Last week, Hunting Hills High School honoured some of the top achievements of their athletes at its annual athletic banquet.
Among the top performers recognized were Dolan Hills as the Male Athlete of the Year and Keanna Richards as the Female Athlete of the Year.
Hills was a standout on the Lightning football team, winning the team MVP award, as well as the league and zone honour. He also played senior men’s basketball and on the handball team.
The six-foot-five, 205-pound linebacker for the Lighting committed to the University of Manitoba and will play for the Bisons on a football scholarship next season.
Other nominees included for the award were Kyle Rix, Joel DeMale, Will Cebuliak and Pierce Shybunka.
Keanna Richards collected a pair of team MVP awards on route to the Athlete of the Year award win. She was the Senior Basketball MVP as well as the Handball MVP.
She also excelled on the track, winning bronze in the 4X400m mixed relay at the Alberta Schools Athletic Association Track and Field Provincials. Richards combined with Levi Osterwalder, Christina Oladele and Cody Bell to win the bronze in a time of 4:06.84, nine seconds faster than fourth place at the event in Calgary earlier this month.
Richards was 12th in senior women’s long jump at provincials and was 40th overall in the senior women’s aggregate. She also ran cross country this year.
At the zone championships, Richards was first in the 80m hurdles and second in long jump.
Other nominees included for the Female Athlete of the Year were Melana Fisher, Sydney Larsen, Mataya Rideout and Shianna Duda.
On the junior side, Owen Curtis was the Grade 9 Male Athlete of the Year and Paige Roslinsky won the honour as the Female Athlete of the Year.
The Lightning top academic athlete was Shianna Duda, who was the cross-country running MVP, Junior Girls basketball MVP and also played badminton, senior volleyball and tennis.
Blake Hopkins picked up the Andre Sather Memorial Award which is given to an athlete who represents the self, family and school with pride and dignity.
Brayanna Lukawiecki and Sean Opiniano were selected as the Ross Towers Award winners. They combined a love of basketball and commitment to the Lightning basketball program.