Sica, Desjardins and Nagnonhou Earn Top Honours at 52nd Awards Banquet

Posted: Apr 08, 2022

Sica, Desjardins and Nagnonhou Earn Top Honours at 52^nd Awards Banquet

Welland, ON – The tradition of celebrating Niagara College athletic excellence returned to an in-person format at the college Friday night with the 52^nd Annual Knights Awards banquet.

With three OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association) medals, 2 CCAA (Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association) All-Canadians, and two OCAA Coach of the Year recipients, it's safe to say the Niagara College Department of Athletics and Recreation had plenty to celebrate Friday night.

The Niagara Knights celebrated the 52nd edition of their annual athletic awards banquet in an evening spent recognizing the achievements of student-athletes and coaches. A total of 66 individual awards were handed out over the course of the night-a perfect way to end a strange OCAA season with the return of an in-person celebration.

The evening's top honours saw two recipients take home the Knights Female Athlete of the Year trophy, with both Natasha Desjardins and Sydney Sica having outstanding individual seasons.

Desjardins, who also took home the Knights Female Top Scholastic Award and Women's Volleyball MVP, converted to a two-sport athlete this season suiting up for the Knights soccer squad in the fall before returning to volleyball in January. Desjardins earned many accolades in her fourth season with the blue and white, including OCAA West Region 1^st Team All-Star, West Co-Scoring Champion, West Player of the Year, OCAA Player of the Year, All-Canadian and nominee for CCAA Player of the Year. The win marks Desjardins' second career Knights Felame Athlete of the Year after being named in 2020-2021.

Sica also earned herself a number of accolades in the fall including; OCAA Women's Soccer Player of the Year and South Division All-Star recognition. Sica also co-led the team in goals with 9 of the Knights 22 goals scored this season and helped co-captain the team to a 6-0 record. Her outstanding season led her to become an CCAA-All Canadian, and a nominee for the CCAA Player of the Year. Sica came to the Knights after competing for Brock University for three seasons.

Men's soccer co-captain, Joseph Nagnonhou, captured the Knights Male Athlete of the Year award along with the men's soccer MVP. Nagnonhou, a native of Cameroon, starred in his second season with the blue and white and was the booming voice of the Knights back line. Nagnonhou was unable to be present at the Knights awards banquet after seeing his hard work pay off during his time in Canada, earning himself a ticket to the Pacific FC of the Canadian men's premier league combine camp. An impressive feat for Nagnonhou, who, up until he joined the Knights in 2019, had never played a game of organized soccer.

Taking home this year's top Female and Male Leadership awards were men's basketball's team captain, Rahim Bardi and women's curler, Emma Hill. Hill was a part of the Knights women's curling team that captured silver at the OCAA Championships.

Top Female Rookie of the Year went to women's soccer's, McKenna Jackson. Jackson had an outstanding rookie year for the blue and white in her first OCAA season. Her consistent play earned her the OCAA South division Rookie of the Year award as well as the OCAA South Division Defensive Player of the Year award. Jackson was a solid contributor to the Knights D line and was a key reason why the Knights finished with just two goals against all season and earned herself OCAA South Division All-Star recognition. Jackson also suited up for the Knights women's basketball team, earning an OCAA bronze medal.

Men's basketball guard Reggie Williams picked up Knights Male Rookie of the Year with his incredible freshman season. Williams earned a spot on the OCAA West Division All-Rookie team and averaged 15.7 PPG and had an impressive 31-37 FT stat.

Bringing home the Knights Male Tournament Sport Player of the Year hardware was men's curler Kyle Henry who helped guide the Knights men's curling team to an OCAA bronze, and earned OCAA First-Team All-Star recognition. Alexa DeRochers earned the Female Tournament Player of the Year after helping her team to OCAA silver and earned an OCAA First-Team All-Star spot.

The Knights also recognized 11 CCAA Academic All-Canadians- the most prestigious student-athlete award that epitomizes the CCAA mandate of recognizing excellence in academics and athletics. To achieve this honour, a student-athlete must be named to his/her respective member conference All-star teams in a CCAA sport and achieve honours at their respective institution.

For a full list of the night's winners, please see below:

Full list of 2021-2022 award recipients:

Luciano Berardocco Memorial Award: Kelsie Student, Knights Athletic Therapist

Ralph Nero Award: Christopher Rao, Head coach, women's basketball

Athlete of Distinction:

Rahim Bardi Men's Basketball

Melissa Borowski Women's Curling

Katelyn Mix Women's Soccer

Sydney Sica Women's Soccer

Madelyn Berg Women's Volleyball

Terin Hultink Women's Basketball/Soccer

Fourth Year Recognition Award:

Natasha Desjardins Women's Volleyball

Noah DiEgidio Men's Soccer

*OCAA All-Academic Award:

Men's Soccer - Noah DiEgidio, Joel Marinas, Jeremy Petrusma, Simon Silverio

Women's Soccer -Ashley Altamirano, Alyssa Arcand, Natasha Desjardins,Sidney Gawel, Rylan Greatrix, Mckenna Jackson Rachel Looby, Victoria Maciel, Katelyn Mix

Sierra Naccarato, Sydney Sica, Avery Trask

*For all other sports, the OCAA will recognize those athletes for their academic excellence at the end of the school year.

CCAA Academic All-Canadians:

Women's Soccer - Alyssa Arcand, Ashley Altamirano, Sydney Sica and McKenna Jackson

Women's Volleyball - Natasha Desjardins

Women's Basketball Janee Harrison

Men's Curling – Adam Rolson, Kyle Henry, Nathan Lohnes

Women's Curling – Emma Hill, Melissa Borowski

CCAA All-Canadians:

Women's Volleyball - Natasha Desjardins

Women's Soccer- Sydney Sica

Team MVP Awards: