Rugby player Frédérique Rajotte was named Female Athlete of the Year and football player Trenton Miller earned Male Athlete the Year honors at the annual Concordia Stingers gala awards banquet attended by more than 400 people on April 8 at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall in Montreal.
Rajotte, a third-year outside centre, was an RSEQ all-star, the conference’s Most Valuable Player and a CIS all-Canadian in 2015.She was a dominant force in the RSEQ season and at CIS nationals where her team finished in fourth place.
The Markham, Ont. native is respected as a quiet leader, but one the team relies on to move them forward and to score. In the regular season, she led the Stingers in scoring with 12 tries in seven games.
Rajotte is part of the Canadian national team’s talent pool and enjoys success at the international level. She represented Canada in competition versus England as part of Maple Leafs development team in December.
Miller was named the RSEQ all-star quarterback and the RSEQ MVP last fall. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., he joined the Stingers in 2015 and participated in all eight regular season games but only started in the final six games.
He completed 204 of 309 passes for 2384 yards and 20 touchdowns. Miller led the conference in four statistical categories – passing attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns.
His accomplishments are even more impressive when you consider he played high school football in the U.S. Then his university experience took him to Tampa, Fla. and Mars Hill, N.C. When the 21-year-old graduate school student arrived in Quebec last spring, he was dealing with a whole new game - everything from the size of the football to the number of players on the field. It takes an exceptional athlete to make that transition.
Head coach Mickey Donovan elaborates, "Trenton is a special person in the classroom and on the field. I feel he can be the best quarterback to ever come out of CIS football."A complete list of award winners is below:
- Ron Lapointe Award for academics, athletics and community service – Charles Debove, men’s rugby
- Denise Beaudet Award for academics, athletics and community service – Tamara Pinard-Devos, women’s basketball
- Male Rookie of the Year – Yanic Lessard, football
- Laurie Brodrick Award/Female Rookie of the Year – Jade Dufour, wrestling
- Fittest Female Athlete – Samantha Bennett - rugby
- Fittest Male Athlete – Mikaël Charland, football
- Marvin Cooper Award - presented to a student-athlete who has successfully overcome adversity – Saby Dagenais, rugby
- President's Awards (combination of athletics and academics)- Petr Prokopiev, wrestling; Kathleen Browne, cross-country
- Michael Di Grappa Awards of Distinction for career contribution to Stingers – Olivier Hinse, hockey; Linda Morais, wrestling
- Athletic Valedictorians – Youssef Kabbaj, hockey; M.P. Cloutier, hockey
