Swimmers Pablo Collin and Isabel Sarty were named male and female athletes of the year, respectively, at the 45th annual McGill University varsity sports awards gala, held April 11, at Evo Plaza Centre-Ville in downtown Montreal.
Collin, a 21-year-old computer science sophomore from Marseille, France, and Sarty, a 23-year-old master’s student in neuroscience, who hails from Halifax, N.S., were also named as their team MVPs. Both led their respective squads to conference championships. They received the D. Stuart Forbes and Gladys Bean trophies, respectively, as the student-athletes who brought most credit to the University by reason of their athletic achievements.
Collin, who achieved a 3.91 grade-point average (out of 4), also took home the Uldis Auders Memorial Trophy as the top sophomore, in any sport, who best combines academic excellence with athletic prowess. He was the RSEQ conference male swimmer of the year and earned All-Canadian honours after winning two gold medals and a pair of bronzes at the Nationals. This marks the fourth consecutive year that a swimmer from France has merited McGill athlete-of-the-year honours, after Clement Secchi had won the previous three.
Sarty won a whopping six gold medals at the conference championship and was named the RSEQ female swimmer of the year. She added a bronze medal and four fourth-place finishes at the Nationals in Victoria, B.C.
It marked the 17th time in school history that a member of the swim team had won the Forbes Trophy and the fifth occasion that a swimmer took home the Bean Award.
Success on, and beyond, the field of play
Among the other laureates was rugby club president Owen Cumming, a 22-year-old political science senior from Toronto and hockey team captain Christiana Colizza, a 23-year-old master’s student in sports psychology from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. They merited the Richard Pound and Muriel Roscoe trophies, respectively, awarded to the graduating male and female athletes for proficiency and leadership in athletics over their university careers.
Football quarterback Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald of Montreal, and badminton’s Eliana Zhang were named as the University’s male and female rookie of the year, respectively. Latendresse-Regimbald, a 21-year-old physical education freshman, won the Peter Gorman Trophy as U SPORTS football rookie of the year. Zhang, a 21-year-old medical school sophomore in her first season of eligibility, was named as the RSEQ conference’s top rookie and badminton player of the year.
The Dr. Mac Teskey Award for overcoming adversity while serving as an inspiration to others went to lacrosse’s Isaiah Cree, a 22-year-old senior in international development studies who hails from Akwesasne, N.Y. He overcame a challenging number of injuries and setbacks to shine at the Baggataway Cup championship in Peterborough, Ont., where he was named to the all-tournament team.
The Teddy Smith Award, which recognizes outstanding volunteer work within the McGill Athletics community, went to Patrick Young of Toronto, a two-sport athlete who competed on both, the rugby and track teams. The 22-year-old science senior is majoring in kinesiology and qualified for the Principal’s Student-athlete Honour Roll. He was on the Students’ Athletics Council and also the Varsity Council, serving as its VP for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Women’s swim team, men’s rugby squad earn kudos
The women’s swim program received the Martlet Foundation Trophy as the varsity team of the year. They won all five conference meets, including the Quebec league championship, where the Martlets produced 33 appearances on the podium, including a stunning 16 of the 21 gold medals handed out. They broke a plethora of records and qualified a team-high 19 women for Nationals in Victoria, B.C., where they produced 20 swims in the “A” finals, won a pair of bronze medals and finished third of 22 teams.
The men’s rugby squad took home the Harry Griffiths Trophy, awarded to the top team in a sport outside the jurisdiction of U SPORTS. They posted a 10-2 record overall, including a 6-1 first-place finish in the RSEQ conference and qualified for the Nationals in Vancouver, B.C., where they won silver. A highly-organized team, they generated more than $45,800 during the recent one-day, McGill-24 fundraiser.
Tribute was also paid to McGill’s six All-Canadians, 68 conference all-stars and three league championships won during the 2022-23 varsity season. RSEQ conference banners were captured in men’s rugby as well as both men’s and women’s swimming, along with the combined swimming title.
Pablo you are very fast swimmer