfielder on the Knights Women’s Soccer team – who was also named OCAA Women’s Soccer Player of the Year – and Delroy Grandison, a forward on the Men’s Basketball team and recipient of the OCAA West 2nd Team League All-Star award.
Delroy Grandison, NC’s Male Athlete of the Year.
Top Female Rookie of the Year went to Tori Hultink (Fenwick, Ontario), a 6′ forward on the Women’s Soccer team, while Noah Vogel (Waterdown, Ontario) a midfielder on the Knights Men’s Soccer team took home the award of Male Rookie of the Year for his incredible season.
Niagara College’s Skip on the Mixed Doubles Curling OCAA silver medal team, Nick Lemieux (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario), and Amelia Bender (Lucan, Ontario), of the Knights Women’s Curling OCAA and CCAA silver medal team were selected as this year’s Niagara College Knights Male and Female Tournament Sport players of the year.
Alexa Desrochers (Welland, Ontario), who led the Knights Women’s Curling team to its Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Silver medals and Micah Nieuwets (St. Catharines, Ontario), a libero on the Knights Men’s Volleyball team were named Female and Male Leadership Award recipients across all sports.
Elijah Bugiardini (Hamilton, Ontario), an outside hitter on the Knights Men’s Volleyball team and Ethan Alino-DelaCruz (Mississauga, Ontario), a point guard on the Knights Men’s Basketball team were recognized for their academic excellence as co-recipients of the top Male Scholastic Award. Natasha Desjardins (Welland, Ontario) an outside hitter on the Knights Women’s Volleyball team was awarded the top Female Scholastic Award in recognition of the top Academic GPA across all sports for a Niagara College student-athlete.
Sport management student A.J. Scocchia, who began working in the athletics department on game-day staffs in 2021, is the inaugural recipient of the department’s newest honour, the Ray Sarkis Award. Scocchia never missed a game on game-stay staffs for basketball, soccer and volleyball.
Established in partnership with the Niagara College Student Administrative Council (NCSAC), the award honours the long-time intercollegiate co-ordinator who in June will retire after 43 years with NC.
