Two of the Wendel siblings stole the show the evening of March 27 at the Briercrest College and Seminary Athletics award banquet.

Siblings Josh and Elly Wendel were selected as the Briercrest Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

Elly Wendel was the star of the night as she was also recognized with several other awards including ACAC Women’s Volleyball Player of the Year, and SIRC-CCAA Academic All-Canadian. She was also selected as ACAC Athlete of the week November 18-24, 2013, ACAC First-Team All-Conference, CCAA All-Canadian, CCAA National Scholar and ACAC All-Academic Team. She played every game for Briercrest this season, leading the team to a 15-5 record and fourth place at the ACAC championships. These are both team bests since joining the ACAC in 1996-97. The Biblical Studies student was ranked third in the CCAA, and top in the ACAC, with 252 kills, was 37^th in the CCAA with 37 blocks and led the ACAC in aces, aces per game, points and points per game this season.

Briercrest Male Athlete of the Year Josh Wendel was a leader on the men’s volleyball team this year. For the second year in a row he was an ACAC All-Conference Team player, this year on the First-Team. The fourth-year middle led the ACAC with 62 blocks with season, ranking him ninthin the CCAA. He also led Briercrest with 157 digs and had 17 service aces and 116 kills this season. Wendel was instrumental in helping the team get to the CCAA men’s volleyball national gold medal final against Red Deer. He was a force during the first two games of the championship before sustaining an injury in the semi-final and being unable to play in the gold medal game. Though he was not able to compete in the final, his character shown through as he was there visibly supporting his team mates throughout the match.

Four student-athletes were recognized for their five years of service at Briercrest. Men’s basketball recognized James Wohlgeschaffen (BA Business Administration), hockey recognized Luke Robitaille (BA Business Administration), and men’s volleyball recognized Cody Quiring (BA Business Administration) and Pablo Acuna (Mdiv Leadership and Management).

Wohlgeschaffen, Robitaille and Quiring were joined by Caleb Klassen (BA Biblical Studies) and Brooke Peterson (BA Business Administration) in being recognized as graduating student-athletes.

“Fifth year awards symbolize the student athlete’s commitment to Briercrest, commitment to finishing a degree and a commitment to making sacrifices to be part of our program,” Athletic Director Nigel Mullan said.

“We want to honour these graduating athletes because we feel that commitment is what allows our teams to develop the culture. Without fourth and fifth year players on our teams it is hard to develop that culture that we’re after.”

Other awards presented at the March 27 banquet included:

Community Involvement Award: Josh Dufresne was this year’s recipient of the Community Involvement Award for his contributions to the community this year. In addition to leading the men’s hockey team for the second season as team captain, he was also very involved in the Sunday school program at The Gathering. Through his interactions with the children it has been very evident that they enjoy having him around.

Female Rookie of the year: Amy Wanvig had an immediate impact on the women’s basketball team this year leading the team with 10.7 points per game (eighth in the ACAC South) and shooting 76.7% from the free throw line (second in the ACAC). She also ranked third on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game (14^th in the ACAC South).  

Male rookie of the year: Jacob Baribeau led the Briercrest men’s hockey team with nine goals and 19 points. The Dorchester, Ontario native was one of only six players to play in all 32 games this year. He was especially strong in Briercrest’s three wins of the season with two goals and two assists, including a game winner.

Female athlete of the year: Elly Wendel

Male athlete of the year: Josh Wendel

Most Improved Players: volleyball – Jachin Karg and Abbi Robinson; basketball – Brandon Friesen and Nicole Meyer; hockey – Josh Anderson.

Most Valuable Players: volleyball – Josh Wendel and Elly Wendel; basketball – James Wohlgeschaffen and Amy Wanvig; hockey – Josh Dufresne.

Minor Official Award: Mahri Macfarlane

ACAC player of the week awards: Elly Wendel

ACAC All-Academic team (based on 2012-13 marks): Josh Dufresne, Caleb Willems, Meghan Carr, Gradyn Childerhose, Bryn Olmstead, Lucas Mannes, Kaylee Dombroski, Elly Wendel, Steve Guenther, Scott Willms, Ben Banting, Jason Wendel and Matthew Pauls.

CCAA National Scholar Award winners (based on 2012-13 marks): Meghan Carr, Gradyn Childerhose, Bryn Olmstead, Lucas Mannes, Kaylee Dombroski, Elly Wendel, Steve Guenther, Scott Willms, Ben Banting, Jason Wendel and Matthew Pauls.

ACAC All-Conference: First Team Claire Richardson – basketball, James Wohlgeschaffen – basketball, Elly Wendel – volleyball, Josh Wendel – volleyball. Second Team – Brooke Peterson – volleyball, Josh Senneker - volleyball.

ACAC Women’s Volleyball Coach of the Year: Nolan Weinmaster

ACAC Women’s Volleyball Player of the Year: Elly Wendel

CCAA Academic All-Canadian: Elly Wendel – volleyball, Brooke Peterson - volleyball

CCAA All-Canadian Team: Elly Wendel

Graduating player awards: Caleb Klassen, James Wohlegschaffen, Luke Robitaille, Brooke Peterson, and Cody Quiring.

Fifth year player awards: James Wohlegschaffen, Luke Robitaille, Cody Quiring, and Pablo Acuna.

For photos of the Awards Banquet like Briercrest Athletics on facebook.