Some familiar names in the Tri-Cities sports scene are among the finalists in 14 of the 18 catagories being honoured at the Sport BC 52nd annual Athlete of the Year awards that will be held March 28.
The awards recognize the province’s best amateur athletes, coaches and officials for their outstanding efforts in the 2017 season.
Local finalists include:
• Jacqueline Lew, a Pinetree secondary school grad and wrestler, as female high school athlete of the year.
Lew, who now attends Simon Fraser University in Burnaby on a wrestling scholarship, won three provincial championships in her 51-kg weight class when she was in high school, along with three Canadian cadet/juvenile championships.
• Tara Self, the head track coach for the Coquitlam Cheetahs, is a finalist for female coach of the year.
Self, who represented Canada at two Summer Olympics as Tara Perry, has been with the Cheetahs since 2005. She’s helped guide several local athletes to national and provincial championships and members of the club were instrumental in the success of last summer’s Harry Jerome International Track and Field Classic that was held at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
• Mathew Barzal of Coquitlam isn’t just a leading contender for the Calder trophy at the NHL’s rookie of the year, he’s also up for male junior athlete of the year.
Before he joined the Islanders full time at the beginning of this season, Barzal helped lead his Seattle Thunderbirds to a Western Hockey League championship as their most valuable player after he scored 25 points in 16 playoff games. His scoring prowess has followed him to Brooklyn, N.Y., where he’s the leading scorer amongst NHL rookies and the first freshman player in the league to record three five-point games in a season since 1917/’18 when Joe Malone did it.
• Coquitlam’s Adam Jones is a finalist for university athlete of the year. He led the Simon Fraser University Clan men’s soccer team to as high as second in the National Collegiate Athletic Association rankings in the 2016/’17 season. He scored 10 goals and added nine assists in 18 games to lead the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in scoring. He was named the GNAC’s player of the year, the West Region player of the year, and he was named to the NCAA All-American first all-star team.
Winners of the Athlete of the Year awards are selected by a panel of 16 sportswriters, broadcasters and leaders of amateur sports in the province. It is chaired by former TV broadcaster Bernie Pascall.
The award ceremony will be held at the Westin Bayshore Vancouver hotel.
• For more information about the awards, as well as a link to purchase tickets online, go to sportbc.com
