Bison Sports hands out year-end hardware
Yestrau, Saurette, Pischke win major awards
Bison Sports held their annual Brown and Gold banquet to mark the passing of another season, and announced three major award winners, along with MVPs from each team.
Female Athlete of the Year Landice Yestrau (Swimming)
Yestrau is the third Bison rookie ever and the first in 22 years to be named as the Female Athlete of the Year, and she amassed an exceptional list of accomplishments in her first year with the herd.
Yestrau won a bronze medal in the 50-metre backstroke at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships this year, and she also took home an impressive five medals from the Canada West Championships (gold in the 50m backstroke, on top three silver medals, and one bronze in a relay event).
Beyond the realm of CIS competition, Yestrau earned a berth on Canada’s Commonwealth Games team and swam in her first major international competition as a senior athlete.She put up two personal best times in the 50m and 100m backstroke, finishing sixth in the 50m backstroke final.
On top of that, she was named as the Swim Manitoba Outstanding Female Swimmer of the Year award for
2005, and she set five new Bison swim records over the season (three in individual events: the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke, and two in relays).
Male Athlete of the Year Kevin Saurette (Hockey)
Saurette completed his Bison career with an outstanding fifth season in 2005-06. He led the Bisons in regular season conference scoring with 36 points (10g, 26a), despite missing two games at the beginning of the season due to injury.
Saurette, co-captain of the Bison squad this year, was named as a Canada West Second Team All-Star for the second consecutive season, and was also recognized as the CIS-VIA Rail Male Athlete of the Week and Canada West Male Athlete of the Week in early October.
Saurette received the Mike Ridley Award — for superior athletic ability, good academic standing and a high level of leadership as a full-time student — for a second consecutive season this year as well.
In early April, Saurette played his first game with the East Coast Hockey League’s Reading Royals (an affiliate team to the Los Angeles Kings), after finishing his Bison career with 206 points (75g, 131a) in 191 games, which ties him for seventh place on the all-time Bison scoring leaders’ list.
Coach of the Year Garth Pischke (Volleyball)
Bison men’s volleyball head coach Garth Pischke was recognized as the Bison Sports Coach of the Year for the first time in the brief three-year history of the award. Pischke, who possesses a tremendous list of accomplishments as both an athlete and a coach, guided his team to its second-straight bronze medal finish at the CIS Championships.
Pischke, a former Olympian and national team head coach, has led a Bison team to 25 CIS Championship appearances in the last 26 years as head coach, winning nine gold medals, nine silver and four bronze. At this year’s championships, held at McMaster University, the CIS recognized his accomplishments with a special plaque.
