The Department of Athletics and Recreation celebrated the 2017-18 Warriors season on Thursday night at the 58th annual Athletics Banquet.

"It was an incredible season for our Warriors including several outstanding individual and team performances," said director of athletics and recreation, Roly Webster.

"It is always an enjoyable scene when you have 600 student-athletes together in the same room and celebrate all that they have accomplished academically and athletically. I am extremely proud of each and every student-athlete that competed for us this past season."

Top honours went to a pair of track and field athletes with Tegan Sauer (Kitchener/) and Jörg Ahne (Merseburg) earning the Athletes of the Year Awards.

Sauer was awarded the Marsden Trophy as female athlete of the year after a standout season with the track team. Sauer captured bronze at the OUA Championship in the 60m, finishing in a time of 7.56s.

Two weeks later, Sauer competed at the U SPORTS Championship and dashed her way to a new personal best time of 7.48s to win the U SPORTS bronze.

Overall Sauer finished the season with five gold medals and one silver and was also a big part of Waterloo's 4x200m relay team that finished sixth in the province at the OUA Championship.


Ahne was presented the Totzke Trophy as male athlete of the year thanks to memorable season in long jump with the track team. Ahne first won OUA gold jumping to a distance of 7.42m and was named a first-team all-star. Two weeks later, Ahne leapt to a new varsity record distance of 7.43m at the U SPORTS Championship to easily grab the gold medal and repeat as the national champion.

Ahne also won two golds and one bronze throughout the season and was an integral part of the 4x200m relay team's seventh place finish at the U SPORTS Championship.

Ahne currently holds nine of the 10 best long jumps ever in the history of Warriors track and field.


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.

Braden Cok (Waterloo/) and Jordan McConkey (Stratford/) were two recipients of the award of five remarkable seasons with the Warriors men's volleyball team. Cok is a three-time OUA all-star while leading his team to four straight OUA final fours and three straight national championships.

McConkey is a four-time OUA all-star while also playing a pivotal role in Waterloo's appearances at OUA and U SPORTS championships. McConkey was also a part of Canada's National Senior B team last summer.

Other Shield winners including hockey players Mike Moffat (Waterloo/) and Stephanie Sluys (Clinton/) and swimmer Jonathan Ramkissoon (Trinidad/).

Moffat was an OUA all-star each of his four years competing with the Warriors, and won a FISU bronze medal with team Canada at the 2017 Winter University Games. He finished his career with 20 goals and 52 assists.

Sluys was the OUA Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the 2017 Marsden Trophy winner in 2017, and won silver with Canada at the 2017 Winter University Games. She is the all-time leader in shutouts with 15 and has a career goal against average of 1.73 and save percentage of .932.

Ramkissoon was the final recipient of the Shield of Excellence and has done nothing but break records in the pool for the Warriors. In his career, Ramkissoon has won 12 medals (2 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze) at OUA Championship meets and was awarded the 2018 OUA Graduating Award of Distinction.


The Federation of Students Rookies of the Year were collected by Eloise Ladyman (Kamloops/) of swimming and Tre Ford (Niagara Falls/) from football.

Ladyman won the bronze in the 200m backstroke at the OUA Championships and qualified for nationals. She also broke a 30-year old school record in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1.05:31 and broke several other meet records at the DeBray Divisional Championships.


Rookie quarterback Tre Ford (Niagara Falls/) stole the show in his rookie season and was named the OUA rookie of the year. Ford was unstoppable on the ground with 717 rushing yards, the sixth most in the OUA. In the air, Ford was also as effective with the top completion percentage in the OUA and 66.7% going 48-for-72 with 673 passing yards.


The Imprint Coach of the Year Award was handed out to football head coach Chris Bertoia after leading his team to a 4-0 start, the first time since 1998 and a national ranking of ninth back on September. Bertoia was also named the OUA Coach of the Year.

A new award was presented to the Warriors Team of the Year and women's soccer collected the inaugural award after their outstanding season going 6-4-6 in the regular season and qualifying for the post-season for the first time since 2007. Waterloo hosted the York Lions in the OUA west quarter-finals and won a thrilling match on Warrior Field in penalty kicks. Football and men's curling were the other nominees for the new award.

It was a fantastic night celebrating the outstanding achievements of all the Warriors student-athletes, coaches, and staff.

Other Award Winners

Warrior Campus Service Award – Chris Lawson
J.O Hemphill Award – Joey Champigny (East Angus/)
Directors Award – Dana Fairbarn (Maple/)
Brian Farrance Award – Laura Ingriselli/Nicole Lee