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Durand, Carlos named high school Athletes of the Year
It's all about balance for Payton Durand, who went from sport to sport in her final year of high school at Collège Jeanne-Sauvé and found success in all of them.
From juggling volleyball to hockey, with track and field, badminton and softball mixed in, it's been a busy but rewarding high school experience for Durand, who finished off senior year being awarded this year's MHSAA Athlete of the Year Award, announced today at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
'It's so important,' said Durand on time management. 'My last four years of high school, that's basically all it's been. Time management, scheduling in when I could do my assignments and when I could get an extra training or practice and all that for sports and also balancing my friendships.'
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Collège Jeanne-Sauvé's Payton Durand was named female Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.
During hockey season, Durand left her mark, being named league all-star, playoff top scorer and Division 1 Most Valuable Player, on top of leading the Olympiens girls hockey team to a Division 1 MWHSHL championship.
'We were definitely a team that didn't start off on the best foot,' said Durand, who was the assistant captain of the squad. 'We were definitely lower in the league at the beginning, and then I think we just kind of set in our minds that we had this goal and we wanted to achieve that goal.'
Durand, who says her leadership style is leading by example, also earned multiple first-star game honours and was ranked No. 4 on the Free Press's list of top 10 female high school hockey players.
'Winning the hockey championship, that was the biggest moment,' said Durand. 'That was everything I could have wanted this year, to end my hockey season, my last high school hockey season. I couldn't ask for a better ending.'
Volleyball and indoor track also overlapped with hockey, which Durand says was her busiest time of the year, but that didn't stop her from extending her success to those sports as well.
With the Olympiens volleyball team, Durand helped her team earn an SCAC championship title and a silver-medal finish at the AAAA Provincial Championships. In track, she earned bronze in outdoor shot put, silver at the Westman Meet, and gold at the SCAC championship. She ended the first semester by being named Jeanne-Sauvé's Athlete of the Month in December.
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Payton Durand (centre) led the Collège Jeanne-Sauvé Olympiens to a Division 1 Manitoba Women's High School Hockey League title in March.
Durand is also a silver medalist in SCAC mixed doubles badminton and led the school's softball team during the spring season to an SCAC title.
Outside of sports, she volunteered at MHSAA events, Habitat for Humanity, the LRSD Hockey Ambassadorship Program, and Relay for Life.
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'Definitely meeting new people and getting to play in a new environment at a higher level,' said Durand on what she's looking forward to in the next stage of her career. 'I feel like it could be really fun, and I definitely will get to improve a lot and learn so much.'
Durand will head south in the fall, where she will continue playing hockey and softball at Lake Region State College in North Dakota.
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Vincent Massey Collegiate's Magnus Carlos was named male Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.
In the male category, Magnus Carlos of Vincent Massey Collegiate took home the honours for Athlete of the Year, a well-rounded athlete and captain of a successful Trojans basketball team
'I just have to credit my work pretty much,' said Carlos after winning the award. 'Without it, I wouldn't get any of this. So it's just the hard work and the discipline is what results in this.'
Carlos was Basketball Manitoba's AAAA Male Player of the Year, leading the Trojans as the top scorer and bringing the team to a Final Four finish at provincials and a WWAC championship title.
'I tried being as vocal as I could,' said Carlos. 'And just help others in as many ways as I can to be successful as a team… We just had good bonds with each other, good friendships, so that helped.'
Individually, he was also the No. 1 ranked player in the Top Ten Coaches Poll and a Graduating All-Star.
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Magnus Carlos (right) captained the Vincent Massey Collegiate Trojans to the Final Four of the provincial championships this past basketball season.
Carlos says his favourite moment of his senior year was participating in the Western Canada basketball tournament in Kelowna, B.C., where he was named an all-star.
But it wasn't just basketball Carlos excelled at. He helped the Trojans volleyball team reach the WWAC finals and a AAAA provincial Final Four finish, while also participating in track and field, volunteering at school events, and serving as a mentor coach for youth in the Ignite Basketball program.
'It got hard at times,' said Carlos. 'Like just thing after thing after thing, but I kind of just had a routine and was steady with that, and it all worked out.'
Carlos will attend Brock University in the fall, where he will continue his basketball career with the Badgers.
The other scholarship winners at the MHSAA A, AA, and AAA levels for female athletes were Ky Solomon of Hamiota Collegiate Institute, Colby Darragh of Warren Collegiate Institute, and Shannon Bodnarus of Stonewall Collegiate.
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Awards for the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association A, AA and AAA levels were announced on Wednesday at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. From left: Payton Durand, Chael Rozdeba, Ky Solomon, Colby Darragh, Shannon Bodnarus, Kai Gaudet, Junior Martine, Magnus Carlos.
In the male category, Chael Rozdeba of Hamiota Collegiate Institute, Kai Gaudet of MacGregor Collegiate Institute, and Junior Martine of École Secondaire Neelin High School took home Athlete of the Year honours in their respective competition categories.
