KODIAKS ARE CANADA’S BEST:
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, REPEATS AS ACAC CHAMPS
The Kodiaks braved the weather to claim the gold medal at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships in Grande Prairie in November, while Sophia Nowicki claimed a national bronze medal. The Kodiaks finished a single point ahead of Champlain College Saint-Lambert in the battle for the top of the podium, as the Kodiaks top four runners totaled 49 points. The four scoring runners were Nowicki (third year, Nursing, Bragg Creek), Anna LeBlanc (second year, Renewable Resource Management, Banff), Rosie Bouchard (first year, Renewable Resource Management, Okotoks) and Vildana Rekic (fourth year, Ecosystem Management, Lethbridge), while Janelle Graham (fourth year, Justice Studies, Olds) and Sydney Crowe (first year, General Studies, Vermilion) provided valuable depth as the Kodiaks women’s team won its third national championship and first since winning the second of back-to-back titles in 2004. Nowicki, the two-time reigning Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) champion and last year’s national champion, finished the 6-km course in 25:22 to earn the bronze medal. It is the third-straight season that Nowicki, who was also named a CCAA All-Canadian, has made the podium at the national championship. She also earned a bronze in 2017. Read more about her journey on the trail and in the classroom on page 16. Two Kodiaks men’s runners took part in the 8-km men’s championship. Connor Jackson (second year, Business Administration, Surrey, B.C.) placed 15th, while Cooper Cheshire (second year, Agricultural Enterprise Management, Trochu) was 45th.
Carey named national men’s soccer coach of the year
Sean Carey is going to need a larger trophy case. The Kodiaks soccer head coach keeps adding to his accolades as he was named CCAA national men’s soccer coach of the year at the CCAA awards banquet in November in Ontario. Carey is in the third season of his dual role as head coach of both the men’s and women’s Kodiaks soccer teams. This season, he led the Kodiaks men’s team to a 9-1-3 record during the regular season and a second place finish in the ACAC south division. It was the second-best regular season in Kodiaks men’s soccer history. He followed that up by winning the program’s first ever ACAC championship on Oct. 27 in Edmonton. Carey is the first Kodiaks soccer coach to ever win a CCAA coach of the year award. In 2018, Carey was the first person to ever win both ACAC women’s and men’s south division coach of the year honours in the same season. This season, he took it one step further as he was the first person ever named ACAC coach of the year in both the men’s and women’s conferences in the same season. He also has an ACAC south division coach of the year honour from 2010, during a previous two-year stint as coach of the Kodiaks women’s team. This season he was also a runner-up for CCAA women’s coach of the year honours.
Women’s soccer earns back-to- back ACAC bronze medals
The Kodiaks won a second straight ACAC women’s soccer bronze medal, with a 1-0 victory over the SAIT Trojans in October. It’s just the third conference medal in program history, as last season’s bronze was the Kodiaks first since winning the conference and national titles in 1994. The Kodiaks finished the season 9-1-2.
CHAMPS! MEN’S SOCCER TEAM WINS FIRST ACAC CHAMPIONSHIP, PLAYS ON NATIONAL STAGE
For the first time ever, the Lethbridge College Kodiaks men’s soccer team won the ACAC championship. The Kodiaks beat Red Deer College 2-0 in the gold medal match to earn the banner. At the championships, hosted by NAIT, the Kodiaks won three straight games to bring home the gold medal and advance to the CCAA national championship, where they finished eighth after a week of intense play. See page 12 for a rundown of the many awards the men’s team picked up during what turned out to be an historic season.
Kodiaks coaches, student-athletes, haul in honours
The fall soccer and cross-country seasons were among the most successful in Kodiaks history.
Below are some of the conference and national honours the teams brought back to Lethbridge.
MEN’S SOCCER
Ben Knight (third year, General Studies, Manchester, England)
• CCAA All-Canadian, ACAC men’s soccer player of the year, ACAC south division all-conference team, ACAC tournament all-star team
Jimmy Bukuru (third year, General Studies, Lethbridge)
• ACAC south division all-conference team
Cody Ferguson (fourth year, General Studies, Lethbridge)
• ACAC south division all-conference team
Jaden Veluw (fourth year, Nursing, Lethbridge)
• ACAC south division all-conference team
Dave Low (second year, General Studies, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England)
• ACAC tournament MVP
Owen Beers (first year, Business Administration, Taber)
• ACAC tournament all-star team
Sean Carey
• CCAA men's coach of the year, ACAC men's and women's coach of the year
(for both the men’s and women’s teams)
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Christine Moser (third year, Massage Therapy, Whitehorse)
• CCAA All-Canadian, ACAC south division player of the year, south division all-conference team
Jasmin Salmon (third year, Business Administration, Medicine Hat)
• ACAC south division all-conference team
Dairy Holmes (first year, Nursing, Calgary)
• ACAC tournament all-star team
CROSS COUNTRY
Sophia Nowicki (third year, Nursing, Bragg Creek)
• Bronze medallist at CCAA National Championship, CCAA All-Canadian, ACAC Champion, ACAC runner of the year, ACAC all-conference team
Rosie Bouchard (first year, Renewable Resource Management, Okotoks)
• 8th at ACAC championship
Anna Leblanc (second year, Natural Resource Management, Banff)
• 9th at ACAC championship
Vildana Rekic (fourth year, Ecosystem Management, Lethbridge)
• 13th at ACAC championship
Janelle Graham (fourth year, Justice Studies, Olds)
• 14th at ACAC championship
Connor Jackson (second year, Business Administration, Surrey, B.C.)
• 5th at ACAC championship, ACAC all-conference team
Cooper Cheshire (second year, Agriculture Enterprise Management, Trochu)
• 9th at ACAC championship
Justin Fisher (first year, General Studies, Claresholm)
• 11th at ACAC championship
Coach Simon Schaerz
• ACAC coach of the year
Complete picture of Kodiaks success brought to light
In 1980, Sherry Baker battled her way to an ACAC badminton title – but for nearly four decades, her name was lost to history. Now, a thorough dig into the chronicles of the Lethbridge College Kodiaks has restored her to her rightful place in the ACAC record book.
Dave McMurray, manager of Applied Research, started the project and received an assist from members of the Lethbridge College Marketing and Communications teams. Together, they compiled all of the Kodiaks championship history in one place for the first time. The complete picture shows the Kodiaks have earned 22 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national championships and 111 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) team and individual championships.
Previously, the Kodiaks recognized 12 CCAA championships and 57 ACAC championships, but the new totals now account for championships previously forgotten that have been uncovered. The list also includes in the final total individual championships in sports such as cross country running, indoor track and badminton. McMurray, who is also historian, originally launched the work as a research project for the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame. He scoured old editions of the Endeavour, Lethbridge College’s campus newspaper, along with other sources to corroborate and uncover past successes. That process discovered Baker’s championship, as the ACAC archives had previously listed just a Lethbridge College championship with no additional information. McMurray’s research was presented to the ACAC, which added Baker’s name to its archives.
“It’s an exciting discovery because it adds to the story of where we’ve come from,” says McMurray. “It’s a testament to the students in the Journalism program of the day who gave such great coverage of the Kodiaks and allowed us to recognize someone who accomplished something so significant. That this started as a project for the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame is fitting because the hall’s mandate is to recognize the achievements of local athletes and this does just that.”
The full list of Kodiaks champions can now be seen on the Kodiaks website, gokodiaks.ca.
