U of M swimmer Wog named Canada West Female Athlete of the Year

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This article was published 07/05/2020 (1986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Complacency is not a word in Kelsey Wog’s vocabulary.

Every season, the fourth-year Bisons swimmer finds a way to take her game to the next level and break records along the way.

Wog’s dominance in the pool this year didn’t go unnoticed, with the University of Manitoba student being named the Canada West female athlete of the year Thursday. Wog, who won four gold medals at the national championships and broke U Sports records in the 200-metre breaststroke and 200m individual medley, is the first Bison to ever win the award.

So how the heck will Wog be able to top that in her senior year?

“That’s funny you ask because I ask myself that every single year,” Wog told the Free Press a couple of hours after learning about the award.

“I always seem to top it somehow. It’s obviously not easy and there are always bumps along the way, but in the end I always seem to improve every single year, which is really incredible and I find it awesome.”

Wog, who was also recently named the U Sports female swimmer of the year, knew the announcement was being made at 11 a.m. on Twitter and she made sure to have her phone in hand at the time.

“I was actually really nervous. I was sitting on the couch and I was waiting for it to be posted and when it was — oh, my goodness. Wow, it was so incredible. It made my day,” said the Winnipegger and graduate of Vincent Massey Collegiate.

“It’s been such a roller-coaster since the coronavirus (pandemic) and it brought some joy to my day.”

Wog credits her coach, Vlastimil Cerny, and her hunger to make it to the Canadian Olympic team for bringing out the best in her.

“This year I was super focused on trying to earn a spot on the Canadian Olympic team. That was really driving me for most of the year. I was taking it day by day and having a lot of fun in the pool,” she said.

Steinbach’s Eric Loeppky, an outside hitter for Trinity Western’s top-ranked volleyball team, was nominated for the Canada West male athlete of the year award. University of Saskatchewan hockey goalie Taran Kozun came away with the win.

Wog and Kozun are the conference nominees for the Lieutenant Governor Athletic Awards, which honour the nation’s top male and female student-athletes. U Sports will reveal the big winners June 25.

Wog will look to become the school’s first female national winner since Terri-Lee Johannesson (basketball) was named the top athlete in 1996-97 out of the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31