A pair of Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation student-athletes were honoured on Monday night, Golden Bears sprinter Austin Cole (BKin), and Pandas hockey forward Alex Poznikoff (BARST) were named the 2019 UAlberta Athletes of the Year.
Cole, in his third season with the Golden Bears Track team, was awarded the Wilson Challenge Trophy as the 2018/19 Male Athlete of the Year, while Poznikoff earned the Bakewell Trophy as the Female Athlete of the Year.
Cole earned three Canada West gold medals and three total U SPORTS medals in 2018/19, and was named both the Canada West and U SPORTS Male Track Athlete of the Year. He earned Canada West golds in the 300 metre dash, and the 4x200m and 4x400m relays, while breaking the conference record in the 300m dash.
He also set a new U SPORTS record in the 300m's at the national tournament with a time of 32.89, which is also a U23 Canadian record, and the fastest 300m time in the world in 2019. Cole is the first Bears Track athlete since Murray Heber in 2001 to win the Wilson Challenge Trophy.
Poznikoff lead the Pandas hockey team to their record 13th Canada West Championship in March, and was named both the Canada West and U SPORTS Player of the Year.
Her 37 points in 27 games set a new career-high for the fourth-year forward, and was the highest point total in the nation this season. This is the ninth time a Pandas Hockey player has earned the Bakewell Trophy, and the second time in three years (Lindsey Post - 2017).