CALGARY – For the second straight year, swimmer Erica Morningstar is the University of Calgary's female athlete of the year while volleyball star Graham Vigrass is the top male athlete of 2010-11.

The Dr. Dennis Kadatz awards presented to Morningstar and Vigrass highlighted the 44th Annual Night of the Dino awards gala Tuesday night at the Red and White Club, McMahon Stadium as the Dinos celebrated another highly-successful season. Along with two national championships in men's and women's swimming, the Dinos brought home five Canada West titles – football, women's cross country, women's wrestling, women's track and field, and men's volleyball – while seven Dinos were named CIS MVP or positional player of the year. Morningstar and Vigrass emerged from one of the deepest fields ever to become the athletes of the year and will be Calgary's nominees for the prestigious BLG Awards.

Taking home top freshman honours Tuesday were women's hockey forward Jenna Smith along with football quarterback Eric Dzwilewski as winners of the Bill Popplewell Rookie of the Year awards. The other major honours of the night, the Calgary Booster Club Scholar-Athlete Awards recognizing outstanding athletic and academic achievement, went to Shannon Davidson (women's hockey), Bogdan Knezevic (men's swimming) Tessa Miller (women's soccer), and Brock Nixon (men's hockey).

The Margaret Southern Award for female contribution to the Dinos went to Dinos football team manager Sandra Wigg, while the Dr. Lou Goodwin Award recognized Rick Pelletier for his contribution to the Dinos swimming program. Davidson and Wade Tam were honoured with the Murray Fraser Awards for volunteerism.

The Gauntlet Extra Effort Awards, selected and presented by the University of Calgary's student newspaper, went to Aaron Richards of men's hockey along with Kristen Barton of the women's soccer team, while the Kinemedics Athletic Therapy Scholarships were awarded to Samara Tocher (clinical) and Kate Trippier (field).

Dr. Dennis Kadatz Athletes of the Year
Erica Morningstar and Graham Vigrass

Named for the first athletic director and football coach at the University of Calgary, the Dr. Dennis Kadatz Athlete of the Year awards recognize excellence on the playing field during the varsity season. The winners become the Dinos' nominees for the BLG Awards, handed out to the CIS athletes of the year across all sports.

After leading the Dinos to their third straight CIS women's swimming title, Morningstar is the first female athlete since volleyball's Joanna Niemczewska (2004, 2005) to repeat as the female athlete of the year.

Morningstar emerged from the CIS championships with six gold medals, one silver, two 'swim of the day' awards, and the CIS swimmer of the year honour. She recorded four of the top 11 swims at the event, including the top two in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke – scoring 197 of the Dinos' 778.5 points (including relays).

The third-year swimmer from Regina also took gold in the 100 backstroke at the CIS championships at home in Calgary while grabbing silver in the 50-metre breaststroke. She swam the leadoff leg for all three of Calgary's gold medal-winning relays.

Last weekend at the world championship trials in Victoria, B.C., Morningstar set a new Canadian record in the 200 IM and will head to Shanghai, China this summer to represent Canada at the world championships.

Morningstar beat out Courtney Campbell (field hockey), Gen Haley (wrestling), Amonn Nelson (track and field), and Hayley Wickenheiser (hockey) for the honour. Haley, Nelson, Morningstar, and Wickenheiser were all CIS athletes of the year in their respective sports in 2010-11.

On the men's side, Vigrass took the top honour after winning the CIS men's volleyball player of the year award and landing on both the first All-Canadian team and the CIS championship tournament all-star squad.

The fourth-year middle, who led the Dinos to the 2010 national championship, picked up right where he left off in 2010-11. He sparked the Dinos to a 16-0 record to open conference play and was a key component in Calgary's first Canada West championship since 1994. At the CIS championship in Langley, B.C., Vigrass was named player of the match in all three Dinos contests and led the team to a bronze medal finish.

He finished second in the nation with a .397 hitting percentage while his 3.94 kills per set was third-best in Canada West. He was the only player in CIS volleyball to be in the top five nationally in both hitting percentage and total kills, and he became the Dinos' all-time leading blocker with 199 after just four seasons.

Vigrass is the first men's volleyball player to win the Dr. Dennis Kadatz award since Denis Zhukov in 2002 and joins program greats Andy Cameron and Randy Gingera as Dinos athletes of the year.

He was up against swimmer Jason Block, CIS goaltender of the year Dustin Butler of men's hockey, track star Sam Effah, and football linebacker Sam Hurl for the award.

