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Multi-sport athlete from Sanford can take leading woman honours

Multi-sport athlete from Sanford can take leading woman honours

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It was a 48-hour whirlwind for Gwen Bestland.

The 17-year-aged graduated from Sanford Collegiate on Monday and imagined she was likely for lunch with her mother and father to rejoice on Wednesday.

That was right until they built a pit halt at downtown’s Activity Manitoba, where by a host of other secondary-college athletes and their households from throughout the province were collected for the 2022 Manitoba Large Schools Athletic Affiliation (MHSAA) Athlete of the Calendar year ceremony.

Bestland, astonished at the banquet by her hockey coach and two teammates, was a nominee for the award from the “AAA” women class but had been stored in the dark about her nomination by her loved ones and pals.

Times later, the Sanford teenager approved the trophy as winner of the MHSAA Woman Athlete of the Year.

“I was definitely perplexed. I felt underprepared,” Bestland explained even though laughing.

Bestland’s resume speaks for itself.

A standout in 7 sports activities, she captained the Sanford Sabres’ hockey group en route to a Winnipeg Women’s Higher Faculty Hockey League championship and all-star honours, gained at provincials for varsity women A-AAA cross region, was a match all-star in basketball and aggregate winner in Zone 4 in badminton.

All whilst holding a 95 for each cent academic ordinary.

She was also named varsity girls Athlete of the Yr at Sanford Collegiate and a bronze medal Scholar Athlete Award winner.

Inspite of a myriad of own awards now stacking her trophy case, Bestland stated her fondest memory this calendar year arrived on the ice with her teammates, profitable the WWHSHL championship.

“That was a definitely massive deal simply because we had under no circumstances received that prior to,” the centre claimed. “All the girls on my workforce had been great and really hard performing.”

The Sabres hockey workforce returned just four players this season, all in grade 12, although the remainder of the crew was in grade 9, Bestland defined.

“It was sort of a weird dynamic on the crew but absolutely everyone labored definitely tough.”

Bestland wore a grin while pondering about what has stored her coming back to sports activities her complete existence, especially hockey, which she’s performed considering that she was five.

“The competitiveness, for positive. I appreciate level of competition and also teammates. I’m a team activity participant, so the staff dynamic is a thing that keeps me coming back.”

Sporting activities will to keep on be a major element of Bestland’s life as she prepares for her upcoming chapter.

The new graduate is off to Alberta in the slide to go after a bachelor of nursing diploma and is adamant about discovering a rec league to preserve her involved in activity.

“My 12 months, I’m just so glad it took place, and that I received to enjoy my sports activities once again. It is these types of a large part of my daily life. It was tremendous hectic, but I appreciate it.”

This year’s MHSAA Athlete of the 12 months Award ceremony served as a monumental second for substantial college athletics in Manitoba.

Wednesday’s ceremony ended a two-yr hiatus for the function, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, that kept the awards in storage whilst secondary university athletics ended up cancelled.

Chad Falk, executive director for MHSAA explained presenting the awards all over again was “an unbelievable moment.”

“It was superb to get back. This is just one of my favorite functions of the year,” he claimed.

“All the distinct sporting activities they participate in, their achievements are through the roof, their educational averages are sky-large. They are all remarkable college students, amazing athletes and it was just definitely excellent to have them all back below in particular person yet again.”

Sam Ludwig, like Bestland, was now owning a week value celebrating prior to Wednesday’s party.

Ludwig graduated from Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Tuesday afternoon.

Just about 24 hrs afterwards, he was introduced as the winner of the higher faculty Male Athlete of the 12 months.

“I was not genuinely confident if I was going to get due to the fact I heard all the other bits about the other (nominees) and they all excelled in a lot of diverse sports activities. To gain is really wonderful. I’m really blessed.”

A 4-sport athlete, Ludwig observed achievements in school and club sports activities this calendar year, winning bronze at provincials in cross place, a nationwide championship as a member of the Junior Bisons volleyball club and was ranked as the leading male scholar-athlete for volleyball in Manitoba.

He managed a 93 per cent educational typical in the method.

But the 17-12 months-old’s most unforgettable minute arrived in the MHSAA AAAA provincial championship, when his school capped off an undefeated year, finishing 31-. It was just the 2nd time Westgate Mennonite Collegiate experienced gained a AAAA provincial championship in volleyball.

“I mean, that was just brilliant. We only had 9 players on our crew and you will need 7 men to enjoy game titles, so it was just mad. Awesome season.”

Ludwig explained he will emphasis on volleyball in the future, a activity he’s performed considering the fact that he was 13.

The son of two countrywide-amount volleyball gamers, his dad, Lupo, represented Germany and his mom Canada at the heights of their respective occupations.

A coach’s son by way of and through, Ludwig will be coached by his dad, for the initially time in his daily life, up coming 12 months at the U of M.

Ludwig claimed he aspires to play expert volleyball soon after university and eventually characterize Canada like his mom as soon as did.

The teenager stated the target in his senior year of large university was to acquire advantage of his final year and play as a great deal as he could.

“The past calendar year, it’s likely been the finest yr of my existence.”

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Twitter: @jfreysam

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