Six-sport athlete named MHSAA’s best

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This article was published 29/06/2023 (863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If one ski pole was pushing Mia Sawatsky to build a long resumé of personal achievements, the other was the strong support system that guided her along the way.

The Altona teen — and cross-country ski standout — was quick to sing the praises of the latter after capping her high school athletic career with one last trophy.

Sawatsky, 17, was named the Manitoba High School Athletic Association’s female athlete of the year at W.C. Miller Collegiate’s convocation Thursday. She was also honoured at the official awards ceremony, held at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

“I had good people throughout the whole thing,” said Sawatsky, who will attend Lakehead University in Thunder Bay this fall, where she will compete on the cross-country ski team. “People that have made me want to wake up early in the morning and go to practice and want to stay late after school and work on stuff, and I think it’s the people that really just kept me going.”

A six-sport athlete in her senior year, Sawatsky was a Manitoba Scholar-Athlete of the Year, MVP of the W.C. Miller women’s soccer team and provincial champion in the women’s 300-metre event. The only thing to overshadow her personal success on the playing surface was her dedication to others off it.

Sawatsky excelled in sports while maintaining a 95 per cent academic average, volunteering for several extra-curricular programs and helping groom the next generation of cross-country skiers.

“It’s been overwhelming but I wouldn’t change it,” she said, adding that managing her busy schedule wouldn’t be possible without some help from teachers, coaches and her parents.

“(They were) encouraging me and always supporting me no matter how I do or if I have an off day, they’re always there for me and willing to adjust tests or assignments and willing work with me. That’s going to stick with me and remembering how they made me feel.”

On hand at Thursday’s award ceremony was Manitou’s Kieran Reid, who took home the male honours for the MHSAA’s athlete of the year.

Also a Manitoba Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Reid, 17, was a five-sport athlete during his final year at Nellie McClung Collegiate. While excelling in badminton, curling, volleyball and baseball, Reid shined brightest on the track, where he finished second in the 100m hurdles at provincials.

Reid proved to be much more than just an athlete, however, starring in the school musical, helping an educational group tour to Switzerland, France, Monaco, and Spain, and volunteering in youth baseball, while maintaining a 93 per cent academic average.

“It was very unexpected to win the overall athlete of the year,” said Reid, who will attend the University of Manitoba and run track for the Bisons.

“(This) was a big moment for me. But track and field, it’s been a really big part of my life, I’ve done a lot of training for it and it was really nice this year for it to pay off for me.”

Reid credited his father, Justin, for his multi-sport pedigree, and his track coach, Adam Gundrum, for his success in athletics. But his impressive track record outside of sports — that’s all on Kieran.

“It’s fun. It keeps me entertained,” he said. “I don’t enjoy just sitting at home, doing only school. I like to be out and around and doing all those sports and getting involved with the musicals and coaching the younger ones.

“It’s really fun for me to just get involved and stay active and about.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam