OSHAWA, Ont. – The Ontario Tech athletic department celebrated a record 90 student-athlete academic award winners on Tuesday morning at the Ridgebacks' annual Academic Award Brunch presented by the Office of the Provost.
 
The 90 award winners for the 2021-22 academic year top the total of 80 award winners in 2020-21.
 
"This level of success is a true testament to the level of dedication our student-athletes have to not only their respective sports, but their academics," said Scott Barker, Ontario Tech director of athletics. "Between our students, staff, coaches, advisors and administration on campus, it's a complete team effort to ensure our students have success in the classroom at Ontario Tech. To be able to achieve that, while competing as a varsity student-athlete, is something special."
 
On top of the OUA and U SPORTS recognition, the awards presented include Ontario Tech all-academic awards, top GPA by sport and the prestigious Bob and Sallie Baun Varsity Scholarship.
 
This year, the number of recipients of the Bob and Sallie Baun Varsity Scholarship included six student-athletes. These are presented to a student-athlete returning to full-time studies, with a prior year GPA of 3.7. This student-athlete must be a member in good standing on a varsity team and an engaged member of the athletics community. They must have demonstrated athletic excellence in a high-performance setting while also exhibiting strong leadership qualities.
 
The 2021-22 female recipients included Taylor Ruzgys of the rowing team, Erin Ross of the hockey team and Christina Coroado of the soccer team.
 
On the men's side, Tyson McConnell of the hockey team, Treyton Cowell of the curling team and Jacob Begley of the soccer team were the recipients.
 
Of note, Natalie Bates (dance) and Sara Esongola Biango (women's basketball) had their team's top GPA for the in back-to-back years.
 
AWARDS LIST
BOB AND SALLIE BAUN VARSITY SCHOLARSHIP
Female: Taylor Ruzgys, Erin Ross, Christina Coroado
Male: Tyson McConnell, Treyton Cowell, Jacob Begley
 
U SPORTS ACADEMIC ALL-CANADIANS
Curling
Gavin Hinton
Treyton Cowell
Alexander Cole
Jasmine Groleau
 
Women's Hockey
Natalie Wozney
Kassidy Ford
Mia Rogers
Katie Heath
Blaire Allison
Jamie Bulleid
Erin Ross
Brooklyn Duff
Madeline Schroder
Emily Davis-Tope
Kayla Welk
Zoe McGee
 
Men's Hockey
JC Thivierge
Kari Belec
Tyson McConnell
Andrew Suriyuth
James White
 
Men's Soccer
Jacob Begley
Elijah Lorenc-Clarke
Nathaniel Sadler
Alessandro Prataviera
 
Women's Soccer
Olivia Tierney
Melanie Hoekstra
Ashlynne Koly
Christina Coroado
Leah Storms
Marlene Siwula
Georgia Hogan
Tia Schaffer
 
TOP TEAM GPA WINNERS
Women's Badminton – Hetvi Vaghela
Men's Badminton – Praveen Manickavel
Men's Basketball – Ammar Hassan
Women's Basketball – Sara Esongola Biango
Women's Curling – Jasmine Groleau
Men's Curling – Gavin Hinton
Dance – Natalie Bates & Melinda Geissberger
Golf – Colin Byers
Women's Hockey – Kassidy Ford
Men's Hockey -JC Thivierge
Lacrosse – Kelsey Cluett
Women's Rowing – Taylor Ruzgys
Men's Rowing – Junaid Hasan Mohammed Nijamudeen
Women's Soccer – Christina Coroado
Men's Soccer – Nathaniel Sadler
 
ONTARIO TECH ALL-ACADEMIC AWARDS
Badminton
Kyle Zheng
Alex Cyriac
Shamal Leon Salim
Neel Shah
Praveen Manickavel
Roy Wales
Danish Ahmed
Hetvi Vaghela
 
Men's Basketball
Ammar Hassan
 
Curling
Gavin Hinton
Jeremy Costello
Treyton Cowell
Alexander Cole
Jasmine Groleau
 
Dance
Brianna Chung-Kelly
Katrina McIntosh
Kendra Gowdy
Natalie Bates
Melinda Geissberger
Cassandra Lojko
Anastasia Shillinglaw
 
Golf
Colin Byers
 
Women's Hockey
Natalie Wozney
Kassidy Ford
Mia Rogers
Katie Heath
Blaire Allison
Jamie Bulleid
Brooke Vial
Megan Johnston
Hannah Polonsky
Erin Ross
Brooklyn Duff
Madeline Schroder
Emily Davis-Tope
Kayla Welk
Zoe McGee
 
Men's Hockey
Keaton Holinaty
JC Thivierge
Michael Bullion
Kari Belec
Matthieu Gomercic
Tyson McConnell
Andrew Suriyuth
James White
 
Lacrosse
Brooke Watson
Brooklyn Parlane
Victoria Uchida
Amanda Di Mascio
Caitlyn Cote
Tanner Gustavsen-Walker
Kelsey Cluett
Victoria Solti
Samantha Blair
Sydney Wisniewski
 
Rowing
Taylor Ruzgys
Kierstyn Hawke
Emmeline Meens Miller
Manasee Vyas
Cristina Chung
Charlotte Burgess
Jessica Leishman
Maira Shaath
Lauren Mata
Thomas Sullivan
Junaid Hasan Mohammed Nijamudeen
 
Men's Soccer
Jordan Melo
Quintyn Walcott
Mateo Marques
Jacob Begley
Elijah Lorenc-Clarke
Brolin Masuhara
Nathaniel Sadler
Alessandro Prataviera
Matthew Mattila
Luciano Nania
 
Women's Soccer
Olivia Tierney
Michele Dell'Aquila
Melanie Hoekstra
Ashlynne Koly
Caylin Gracie
Kyah Wildman
Katrina Pappas
Christina Coroado
Leah Storms
Marlene Siwula
Stephanie Viviano
Priscilla Voulgaris
Georgia Hogan
Tia Schaffer