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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Wesmen twins' graduation silences hecklers

By: Ashley Prest

Posted: 02/18/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Double-trouble for opponents when they were high school teammates, the Lother twins have provided twice the entertainment at the University of Winnipeg for the past five years.

An era will come to an end this weekend when point guard Nick Lother leads the Wesmen men in their last games of the 2010-11 season and the final games of his five-year career in Lethbridge against the Pronghorns.

Twin brother Dan, the starting setter with the Wesmen men's volleyball team, saw his career completed last weekend.

"We're going to miss the guys a lot but I know we're not to miss the 10-12-hour days with school and training and practice," Dan said. "Being a student-athlete is a privilege but it's also tough."

Coming to the Wesmen as provincial MVPs in basketball (Nick) and volleyball (Dan) from Collège Jeanne-Sauvé, the 22-year-old bilingual brothers also came in as players that fans had loved to heckle over the years. Confident and competitive, they played to win with little interest in perception. It made them both entertaining and dependable on and off the court.

"Brandon was always fun because their volleyball team would come to our basketball games and they'd say stuff to me about Dan being better than I am at basketball and why I'm playing it," Nick said.

Dan said by their fourth and fifth years, they'd laugh at how many times they'd heard some of the insults.

"At least some guys say some creative things, and you could really laugh about it. You've got the guy yelling 'you're short,' and you're kind of 'if that's what you're resorting to, get a new line already!' Dan said, laughing.

"As you get older, and I know Nick will say the same thing, I'd rather they targeted me than our younger players. I always told my guys, we're so used to it. It's been 10 years of people yelling at us so really, we've heard it all."

Athletic director Doran Reid said the Lother brothers have been "great ambassadors."

"I have known Dan and Nick since they were young and I can tell you they have grown as individuals," Reid said. "They've worked hard at being the best athletes they can be, done extremely well in the classroom, volunteered their time with inner city and community projects and have shown leadership on their respective teams. They have both truly embodied what it means to be student athletes."

While both graduate with bachelor of arts degrees, Nick is considering a career in education while Dan majored in kinesiology. Their older brother Sylvain studying medicine at the University of Manitoba.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca

On tap

TODAY

Men's volleyball: Manitoba vs. Brandon, IGAC, 7 p.m.

Women's hockey: Manitoba vs. Calgary, Max Bell Arena, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

Men's volleyball: Manitoba vs. Brandon, IGAC, 7 p.m.

Women's hockey: Manitoba vs. Calgary, Max Bell Arena, 7 p.m.

SUNDAY

Men's volleyball: Manitoba vs. Brandon, IGAC, 7 p.m. (if necessary)

Women's hockey: Manitoba vs. Calgary, Max Bell Arena, 7 p.m. (if necessary)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 18, 2011 C5

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