Ten athletes nominated for Reader’s Choice awards

As the 2016-17 athletics season winds down at Carleton, The Charlatan is giving readers the opportunity to vote for their top five Ravens athletes this season. Online voting has opened at www.charlatan.ca, and will conclude on April 3.

Nate Behar

Football

In his fourth season with the Ravens, Behar helped lead the team to a third straight Panda Game victory, as well as their first playoff win at home in 30 years.

Behar ranked second in all of U SPORTS this season with nine touchdowns, third in receptions with 57, and sixth in yards per game with 98.5.

Behar also registered 788 receiving yards, and a longest gain of 65 yards.

Behar is also eligible for the Canadian Football League (CFL) draft next month, and could forgo a fifth year at Carleton in favour of pursuing a professional football career.

Melat Cherent

Women’s soccer

Cherent, a Ravens co-captain, was named a 2016 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) First-Team All-Star this season. She earned an OUA accolade for a second straight year as she was named a Second-Team All-Star last season.

Cherent also recorded 10 total shots for the season as a defender for the team, and started in all 16 regular season games.

Bailey Dean

Women’s rugby

Dean, a Ravens flanker, led Carleton this season with a team high 41 total points—along with 15 conversions, one try, one drop goal and one penalty.

Dean’s best game statistically this year came Sept. 11 in a 50-5 win against the McGill Martlets when she posted a line of 15 points—including five conversions and one try.

Although the team narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs, they finished the season with seven points—the highest point tally they’ve ever accumulated since the team’s inception in 2012.

Kaza Kajami-Keane

Men’s basketball

Kajami-Keane helped lead the Ravens to an undefeated regular season as well as their seventh straight National Championship as well as winning the Capital Hoops Classic.

Kajami-Keane averaged 15.15 points, 4.1 rebounds and led the OUA with 5.2 assists per game in the regular season.

In his final season at Carleton, Kajami-Keane earned his second U SPORTS national championship and was named MVP of the tournament this year.

Michael McNamee

Men’s hockey

McNamee was the offensive catalyst in his final year at Carleton.

He led the team in points with 12 goals and registered 21 assists for a total of 33 points in 24 games.

McNamee was named captain of the men’s hockey team, as well as an assistant captain on the Team Canada men’s hockey team at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

At the end of the season, McNamee was named First-Team All-Star by both the OUA and U SPORTS, and was voted the OUA’s most sportsmanlike player.

Following a first-round loss against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes, McNamee signed with Syracuse Crunch in the American Hockey League to pursue a professional hockey career.

Julian Piccioli

Men’s soccer

In his final season as a Raven, Piccioli was named team captain and finished the year with five goals and four assists while playing in all 16 regular season games.

At the end of the season, he was a 2016 OUA First-Team All-Star for the Eastern Division.

His best game came on Sept. 18 in a 4-2 win against the Queen’s Gaels after he tallied a goal, which stood as the game winner and an assist.

Carrington Pomeroy

Nordic skiing

This year marked Pomeroy’s third season as a member of the Carleton Nordic Skiing team.

Pomeroy, along with Ravens teammate Chris Weller, placed third in the men’s relay cross at the Canadian College and University Nordic Championships.

He was also named a 2016 OUA Nordic Skiing All-Star this season. In addition to winning a medal, Pomeroy was also selected as one of six male skiers to compete for Canada at the 2017 Winter Universiade.

Pomeroy participated in three events at the Games, finishing 57th overall in the men’s 10 kilometre individual classic, 48th in the men’s 10 kilmometre Pursuit free event, and 42nd in the men’s 30 kilometre mass start classic.

Katelyn Steele

Women’s hockey

In her third season with the Ravens, Steele was named an RSEQ Second-Team All-Star.

Steele ranked sixth in U SPORTS with 541 saves as well as a the RSEQ’s second-best save percentage at 0.920 per cent, and posted a goals-against average of 3.03.

Although the Ravens finished in last place in the RSEQ with 4-14-2, Steele was in net for all the Ravens’ wins, including a victory over the defending national champion Montreal Carabins and eventual U SPORTS silver medalist McGill Martlets.

Catherine Traer

Women’s basketball

In her first season at Carleton following three years with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, Traer helped lead the women’s basketball team to their first-ever bronze medal at the U SPORTS women’s basketball Final 8 with a win over the Queen’s Gaels.

Over the course of the season, Traers averaged 14.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, two assists and was fifth best in the OUA with 27 blocks.

Traer’s top performance of the season statistically was on Nov. 27 when she scored 22 points, along with seven rebounds and three assists.

Aaron Woods

Lacrosse

This year marked Woods’ fourth season as a member of the Ravens lacrosse team.

Woods was named Carleton’s 2016 Offensive Player of the Year for his team, and recieved an honourable mention for top attack in the All Canada East Division.

Despite his team ending the season tied for last with Laurier, Woods finished his senior season by moving into third place for most all-time goals (88), seventh for all-time assists (32), fourth for all-time points (120) with the Ravens.

– Graphics by Christophe Young