It was a historic night on Friday, April 7 as Centennial College celebrated its 50th annual Athletic Banquet by inducting three athletes, four builders and an entire team into the Hall of Fame. The night is an annual tradition to recognize the accomplishments of Centennial student athletes over the past season.
Headlining this year's award winners were Male Athlete of the Year, Marko Curic, from the Men's Basketball Team, and Female Athlete of the Year, Mari Pikkov, from the Women's Volleyball Team.
Curic was one of the three captains on the men's basketball team, and played a pivotal role as they went from last place in the OCAA East (6-14) last season, to third in the OCAA East (15-5) this season. The Colts battled their way into the OCAA Men's Basketball Championships in 2017. Curic was also a First Team All Star and averaged a team high 17.3 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game.
Mari Pikkov has led an incredible turnaround for the women's volleyball team in just their second year since coming back in the OCAA. The Colts improved by seven games from last year, finishing 10-8 this season compared to 3-17 the previous year. She led the Colts in digs per set with 2.17 and was named a Second Team All-Star.
Cross-country runner William Chemno was named Centennial's Male Rookie of the Year, while women's basketball player Yasmeen Smith was named the Female Rookie of the Year. Chemno capped off an incredible debut season, finishing with a silver medal in the Nationals, becoming the first Colts runner to win an individual national medal. He also picked up the bronze in the Provincials as well. Meanwhile, Smith led her basketball team in points (14.4 ppg) and an OCAA leading 11.9 rebounds per game.
Overall, 2016-17 was a successful year for Centennial as both varsity basketball teams, the women's volleyball team, badminton team, and the cross-country team all enjoyed resurgent seasons. The 2017 OCAA Championships for men's basketball brought a huge turnout to the tournament and ended up being a major success. The full list of award winners is shown here.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER:
Badminton: Jin Cheng
Extramural Men's Basketball: Devean George
Men's Basketball: Jahshua McFarlane
Women's Basketball: Judy Ta
Cricket: Zohaib Usmani
Cross Country (M): Matthew Lozano
Cross Country (W): Ana Lopez Castro
Ice Hockey: Daniel Sherwood
Men's Outdoor Soccer: Kareem Marzouk
Men's Indoor Soccer: Paulo Fernandez
Women's Outdoor Soccer: Christine Dumbrique
Women's Indoor Soccer: Kali Zheng
Men's Volleyball: Justin Smith
Women's Volleyball: Emily Joe
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Badminton: Alishan Shalwani
Extramural Men's Basketball: Amrit Singh
Men's Basketball: Marko Curic
Women's Basketball: Kayla Higgins
Cricket: Shahjeb Padaniya
Cross Country (M): William Chemno
Cross Country (W): Kate Perkins
Ice Hockey: Thomas Lalonde
Men's Outdoor Soccer: Stephen Hwedieh
Men's Indoor Soccer: Nigel Kamal
Women's Outdoor Soccer: Sherine de Jong
Women's Indoor Soccer: Rachel Morcos
Men's Volleyball: Ethan Peter
Women's Volleyball: Mari Pikkov
For the Class of 2017 (Hall of Fame), the three athletes inducted were Nathaniel Allard, a two-time CCAA badminton medalist (2006); Lina Radziunas (1979) and Amanda Nicholson (1992). The four builders inducted were Dennis Macdonald, Paul Clarke, Steve McLaughlin and current varsity coordinator Joan Healey.
And for the first time ever, an entire team has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The 1983-84 Centennial men's basketball team was the first in Centennial’s 50-year history to win a national championship.
The All-Academic Team Award is awarded to the team with the highest average GPA. This years' recipient, with an average GPA of 3.92, was the women's outdoor soccer team. 2015 Hall of Fame Inductee Michael Brown was the recipient of the Dennis Macdonald Honorary COLT Award for his service in which he went above and beyond this year, especially with the support and guidance of the basketball program.
Centennial would like to thank all of the student-athletes, coaches, sponsors, alumni, family members, faculty members, administrators and staff that have made this year a success in the classroom and in athletics.