NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY - Medicine Hat libero Shaya Suchy comes up with a dig against Ambrose University Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 at Medicine Hat College. She was named co-recipient of the Rattlers female athlete of the year, along with Morgan Muir of the basketball program.
The Medicine Hat College Rattlers wrapped up their annual awards announcements with female and male athletes of the year this week, and the winners were hard to argue with.
On the women’s side, fellow outgoing fifth-years Shaya Suchy and Morgan Muir split the honour.
For the men, all-Canadian Kieron Burgess was the clear choice.
Suchy set records in her final volleyball season with the Rattlers, winding up with 1,469 digs as a libero. That surpassed the old Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference mark of 1,244 by Briercrest’s Brooke Peterson, and it wasn’t as though Suchy struggled to get there. She led the ACAC with 408 digs in her last season, leading her team into hosting duties at the conference tournament.
Muir similarly had a fantastic finish. The defensive stalwart of the basketball team was asked to step up offensively, going from an assists leader to 11th in the conference in scoring with 14.8 per game. She still netted 3.8 steals per game (second in the conference) and was eighth in assists with 4.1 per game. Medicine Hat went 2-1 at conference finals on home court, good for fifth after a challenging regular season marked by injury woes.
Burgess continued to lead a rebuilding basketball team that didn’t make playoffs but looked to the Bermuda native often. He led the ACAC with 12.5 rebounds per game, was seventh with 19.8 points per game and played 33 minutes a night. Second in steals, fifth in blocks, the second-year forward was dominant even with teams focusing on him nightly.
Other nominees for the female athlete of the year award were Kaylei Hole and Jadyn Fode from soccer, Amber Stigter from volleyball and Katelyn Rozdeba from basketball.
On the men’s side, soccer’s Abdou Raouf Mohamed and volleyball’s Dexter Mackie were nominated.
With the pandemic preventing a traditional awards banquet, the Rattlers spaced out their awards nightly starting on April 6.
