Athletes cap a great year

By John Austen

Call it icing on the cake. Basketball player Phil Langlois and hockey player Cecilia Anderson were named the Concordia Athletes of the Year at a gala awards dinner attended by more than 300 people earlier this month.

Anderson actually was forced to miss the awards dinner, but she had a good reason. Concordia's all-Canadian goaltender was busy winning a bronze medal as a member of Team Sweden at the 2005 Women's World Hockey Championship held in Linkoping, Sweden from April 2 to 9.

Anderson dressed for all five of her team's games and played in three, accumulating 91 minutes of playing time. She gave up five goals and posted a 3.31 goals-against average.

Sweden posted a 2-1 record in the preliminary round. In the playoff round, Sweden lost its semifinal game to the U.S. and then beat Finland 5-2 to win a bronze medal at the tournament.

Anderson tuned up for her debut on the world stage by leading the Stingers to first place in the Quebec women's hockey league and a berth in the university championship. She was named a secondteam all-Canadian, the Quebec conference MVP, a Quebec all-star and her team MVP. She was presented with the Sally Kemp Award by Vice-President Services Michael Di Grappa.

Langlois, a senior guard, had an exemplary career as a Stinger. The team captain led Concordia to a silver medal at the national championship and to their first Quebec title in five years.

"Winning the Quebec title as great but we fell one game short at the Nationals," Langlois said. "That really would have been the perfect way to end the season."

Langlois was named a first team all-Canadian, only the third Stinger in 30 years to make the first team. He was the QSSF MVP and was a Quebec all-star for the fourth time in four years. He was also among the national leaders in several categories, including assists, steals and free throw shooting. He was given the Dr. Robert J. Brodrick Award by Di Grappa. Here are all the major awards:

Ron Lapointe Award for academics, athletics and community service: George Vouloumanos, men's rugby

Denise Beaudet Award for academics, athletics and community service: M.J. Raposo, women's basketball

Male Rookie of the Year: Tim Wadsworth, wrestling

Laurie Brodrick Award/Female Athlete of the Year: Sandy Roy, hockey

Fittest Female Athlete: Marie-Pier Cantin-Drouin, hockey

Fittest Male Athlete: Mickey Donovan, football

Awards of Distinction in recognition of outstanding career: Kelly Sudia, women's hockey, and François Bastien, men's soccer

Marvin Cooper Award, presented to a student athlete who has overcome adversity through hard work, commitment and dedication: Kesner Coridon, football

Academic Excellence Awards (top GPA): Michael Wong, ski team; Andrea Dolan, women's hockey

President's Award (combination of athletics and academics): Tyler Marghetis, wrestling

Concordia-McGill Media Award: Serge Vleminckx, Journal de Montréal