Liz Boag and Jacob Rumball were recognized Wednesday night as the top varsity athletes at Queen’s University at the 79th annual Colour Night in the main gym at the Athletics and Recreation Centre.
Boag, the La Salle Secondary School grad from Kingston, was presented with the PHE ’55 Alumnae Award as the top female athlete. Rumball, from Toronto, received the Jenkins Trophy as the outstanding male athlete.
An arts and science student majoring in biology and psychology, Boag helped the women’s basketball team to its second straight Final Four appearance this year. The three-time conference all-star and two-time academic all-Canadian led the team in minutes played—almost 36 minutes per game in the playoffs—and averaged 13.1 points per game.
She had a season-best 24 points in a February game against Carleton, and she scored 19 points in a game four times this year.
A two-time Ontario University Athletics all-star, and the league’s most valuable player this season, Rumball, an economics major, was a member of three championship rugby teams at Queen’s. He’s also played for the Canadian under-20 side, and three times was a national club champion with the Toronto Blues.
The plaque for the outstanding performance by an individual athlete was given to Larkin Davenport-Huyer, who won the women’s single at the national university rowing championships, after a gold-medal performance in the women’s double and a silver as part of the women’s eight at the OUA rowing championships, where Queen’s finished second among competing teams.
The Alfie Pierce trophies as leading freshman athletes were presented to a pair of varsity hockey players, Addi Halladay of the women’s team and Spencer Abraham of the men’s team.
Halladay, from North Augusta, led rookies in the OUA with 12 goals and 23 points in 24 games. She was third on the team in scoring and was named to the league’s all-rookie team. Abraham, from Campbellville, tied for the lead in scoring among defencemen in Canada with 28 points, and he was named national rookie of the year at the recent CIS championship tournament. He also was named the top defenceman in the East division of the OUA.
The Jim Tait Trophy, presented annually to the top varsity team, was given to the men’s rugby team. After losing its first game since 2012 at McMaster in late September, the Gaels were dominant. The playoffs included a 61-0 thrashing of McMaster, and a victory over Guelph in a championship game they trailed 16-0 at one point. It was the third straight league title for a Queen’s team that included 12 Ontario academic all-stars. Off the field, the team raised more than $40,000 for the annual Run For The Cure event in support of breast-cancer research, as well as working on the white ribbon campaign to promote gender equality on campus.
On Tuesday, Erin Miller of the synchronized swimming team and Ryan Wilson from men’s ultimate were named the top varsity club athletes. Cyclist Haley Golding and baseball player Austin O’Boyle were presented with rookie-of-the-year awards.