The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack continue the tradition of being a strong school academically as well as athletically.
For the 2018–19 school year, the WolfPack proudly boasted 49 Academic All-Canadians across their 10 U SPORTS programs.
"We want to build a rich tradition with our athletic program that shows that we are one of the top academic institutions in the Canada West. We want prospective athletes to come to TRU not just because they want to play sports here, but because they want to get the best education possible," said WolfPack Director of Athletics and Recreation Curtis Atkinson. "These athletes are helping lay the foundation of where we want to be as an athletic program and as an academic institution."
Leading the way was women's volleyball, who checked in with nine Academic All-Canadians.
"To have nine of our 14 players be named an Academic All-Canadian is pretty incredible. It's one thing to have a team take their studies that seriously, it's another thing to have them produce such incredible GPAs. It's an incredible accomplishment for our team," said women's volleyball head coach Chad Grimm.
Kendra Finch (fourth year, General Studies), Katie Ludvig (second year, Communications), Hayley McNaught (first year, Arts), Erin Mutch (first year, Arts), Gabriela Podolski (third year, Arts), Avery Pottle (third year, Arts), Elizabeth Reimer (first year, Science), Olga Savenchuk (first year, MBA) and Siobhan Toal (first year, Arts) all made the list from Grimm's squad. Women's volleyball also produced the highest grade-point-average (GPA) of any team: 3.76.
"We have competitive people with Type A personalities on our team. They want to compete on the court against each other and the opponent. But that also carries over into the classroom and they all want to be as successful as possible in the classroom. At the end of the day, what is most important is achieving their academic goals in an allotted amount of time," said Grimm.
Gwendolyn Freeze (Sciences) of women's soccer and Jasper Martin (Respiratory Therapy) of men's cross country tied for the highest GPA among athletes with a staggering 4.33.
In order to be selected as an Academic All-Canadian, U SPORTS athletes must complete a minimum of 18 credits per school year (at least three courses per semester), use eligibility, and maintain at least an 80 percent average.
The 49 athletes eclipsed the previous high-water mark of 45, which was set in the 2014–15 school year.
TRU didn't qualify for U SPORTS (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport) Academic All-Canadian status until the 2005–06 year, when they made the jump from the collegiate level. Through the WolfPack's first nine years at the university level, they averaged slightly more than eight Academic All-Canadians per year. Since the dramatic improvement in 2014–15, an average of 39 WolfPack athletes have received the national acknowledgment each year.
It's no coincidence that the GPA boost coincides with the creation of the Pack ACademic Edge (PACE) program.
On Monday evenings, senior athletes with strong academic backgrounds from different areas of the university become leaders in the program. PACE leaders are trained in referral and study success strategies, and work with student athletes on difficult courses or assignments. Leaders support student athletes to achieve academic goals while maintaining a busy schedule.
Of all the teams with five or more Academic All-Canadians, the men's basketball produced the highest average GPA from their recipients. Led by Richard Mageto's 4.12 GPA in his first the Science program and Micheal Roualt's 4.05 in his fourth year of the Biology program, the Academic All-Canadian's from men's basketball carried an average GPA of 3.94.
"You have to give all the credit to the kids. They are extremely focused and are high achievers not only athletically, but in the classroom as well," said WolfPack men's basketball head coach Scott Clark. "When we recruit, we want to bring in the type of players that want to get the most out of their education while competing at a high level for us in whatever sport they play."
Joining the other two model students were Tyus DeVries (second year, Business), Dean Lemphers (second year, Business) and Nathan Pasloske (first year, Science).
Behind women's volleyball, men's volleyball and women's soccer each boasted seven Academic All-Canadians last year.
The recipients from women's soccer were Georgia Aldus (second year, Arts), Chantal Gammie (first year, Arts), Marisa Mendonca (fourth year, Science), Robin Price (third year, Nursing), Kelsey Thorkelsson (third year, Nursing), Natalie Verdiel (fourth year, Bio-Psych) and Freeze. 3.80
The men's volleyball players that made the list were Kyle Behiels (fourth year, Computer Science), Tim Dobbert (fifth year, MBA), Tim Edge (fifth year, Arts), Samuel Elgert (first year, 3.96), Cole Hanson (third year, Science), Anton Napolitano (third year, Interdisciplinary Studies) and Kyle Taylor (second year, Commerce).
Women's basketball usually generates enough Academic All-Canadians to fill out a starting roster. They exceeded their averages and cranked out six recipients this year.
Graduating fifth-year nursing student Michelle Bos led the way for women's basketball. She was joined by Jordon Haggerty (second year, Nursing), Kanesha Reeves (fifth year, Science), Megan Rouault (second year, Engineering), Courtney Sampson (first year, Journalism) and Emily Vilac (fifth year, Science).
The WolfPack's men's soccer team and women's swim program each produced five Academic All-Canadians.
From women's swimming, both Dagasso's in the Science program made the list. Gabrielle did so while in her third year, with Emily accomplishing the feat in her first year on campus. Joining them was Paula Ducharme (first year, Fine Arts), Mikaela Hitchen (second year, Science) and Gurcharan Uppal (first year, Science).
Men's soccer saw Zahkary Barone (first year, Science), Khalifa Fanne (third year, Master of Education), Jan Pirretas Glasmacher (second year, Business), Jason Staiger (fifth year, Business) and Thomas Lantmeeters (third year, MBA).
Women's cross country was represented by three runners: Erica Johnson (second year, Tourism), Kendra Murray (second year, Law) and Zoe Painter, a nursing student in her second year.
"There are a couple of things that go into our students' success: First, our institution is extremely supportive of our athletes and gives them the flexibility to write an exam early, late or on the road, or hand in assignments around their travel schedule," said Clark. "The other component is that we have a lot of academic support set up within the university. We have the PACE program set up, there is department-wide tutoring, math and physics labs, and the writing centre, all set up to provide help to students in any program."
Rounding out the extensive list of brilliant minds was Ryley McRae, a first-year swimmer in Science who recorded the third-highest GPA: 4.21.
