WATERLOO, Ont. – The Department of Athletics handed out their year-end hardware at the 54th annual Athletics Banquet on Friday evening at the St. George Banquet Hall.  Women's golfer Devon Rizzo (Brantford/) and men's curler Jake Walker (Minden/) earned the top honours as athletes of the year.

Rizzo was awarded the Marsden Trophy as Warrior female athlete of the year after yet another dominating season in the OUA women's golf scene.

Rizzo has been nothing short of spectacular since making her debut with the women's golf team in 2010.  In her rookie season, Rizzo collected three OUA individual gold medals in just five events while earning the lowest score in OUA women's golf history twice with her pair of 70's while leading Waterloo to their first ever OUA Championship title.

In her second season the management engineering student continued her stellar stroke on the link capturing two more individual gold medals and once again leading her team to an OUA Championship. 

In 2012, Rizzo again jumped out of the gate with three straight individual gold medals to her name including a three-peat at the Guelph Invitational.  She would go on to medal at each of the six events played at including a silver medal performance at the OUA Championship. 

This season, Rizzo was once again swinging a hot stick medaling in six of seven OUA events and was named an OUA all-star for the fourth straight year. 

To cap it all off, Rizzo reached the pinnacle of OUA golf capturing the individual title at this year's Championship event played at Grey Silo.  Her rounds of 73 and 74 gave her the OUA gold medal by 7-strokes over any other golfer in the field.

On top of her OUA pedigree, Rizzo has seen the spotlight at several big scale tournaments including three appearances at the Canadian University/College Championship one of which she took home the top prize.  Her title at the 2012 University/College Championship qualified her to compete at the World Golf Championship in Czech Republic.  She also competed at the 2011 World University Golf Championship in China and will be doing so again this June in Switzerland alongside head coach Carla Munch.

Walker collected the Totzke Trophy as the Waterloo male athlete of the year thanks to his success both on the provincial and national level in his four year tenure with the black and gold.

Walker won back to back OUA Championships in 2011 and 2012 and was named an OUA all-star and CIS all-Canadian both of those seasons. 

On the National Stage Walker has appeared in two CIS Championships including a gold medal performance last spring in Alberta winning Waterloo's first National Title since 1996. He was also a CIS silver medalist in 2011.  In his two years at the national tournament, Walker boasts a 13-5 record.

Over the past 3 seasons, Walker has had a 19-5 record at the OUA Championship including a 7-2 record in Guelph this season.

In addition to his university playing success, Walker was a Canadian Junior Champion in 2010 and bronze medalist at the World Championships that same year.

Other hardware handed out included the annual Warrior Shield of Excellence award recognizing outstanding accomplishments by a graduating student-athlete in their sport, academics and community service. 

Rizzo and Walker were both double-award winners receiving the shields while two other standout student-athletes were also recipients of the prestigious award.

Fourth year receiver Nick Anapolsky (Guelph /) received a shield after his record breaking season with the Warrior football team.  The fourth year receiver collected 74 passes which broke both the provincial and national records for most catches in a single season. 

His record breaking afternoon came on Saturday, October 19 in Toronto when he caught 11 passes in the game.  Overall Anapolsky finished his career with a 145 receptions, the second most in Waterloo history while amassing 1,734 receiving yards.

Anapolsky was named an OUA second team all-star this season and was on the first team last year while also earning an all-Canadian nod on the first team.

The final Shield of Excellence was collected by Walker's teammate Edward Cyr (Haliburton/).  Cyr  of the men's curling team had tremendous success as the third, helping the Warriors win back-to-back OUA Championship's while also winning a CIS title in 2012

Cyr was named an OUA first team all-star in 2011 and 2012 and was also a CIS first team all-Canadian those same year's. 

Cyr is a multi-sport athlete also competing with the Waterloo swim team and is an avid triathlete winning several races this past summer.

The Imprint Coach of the Year award was collected by men's volleyball head coach Chris Lawson.

In Lawson's seventh year as bench boss he led his Warriors to a 16-4 regular season record which included eight straight wins in 2014 and an upset win over the No. 1 McMaster Marauders in late January. 

Lawson's team reached as high as seventh best in the country and after defeating Queen's in the quarter-finals advanced to their third straight OUA final four.

Lawson has turned what was once a struggling program into Waterloo's most consistent varsity team and has an overall record of 82 wins and 51 losses while guiding the Warriors to the post-season every one of his seven years as head coach.

The Federation of Students rookies of the year went to Rachel Marriott (Waterloo/) of the women's hockey team and Michael Clouthier (Guelph/) from the baseball team.

Marriott didn't waste any time making a name for herself in the OUA women's hockey season collecting three points in her first game in the black and gold and going on to finish with 21 in her rookie campaign.  Her season was highlighted with a six game point streak in January which included four goals and eight assists over that span.

The Health Promotion student led both her team and OUA rookies in scoring and was named the OUA rookie of the year.

Rookie first baseman Michael Clouthier (Guelph/) was solid all season long for the Warriors in the field but did most of his damage at the plate.  He led all OUA batters in homeruns with seven including five in four games and finished the season with a .306 batting average.  For his tremendous season, Clouthier was named the OUA rookie of the year.  Clouthier also finished his rookie campaign with 24 RBI's in 24 games.

The J.O. Hemphill and Director's awards were won by Thomas Miller (London/), Kelsey Kaster and Kelly Moores.  The awards are presented annually in recognition of students who provide an outstanding administrative contribution to interuniversity athletics.

A member of the Warrior football team, Thomas has gone above and beyond his role as a student-athlete giving back to the Department of Athletics in several capacities and for his efforts was given the J.O. Hemphill Award.

As an executive member of the Interuniversity Council, Thomas has volunteered countless of hours to promote the Waterloo Warriors across campus and the community.  He has been a succeed-clean leader, helped to organize the hair-cutting for Think Pink and promote the campaign to all of our varsity teams. 

Thomas has also been an integral part of the Peer Leader program to help guide our student-athletes to success both on the playing field and in the classroom.  Additionally, Thomas was a big part of gathering volunteers for Waterloo's Winter Open House events by communicating with several varsity teams.

Another proud moment for Thomas was his involvement with Waterloo's Canada Day festivities where the running back showed off his eating skills putting away two-dozen timbits in an eating competition with

Winners of the Director's award, Kaster and Moores were critical components of organizing and executing the 2013-14 figure skating team during a transitional season.

Both athletes stepped up to play an administrative role which allowed for a smoother season for first year head coach Susan Ritchie.  They helped set-up team practices and organized all of the team's on and off ice activity and coordinated all of the travel and accommodation schedules for the season.

On top of their administrative duties, Kaster and Moores assisted with athlete academic schedules throughout the year and played a key role in fundraising to help student-athletes pay for their team fees.

The final award was the Brian Farrance award presented to a student therapist who has demonstrated excellence, commitment and dedication throughout his/her service to varsity athletics.   This year's recipient was Michelle Hogan, therapist for the women's hockey team.
 
Hogan embodies the true spirit of this award. After being a therapist for the football team, she transitioned to the women's hockey team for her final two seasons as a student.  Hogan could be counted on to work with the team in a professional manner in al regards.

The 54^th annual Athletics Banquet was once again a huge success with over 600 student-athletes on hand to celebrate the accomplishments of a memorable 2013-14 Waterloo Warriors season. 

Thank you to the wonderful staff of the St. George Banquet Hall for hosting the banquet and all of the department staff who made the night possible.