News Release: Children, Seniors and Social Development
June 26, 2019
Premier Ball Presents Awards to Province’s Top Athletes
Today, the Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, recognized 125 of the province’s top athletes at the 15th Annual Premier’s Athletic Awards ceremony in St. John’s.
The Premier’s Athletic Awards program recognizes athletic excellence and provides financial support to help offset the costs of training and competition. Ranging from $500 to $1500, grants are awarded based on the athletes’ respective accomplishments and their level of competition.
The Team Gushue Awards were also presented today, which are in honour of Team Gushue’s gold medal win at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Valued at $5000 each, the awards are presented annually to one male and one female who excel both athletically and academically. The winners of this year’s awards are Noah Cumby of St. John’s (swimming) and Maggie Connors of St. John’s (hockey).
Noah Cumby is currently enrolled at Texas Christian University where he finished his first semester with a 3.4 grade point average. He was named Swim Newfoundland and Labrador 2018 Male Swimmer of the Year after setting six provincial swimming records, and was also named team rookie of the year after his freshman year at university.
Maggie Connors recently completed her first year at Princeton University after graduating from Shattuck-St. Mary’s high school in Minnesota with a 3.9 grade point average. In January 2018, she won a bronze medal as a member of Team Canada at the Under 18 World Hockey Championships in Russia. She followed that up by competing with the Canadian National Development Team in a series of games against the United States that were held in Calgary last August. In fall 2018, Ms. Connors started her NCAA hockey career at Princeton University and enjoyed a fantastic freshman season, finishing second in team scoring and was named to the conference all-rookie team.
For a complete list of 2019 Premier’s Athletic Awards recipients, please see the backgrounder below.
“What a privilege it is to have the opportunity to recognize and award some of the top athletes from our province with the 2019 Premier’s Athletic Awards. I wish this year’s award recipients every success in the future. Your accomplishments are considerable and you serve as fine role models for all Newfoundland and Labrador athletes.”
Honourable Dwight Ball
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
“I want to extend my sincere congratulations to the winners of this year’s athletic awards. You are a true inspiration to us all and we commend you for your hard work, determination and commitment to your sport. It is a focus of our government to increase physical activity and to improve healthy living, and our province’s athletes are prime examples of what can be achieved when we focus on staying active and eating healthy.”
Honourable Lisa Dempster
Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development
2018 Premier’s Athletic Awards and Team Gushue Recipients
Sports: Names (Hometowns)
Alpine
Andrew Payne (Corner Brook)
Artistic Swimming
Mayah Knott (St. John’s)
Athletics
Camryn Bonia (St. John’s)
Nicole Chan (St. John’s)
Julia Howley (St. John’s)
Michael Johnson (Paradise)
Eric Knight (St. John’s)
Evan Knight (St. John’s)
Shae LeDevehat (Mount Pearl)
Levi Moulton (Paradise)
Baseball
Shilo Chislett (Kippens)
Madelyn Healy (St. John’s)
