After a successful 2015-16 season for Carleton Varsity Athletics, the teams gathered to celebrate and recognize the achievements made over the past year. The annual banquet recognized both individual and team accomplishments.
Each team awarded an Alumni Award and a Team MVP, but the major awards given out were the Male and Female Graduating Athlete of the Year, Male and Female Athlete of the Year, and Coach of the Year.
Veronica Mazzella had an impressive final season with the women’s soccer team. In her fifth year of play, Mazzella continued to be a midfielder the team revolved around. She led the team to playoffs, and was named an Ontario University Athletics First Team All-Star for the third time as a Raven. The team co-captain is the sixth women’s soccer player to win the Outstanding Graduating Female Athlete award.
The Jack Vogan Award is given to the Outstanding Graduating Male Athlete of the Year, and this year the recipient was Guillaume Payen Boucard.
“I’m honoured,” Payen Boucard said. “I believe Tommy Scrubb was last year’s winner and it feels pretty good considering I have looked up to him a lot and he has affected the way I play.”
Payen Boucard said he felt this year was different from previous years. “There were a ton of challenges and many had to step up in new and bigger roles, all the way from the rookies to the coaching staff,” he said. “The way we were able to get together in the end and winning [nationals] felt amazing.”
Payen Boucard took on a leadership role, assuming co-captain position for the 2015-16 men’s basketball season. He was the leading scorer for the Ravens averaging 14.6 points per game. He concluded his final season of eligibility with an OUA Second Team All-Star Award, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Final 8 All-Star Team, and his fifth national championship gold medal.
This year’s Female Athlete of the Year (Ruth Coe Award) went to Carleton Nordic Skiing member, Megan Evans. Evans had an outstanding season, especially after not being able to compete for two years due to a back injury.
“Coming back to the sport after so long brought on a large mix of emotions and at times I was definitely concerned that my back wasn’t ready for the level or hours of training I was wanting to do,” Evans said. “But I just tried to pay close attention to my body and the athletic therapy at Carleton is awesome so that really helped me.”
She was named OUA All-Star after racking up numerous medals over the course of the season, including three OUA silver medals at the OUA Championships, an OUA bronze medal at Canadian College and University Nordic Championships, and two silvers at the same meet. The Nordic Ski Team also won the women’s Nordic Championship title for the first time since 2004.
“I didn’t set myself any goals in terms of race results going into the season because my main goal this year was just to be able to ski again,” she said. “For me, the greatest accomplishments of this year were any races or workouts that were pain-free, and overall, just falling back in love with the sport.”
Brett Welychka may have been a rookie on the Ravens men’s hockey team, but his outstanding season earned him the title of Male Athlete of the Year. His CIS debut saw him with a second-place CIS finish for points with 46 and he led the CIS in assists with 32. Both of these numbers set a modern-era program record. Over the 2015-16 season, Welychka was named to the OUA East All-Rookie Team, OUA East Rookie of the Year, OUA East First Team All-Star, CIS All-Rookie Team, and CIS Rookie of the Year. He also was a contributing factor to the Ravens winning the OUA bronze medal, and returning to the CIS University Cup in Halifax, N.S.
The Pat O’Brien Memorial Award is given to the Coach of the Year, and this year the recipient was men’s basketball head coach Rob Smart. After assuming the head coaching role, Smart led his team to a sixth consecutive CIS Final 8 National Championship. Although the team lost key players from the following season, Smart worked with his returning players, as well as helped develop the new Ravens in order to prepare them for nationals in Vancouver, B.C. Smart was able to build his team so they could capture Carleton’s twelfth CIS men’s basketball championship banner.
“I think one of the things that will stick with me is how important the relationships you build with the members of your team are for your own success,” Payen Boucard said, who finished his last year as a Carleton Ravens basketball player. “By my fifth year I had so many guys reach out to me when I was struggling, or always pushing me to be better. Even the guys that I’ve only known for a year never stopped believing in me for a second. It’s a very unique feeling when you’re about to play a tough game, everything just seems so much easier knowing whose behind you. And those relationships you build here are ones that will last forever.”
