NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. – Ontario University Athletics is pleased to announce the 2017-18 OUA Honour Award winners, recognizing the very best in the conference on the field of play, on the sidelines, and behind the scenes.

The OUA handed out their year-end hardware on Wednesday night as part of the Honour Awards Banquet in Niagara Falls, Ont., and there was no shortage of talent to celebrate. In particular, two long-time Queen's Athletics staff members were honoured for their achievements.

From a coach who continues to lead her team to the pinnacle to one who is wrapping up a career filled with consistent top-tier results, this year's winner of the John McManus Award – given to a coach who exemplifies the highest ideals of sportsmanship and service while engaged in coaching in a university sport – is Brenda Willis.

For over 30 years, Willis has been dedicated to making the Queen's Gaels men's volleyball program a perennial powerhouse, helping to shape the program, and the game, in Kingston and beyond. She did well to achieve these lofty standards, leading Queen's to the playoffs in 30 of her 31 seasons as head coach, and will retire with a career record of 366-196.

The Gaels captured six OUA titles under Willis' leadership and the decorated coach has been recognized as the OUA Coach of the Year in four different decades, in addition to winning the OUA Female Coach of the Year in 2009-10. In 2007, she was awarded the Rolf Lund Jule Nisse Award, and in 2014, the long-time bench boss was inducted into the Kingston Sports Hall of Fame.

Keeping with the Tricolour, another long-standing staff member is being recognized for her efforts in helping to shape university sport. Janean Sergeant has worked for the Queen's Gaels for 38 years, but her contributions don't stop with the Kingston school, making her a deserving recipient of the J.P. Loosemore Award.
 

Given to an individual who exemplifies the best in university sport in terms of ethics, integrity, and honesty, Sergeant represents all of this and more. She has served as OWIAA President, on the CIAU Board of Directors, and with many additional committees. If that's not enough, Sergeant also chaired the CIS (now U SPORTS) Eligibility Committee and served on the OUA Sport Tech Committee as the High Performance Lead. Capping off her many roles, she also served as the Sport Technical Manager at the 2011 Summer FISU Games in Shenzen, China, truly showcasing that her passion for university sport went well beyond the Kingston community.

Also awarded were the annual OUA CHAMP Awards (Celebrating and Honouring Achievements in Marketing and Promotions). Queen's Athletics was recognized for Best Webcast Production. The Queen's Gaels, in partnership with Station 14, use a combination of video features, replays and graphic overlays to produce a final broadcast that is truly top notch. The pinnacle event from this past year was the Carr-Harris Challenge Cup hockey game between RMC and the Queen's Gaels.

The full list of 2017-18 OUA Honour Award winners is below:
Male Athlete of the Year – Kadre Gray, Laurentian
Female Athlete of the Year – Kylie Masse, Toronto
Male Team of the Year – Football, Western
Female Team of the Year – Basketball, Carleton; Volleyball, Ryerson
Male Coach of the Year – Taffe Charles, Carleton Women's Basketball
Female Coach of the Year – Colette McAuley, Guelph Women's Rugby
John McManus Award – Brenda Willis, Queen's Men's Volleyball
J.P. Loosemore Award – Janean Sergeant, Queen's
Media Member of Distinction – David Grossman