There were old sporting war stories mixed with more recent tales. The past met the present Wednesday night at the annual University of Victoria awards banquet and Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Victoria Conference Centre.
Two-time Olympian Carol Turney-Loos, perhaps the greatest women鈥檚 basketball player to play at UVic and one of the best ever in sa国际传媒, was enshrined in the UVic Class of 2017 along with another hoops great, Spencer McKay, and former Vikes running star Ulla Hansen. All three were internationals. The Class is the 15th to be enshrined by UVic.
鈥淐arol Turney-Loos is without question the best [female] basketball player to play at UVic,鈥� said former Vikes men鈥檚 basketball coach Ken Shields. 鈥淪he made plays other players couldn鈥檛 make.鈥�
The present was represented by 2016-17 UVic female and male athletes of the year Julia Folk and Eric Hedlin. Both are already internationals. The third-year bio-psychology major Folk has been capped eight times with the Canadian XVs rugby team. Hedlin won the 5K open-water swimming silver medal at the 2013 FINA world aquatics championships.
Hedlin this season broke two-time Olympic-medallist Ryan Cochrane鈥檚 UVic record in winning sa国际传媒 West and U Sports gold in the 400-metre freestyle and added another conference and U Sports gold medal in the 1,500 freestyle.
The tenacious Folk led UVic to its first U Sports national women鈥檚 sevens title and was a sa国际传媒 West first-team all-star and second-team U Sports selection in XVs.
Cole Peterson made an impact in class, as a masters degree student in computer engineering, as well as on the track and cross-country trails. The sa国际传媒 West track athlete of the year, and winner of two gold medals at the U Sports national championships, was named winner of the President鈥檚 Cup for the UVic athlete best combining academic and athletic achievement. His running career now moves on to the Athletics sa国际传媒 western training hub based at PISE.
鈥淐ole battled through setbacks and injuries and was in the background, with a lot of silver medals in his previous four seasons, but he put it all together in his fifth year,鈥� said Vikes track and cross-country coach Brent Fougner.
The UVic male rookie of the year is basketball鈥檚 Scott Kellum, who was also the sa国际传媒 West top rookie. The point-guard from Washington state displayed an emerging court cunning and electric flashes this season and gave Vikes fans hope for the future. Emily Wong from field hockey was named best UVic female rookie.
Lindsay Cole from field hockey and Emily Lieuwen from women鈥檚 soccer are co-winners of the Provost Award for the Vikes varsity athletes with the highest GPA. Both graded at 8.8 on UVic鈥檚 nine-point system.
Annie Walters-Shumka, a standout defender on the Vikes field-hockey team, won the Chancellor鈥檚 Award for leadership and community service. Vikes photographer Armando Tura was presented the sa国际传媒 Publishers Award for contributions made to UVic sports from members of the community.
Meanwhile, enshrined Hall of Famer Turney-Loos played for sa国际传媒 at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and led sa国际传媒 to the bronze medal at the 1979 world women鈥檚 basketball championships. But she was denied the chance for a medal at the 1980 Olympics due to the boycott of the Moscow Games.
Turney-Loos led the Vikes to the Canadian university championships in both her overpowering seasons at UVic, being named national MVP in taking the Vikes to the Canadian title in 1980. Including two earlier seasons at UBC, she is the all-time points-per-game scoring leader in sa国际传媒 West history with a 21.1 average and is third all-time in field goals made with 649.
With his varied skill set, there wasn鈥檛 much McKay couldn鈥檛 do around the basket. He was a five-time sa国际传媒 West all-star, joining two-time Olympian Eli Pasquale as the only Vikes to accomplish that. McKay was also three times all-Canadian and is the all-time UVic men鈥檚 basketball scoring leader with 1,657 career points and is 10th all-time in sa国际传媒 West. McKay represented sa国际传媒 at the Pan Am Games, World University Games and FIBA world championships.
鈥淪pencer was a good all-round player with good interior fundamentals, plus he could shoot,鈥� said Ken Shields, who coached McKay at UVic.
Hansen, formerly, Ulla Marquette, was know for his versatility on tracks, roads and trails around the world.
Hansen captured five individual CIAU (now U Sports) national medals with UVic and two CIAU relay golds between cross country and track. Her international career culminated in the hometown 1994 Commonwealth Games. Hansen represented sa国际传媒 18 times internationally in track, cross-country and road racing and was a three-time champion and nine-time medallist at the Canadian track and field championships. Hansen was also the three-time Canadian 10K women鈥檚 road race champion.
