Soccer talent was on the mark a week ago as the Laurentian Voyageurs celebrated another year of athletics at their annual awards banquet.

The top two prizes of the evening would both go the way of the "Beautiful Game" as Hunter Jones (keeper - women's soccer) and Timi Aliu (striker - men's soccer) were named as Female and Male Athletes of the Year, respectively.

An OUA second team EAst Division all-star, Jones finished fifth in the league with 58 saves, recording a pair of shutouts and posting the 10th best save percentage in the league.

Aliu led the Voyageurs in scoring (four goals in 11 games), a total which included markers in three straight games against the top two teams in the conference. The Laurentian veteran was also named to the OUA East Division second all-star team.

The Rookie of the Year awards would see two more sports welcomed to the winners' circle as Shelley Hladin (indoor track & field) and Ismael Konate (men's basketball) also took home some very special hardware.

A regular representative for her home province of Québec, Hladin would twice eclipse the school record in the long jump, earning a gold medal and a ticket to the OUA Championships at a meet in Toronto. The L.U. freshman would finish with four top-ten placements, ranking 12th in the long jump and 16th in the triple jump at season's end.

A member of the OUA All-Rookie team, Konate started 15 of 27 games for new head coach Brandon Edwards, averaging 10.9 points per game and adding 7.1 rebounds per game to his stat line as well, closing out the season hitting 48.7% of his shots from the field.

No surprise for Coach of the Year honours as Ryan Lafraniere would guide one of the two Laurentian curling teams that he coaches (the 2023-2024 women's rink) to a second OUA banner, the first coming back in 2017.

With Lafraniere at the helm, the Laurentian women not only captured provincials but also placed two members of their rink on the All-Canadian second all-star team.

In addition to these awards came the prestigious Special Voyageur Awards, presented in 2024 to Dr Cole Giffin and long-time varsity photographer John Sabourin.

An alumnus of the L.U. men's soccer program, Giffin redirected his efforts towards providing support for the Voyageur teams as he continued his education in Sport Psychology. The native of Kingston has been a mainstay with the men's soccer and women's basketball teams, even as he obtained his PhD this past winter.

For the past two decades, Sabourin has been the man behind some of the most iconic pictures in the history of Laurentian varsity athletics. The award is a testament to the unwavering commitment of the long-time Sudbury native who braved the scorching heat of late summer and bitter cold of nordic ski competitions to come up with the shot that he wanted.

Following are the recipients of the Pride and Tradition Award for each of the various teams:

Baseball - Chris Ross
Men's Basketball - Kamil Dia Hantchi
Women's Basketball - Monica Jean-Baptiste
Men's Cross-Country - Keon Wallingford
Women's Cross-Country - Angela Mozzon
Men's Curling - Owen Allard
Women's Curling - Bella Lehtimaki Croisier
Men's Golf - Vincent Palladino
Women's Golf - Mackenzie Fowke
Men's Indoor Track - Keon Wallingford
Women's Indoor Track - Shelley Hladin
Men's Nordic Skiing - Cormac Adams
Women's Nordic Skiing - Maddie Norman
Men's Rowing - Joseph Wainwright
Men's Soccer - Jérémie Bourbonnais
Women's Soccer - Amélie Pires