By Canadian Press

Kadre Gray, Marie-Alex Belanger named U Sports athletes of the year

Jun 4, 2018 | 10:15 PM

VANCOUVER — Kadre Gray likes setting the bar high.

He didn’t let growing up in a poor Toronto neighbourhood prevent him from getting a scholarship to attend university. In his first season playing basketball for the Laurentian Voyageurs he was named U Sports rookie of the year.

Gray raised the bar again this year, resulting in him receiving the Doug Mitchell Trophy Monday night as the U Sports male athlete of the year at the 2018 U Sports BLG Awards.

“You set the bar high,” said Gray, who led the country in assists (141), while being second in total points (488), points per game (24.4) and free throws made (140). “If you set the bar super high and you fall a little short, you still have done a lot.

“I enjoyed seeing what I’ve done in the past years and trying to top that and be better than I was. Every summer I work on my game and try to become a better person overall. It has been a great challenge and I enjoy it.”

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For Montreal Carabins volleyball veteran Marie-Alex Belanger, receiving the Jim Thompson Trophy presented to the best female U Sport athlete was bittersweet.

Playing in her final year of eligibility, Belanger’s team was one of the favourites to win the Canadian university women’s volleyball championships. Instead, they were upset by the Alberta Pandas in the quarterfinals.

“I ended on a really bad note at the nationals,” said the Joliette, Que., native who led the nation with 3.98 kills per set, the fourth time she has recorded the top average in five seasons. “It was hard to turn the page.”

Belanger, who was named U Sports women’s volleyball player of the year, is a member of Canada’s national volleyball team and is now focused on trying to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Being named athlete of the year is still special for Belanger, it just wasn’t the same as celebrating a national championship with her teammates.

“This is for me and my teammates,” said the public relations major. “It’s good to have it (the trophy) and I’m really proud of what I did.

“To be honest my main goal was to win the nationals with my team. This couldn’t’ replace what I couldn’t have.”

In Gray’s acceptance speech, he sent words of encouragement to all kids growing up in “priority neighbourhoods.”

“I didn’t grow up in a rich neighbourhood or anything,” he said. “A lot of kids like me don’t get a chance to go to university. It’s considered ridiculous what I am doing.

“I just want to show all the little kids in my neighbourhood and any neighbourhood in general, there is an opportunity. But you have to work hard, and you have to have faith. Anything is possible.”

The BLG Awards were established in 1993 by U Sports and the national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP to recognize the top male and female athletes from U Sports-affiliated universities. One male and female nominee was chosen to represent each of the four conferences: Canada West (CW), Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) and Atlantic University Sport (AUS). All finalists receive a commemorative gold ring.

Also, honoured were University of Toronto swimming coach Byron MacDonald, reporter Jason Hills, and long-time University of Regina athletic director Dick White.

MacDonald, the head coach at the Toronto Varsity Blues swimming program since 1978-79 received the Jean-Marie De Koninck Coaching Excellence Award.

Hills, who works for Post Media in Edmonton, received the Fred Sgambati Media Award presented to a member of the media in recognition of major contributions to the development and growth of Canadian university sport.

White, who recently announced his retirement after 20 years as the University of Regina’s director of athletics, received the Austin-Matthews Award, given to the person who has made an outstanding contribution to interuniversity sport.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press

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