Jaida Lee (St. John’s)
Kayla Musseau (St. John’s)
Zachary Reid (Mount Pearl)
Basketball
Danielle Arbour (Goulds)
Nathan Barker (Massey Drive)
Miguel Bunleon (Paradise)
Maria Carroll (St. John’s)
Caroline Jardine (St. John’s)
Cole Long (St. John’s)
Haille Nickerson (St. John’s)
Matthew Pennell (St. John’s)
Emma Power (Goulds)
Boris Ristanovic (St. John’s)
Arpandeep Singh (St. John’s)
Caleb Sooley (Mount Pearl)
Bowling
Amy Harris (Paradise)
Brooke King (Paradise)
Courtney Lucas (St. John’s)
John McDonald (St. John’s)
Cross Country Skiing
Skyler May (Humber Village)
Curling
Daniel Bruce (Corner Brook)
Mackenzie Glynn (Paradise)
Ryan McNeil-Lamswood (Stephenville)
Nathan Young (Torbay)
Cycling
Ian Coxon (Gander)
Diving
Cassandra Blackmore (Torbay)
Golf
Andrew Bruce (Corner Brook)
Taylor Cormier (Corner Brook)
Gymnastics
Michael Drover (St. John’s)
Zachary Gosse (Conception Bay South)
Lauren Mills (Paradise)
Allison Moore (Mount Pearl)
Nadia Simpson (St. John’s)
Megan Skinner (St. John’s)
Handball
Leslie Claire Amminson (St. John’s)
Rahul Asokan (St. John’s)
Alex Carew (St. John’s)
Michael Gaulton (St. John’s)
Nicholas Yetmen (St. John’s)
Hockey
Jennifer Bidgood (Witless Bay)
Shae-Lynn Clarke (Bell Island)
Maggie Connors (St. John’s)
Zachary Dean (Mount Pearl)
William Dyke (St. John’s)
Carmen Elliott (Stephenville)
Benjamin James (St. John’s)
Abby Newhook (St. John’s)
Alex Newhook (St. John’s)
Judo
Emma Mullett (St. John’s)
Sam Wellon (Gander)
Karate
Andrew Au (Conception Bay South)
Christopher Coady (Flatrock)
Jack Hann (Conception Bay South)
Lucas Menard (Flatrock)
Emily Reglar (Flatrock)
Alex Ryan (Middle Cove)
John Shea (St. John’s)
Parasport-Athletics
Jeremy Jones (St. John’s)
Parasport-Boccia
Kristyn Collins (St. John’s)
Lois Martin (St. John’s)
Hayley Redmond (St. John’s)
Rowing
Kaitlyn Hall (Portugal Cove-St. Phillips)
Sarah Healey (St. John’s)
Mark Power (Conception Bay South)
Zachary Power (Concpetion Bay South)
Rugby
Jack Furneaux (Avondale)
Ryan Goodyear (Conception Bay South)
Alex Hickman (St. John’s)
Stephen Mallard (St. John’s)
John McCarthy (St. John’s)
Michael McCarthy (St. John’s)
Lucas Shortall (St. John’s)
Sailing
Livi Allen (St. John’s)
Skating
Rebecca Bennett (Corner Brook)
Caylie Rose Blake (Corner Brook)
Abby Pace (St. John’s)
Katie Slaney (Paradise)
Rachel Tuff (Witless Bay)
Soccer
Felly Elonda (St. John’s)
Kate Hickey (Outer Cove)
Katie Joyce (Petty Harbour)
Tyler Kirby (St. John’s)
Teri Murphy (St. John’s)
Lauren Rowe (Conception Bay South)
Owen Sheppard (St. John’s)
Ethan Slaney (St. John’s)
Lauren Taylor (St. John’s)
Sydney Walsh (St. John’s)
Softball
Calista Corbett (Holyrood)
Jordan Pomeroy (Placentia)
Swimming
Noah Cumby (St. John’s)
Dylan Morawski (Gander)
Emily Ricketts (St. John’s)
Abby Simms (St. John’s)
Kate Sullivan (St. John’s)
Table Tennis
Sarah Warren (Robert’s Arm)
Ty Winsor (Robert’s Arm)
Taekwondo
Alexandra Green (Torbay)
Keegan Laundry (Conception Bay South)
Target Shooting
Kelsey Anne Power (Bay Bulls)
Tennis
Rogan Betts (St. John’s)
Aiden Drover-Mattinen (Portugal Cove-St. Philips)
Liam Drover-Mattinen (Portugal Cove-St. Philips)
Jasmine Rahman (St. John’s)
Ultimate Frisbee
Luke Dyer (Logy Bay)
Volleyball
Emma Hackett (St. John’s)
Douglas Kelly (Gander)
Nathan Lake (Conception Bay South)
Catherine Smith (Mount Pearl)
Wrestling
Angel Hiltz-Morrell (Avondale)
Julianna Murphy (Colliers)
Jordan Pitcher (Normans Cove)
Owen Warren (Chapel Arm)
