(VANCOUVER, BC) - (U SPORTS) - Kadre Gray, a basketball player from the Laurentian Voyageurs, and Marie-Alex Bélanger, a volleyball player from the Montréal Carabins, are the BLG Award winners as U SPORTS Athletes of the Year for the 2017-18 season.
The recipients of the 26th annual BLG Awards were announced Monday night, at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, on the campus of the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver.
All eight nominees, one male and one female from each of the four U SPORTS conferences, received a commemorative gold ring from Jostens, the official supplier of U SPORTS. Gray and Bélanger were also presented with trophies.
The winners were selected by the Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board chaired by BLG National Co-Chair Doug Mitchell, established for the purpose of administering the BLG Awards and protecting the integrity of the selection process.
"On behalf of BLG and the Canadian Athletic Foundation trustees, I would like to congratulate Kadre Gray and Marie-Alex Bélanger, the winners of the 26th BLG Awards,” said Mitchell. “The 2018 BLG nominee class was particularly strong, made up of quality student-athletes from across the country. Not only does this year’s class highlight that sport in Canada is in good hands, but that the strongest education one can achieve comes from participating in university athletics as these student-athletes learn additional skills and life lessons. I would like to congratulate all the nominees for their great accomplishments.”
“The BLG Awards represent the highest honour for our student-athletes in Canada. This year’s nominees are not only outstanding athletes, but they are also glowing ambassadors for the entire U SPORTS membership,” said Graham Brown, President and CEO of U SPORTS. “On behalf of U SPORTS, I would like to extend our sincerest congratulations to both Kadre and Marie-Alex. I would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to our partners at BLG for their support over the last 26 years and continued commitment to university sport in Canada.”
UNB’s Javon Masters was the male nominee for Atlantic University Sport. In 2017-18, Masters was AUS MVP, for a third time, the country’s leading scorer, a 1st Team All-Canadian, and MVP of the AUS championship tournament, where UNB won the title for the first time since 1967. He also became U SPORTS all-time leading scorer.