Last night (June 7), George McDougall recognized its student athletes at the annual Night of the Mustang ceremony.

Athletic director Tim Masse said a highlight of the night from his perspective, was seeing coaches and staff sponsors reconnect with their athletes. Masse explained that since they are educators, they often lose track of their players over the course of the school year once the season has finished.

"It's so great to go back and see what those kids are doing now, if they're playing club, if they're doing stuff outside of the school. Maybe some of the grade twelves are going places to play athletics in post-secondary. We don't necessarily hear that."

Masse said another highlight was watching the athletes accept awards, especially those that weren't expecting to be recognized.

A number of awards were handed out over the course of the evening. Coaches on each team handed out a Heart and Desire Award to a player they believed demonstrated the most heart and desire during the season by showing sportsmanship, coachability and a positive attitude. They also handed out a Most Outstanding Athlete Award to a player based on skill and knowledge of the sport.

George McDougall also hands out Mustang Letters each year. Each sport is given a different point value based on the length of the season, and each student that earns 15 or more points for participating on teams receives a letter. Each year the student has lettered is represented by a stripe, with a student able to earn up to four stripes during their high school career. 

Three major awards were also handed out, with a winner recognized at the Junior Girl, Junior Boy, Senior Girl and Senior Boy level.

The Academic Athlete of the Year Award is given to a student that lettered and maintained the highest academic average as of June 1. At the junior level, Alexandra Tinevez and Ethan Smith received the award, while Taylor Pierce and Hunter Young were recognized at the senior level.

The next award presented was the Justin Jennings Memorial Heart Award, given to athletes who consistently exemplify hard work, dedication and sportsmanship. The junior winners were Jacqueline Avery and Davis Sawby. Emma Stephenson and Cesar Ponce were the senior winners.

The final award of the night was the Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award, to students that displayed the most athletic ability while obtaining letter status. At the senior level, Carter Sawby and Ashley Sutherland were recognized, while Scott Avery and Abby Goertzen were celebrated at the junior level.

Masse had some final thoughts for all the athletes as the high school sports calendar comes to an end for the year.

"First of all, we'd like to thank them for all the time. To be a high school student nowadays, with all the social media you gotta keep up with, your marks and attend practices and everything like that, thank you very much for the time that they've spent," said Masse, before adding a word to any returning athletes. "Listen to your coaches. They've told you, work on this, we need you to be able to do this next year. Take that to heart. Do that and more, and you'll come back stronger and we'll have a better program, a better team, and you'll have a better individual season."

 

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