Despite her impressive resumé, Telaina Snider wasn’t overly confident that she’d be the recipient of one of big prizes at the conclusion of Wednesday’s Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School senior athletics award dinner.
“There was a lot of strong athletes, and I also fractured my foot this year so I wasn’t able to do as many sports as I was hoping. But it’s an honour to receive this award,” said Snider, after being feted as the school’s female athlete of the year.
Despite the foot injury, Snider was far from inactive during her Grade 12 year, as she participated — and mostly excelled — in volleyball, basketball, track and field and tennis. She received the Raider award for basketball and was the most valuable player on the volleyball squad.
Meanwhile, Grade 12 students Daniel Grenier and Nathan Zilinski were named co-winners of the senior male athlete of the year award, Kelsie Smale and Brian Grenier received the Grade 9 female and male awards, and Melissa McLellan was honoured with the Curtis McKee Memorial Award.
Snider, who will suit up with the volleyball Queens while pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree starting in September at RDC, leaves Lindsay Thurber with some fond memories.
“In Grade 10 I was second in triple jump at provincials and the volleyball season this year was also special,” she said. “All my years of high school were amazing. I couldn’t have asked for better coaches. The coaching here is unreal, incredible. They’re so encouraging and every practice is so fun to go to because we’re just a family.”
Grenier and Zilinski shared the senior male athlete of the year honours after competing in a total of five sports. Grenier was the recipient of the Raider award for both basketball and volleyball and also participated in track, while Zilinski was the MVP for volleyball and team handball and won the Raider award for curling.
“I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” said Grenier, on sharing the award with Zilinski. “Nathan and I have been going back and forth since Grade 9, and having us both win it at the end . . . I couldn’t picture any better way to go out. We’re great buds.”
Zilinski concurred.
“I thought it was fitting. He’s been such a good friend and a good teammate for a lot of years,” said Zilinski. “Winning it with Daniel was a bit of a surprise, it’s been a long time I think since they’ve done that here. But I knew that Daniel was definitely a worthy candidate, as were the other four finalists.”
Grenier’s first Lindsay Thurber memory of note revolved around his involvement with the Grade 9 basketball team.
“Coach (Steve) Latta took a group of tall boys and won (the Central West Alberta Junior Athletic Association title) that year. That was my first experience with winning with a team,” said Grenier. “Coach Latta retired that year but stayed on to coach us for the second half of the season. It was something special . . . we were able to bring him one last banner.”
Grenier, who will play with the RDC volleyball Kings in the fall while studying kinesiology, also cited Lindsay Thurber hosting the volleyball provincials last fall as a highlight of his high school years.
Zilinski will begin studying agriculture at the University of Alberta this fall and also hopes to play for the provincial under-21 handball team while living in Edmonton.
He earned a silver medal in the provincial high school curling championship at Lloydminster in March. He tossed lead rocks for a Lindsay Thurber foursome consisting also of Ben McLavish, Wilson Lougheed and skip Steven Hood.
“I just picked up the sport in high school,” said Zilinski.
“We had a strong team with a couple of competitive curlers. It turned out to be my most successful sport of the year.”
Being part of the provincial host volleyball and team handball squads were also personal highlights.
“Overall, I’ll always appreciate the coaches here and all the other athletes,” said Zilinski. “I’ve had a lot of great times with them and I’m very proud to be receiving this award among all the other athletes I’ve worked with over the years.”
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com