Bill Popplewell Rookies of the Year
Jenna Smith and Eric Dzwilewski

The Rookie of the Year awards were created in 2000 and named after Bill Popplewell, a tireless supporter of the Dinos for over two decades during his time with one of the department's longest-standing corporate partners, Husky Energy.

Jenna Smith became the first women's hockey player in the award's 12-year history to win the Bill Popplewell trophy, while Eric Dzwilewski is the second football player in as many years to be named the Dinos male rookie of the year.

A first-year forward from Swift Current, Sask., Smith led all conference true freshmen in scoring with nine goals an 16 points in 20 games with the Dinos, highlighted by a two-goal, three-point night against Regina on Nov. 27. She finished as the third-leading scorer on the team and recorded an impressive +14 rating on the season, earning the Canada West rookie of the year award.

Swimmer Fiona Doyle and high jumper Rachel Machin were also nominated for the award.

Boise, Idaho native Dzwilewski became the second straight Dino to win the Peter Gorman Trophy as CIS football rookie of the year in 2010, following in the footsteps of defensive lineman Linden Gaydosh.

An injury to 2010 BLG Award winner Erik Glavic thrust Dzwilewski into the starter's role in just week two of the season. The freshman lived up to the task, throwing for 258 yards and two TDs in his first start to lead the Dinos over Regina 24-21. He finished with a 4-1 record as a starter, recording 894 passing yards and 446 yards along the ground – good enough for seventh in Canada West and second on the team in rushing. He was the unanimous conference rookie of the year and added the national award two weeks later as the Dinos made a second-straight Vanier Cup appearance.

Conference men's soccer all-star Brett Howard along with Canada West men's basketball rookie of the year Matt Letkeman were also nominated for the award.

Calgary Booster Club Scholar-Athlete Awards
Shannon Davidson, Bogdan Knezevic, Tessa Miller, Brock Nixon

The Scholar-Athlete awards recognize outstanding achievement in academics and athletics, and each year four student-athletes – two male and two female – are presented with $1,000 scholarships by the Calgary Booster Club.

Fifth-year senior Shannon Davidson of the women's hockey team along with third-year striker Tessa Miller of women's soccer are the female recipients. Davidson, who will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree this spring and plans to attend law school next year, posted a 3.71 GPA while playing hockey and serving as chair of the Dinos' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in 2010-11. Miller, meanwhile, has led the Dinos soccer team in scoring in each of her three seasons and finished tied for the Canada West scoring lead last season with 14 points. She recorded a GPA of 3.83 in the pedagogy program in kinesiology.

On the men's side, swimmer Bogdan Knezevic joined hockey forward Brock Nixon as Scholar-Athlete Award winners. Knezevic, the 2010 CIS rookie of the year in the pool, won two silver medals at the 2011 CIS championships in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, helping the Dinos to a second straight national title while accumulating a 3.91 GPA in the Bachelor of Science (honours) program, majoring in neuroscience. Nixon wrapped up his third season with the Dinos as the team's second-leading scorer with 23 points and a +11 rating, helping the program to its first CIS University Cup appearance in 11 years. He led his team with a 3.69 GPA in the Faculty of Kinesiology and plans to become a high school physical education teacher.

Margaret Southern Award
Sandra Wigg

The Margaret Southern Award is presented annually to the woman who has provided exceptional service and support to the Dinos and is named after Mrs. Southern, who was the first female instructor in the physical education faculty at the University of Calgary.

The 2011 Margaret Southern Award was presented to Sandra Wigg, the team manager for Dinos football in 2010-11. In addition to handling travel arrangements and other administrative responsibilities for the team, Sandra is also the team's academic advisor and holds daily study hall sessions for Dinos football players and other student-athletes to assist them in their academic endeavours. A fixture on the sidelines with her camera, Sandra's contribution to the Dinos has been exceptional.

Dr. Lou Goodwin Award
Rick Pelletier

Named after the first Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education, the 'Dr. Lou' award recognizes outstanding contribution to men's athletics at the University of Calgary.

Rick Pelletier of the Dinos swimming team is the 2011 recipient. Rick is team's massage therapist, photographer, and webmaster. He singlehandedly deals with 36 student-athletes, keeping them loose and prepared for their competitions, and he is a valued member of the staff that has led the Dinos men and women to six CIS national championships in the last four seasons.

Murray Fraser Awards
Shannon Davidson and Wade Tam

The Murray Fraser Award for volunteerism is named after the late President of the University of Calgary who believed strongly in enhancing the student experience through volunteering and is presented annually to one female and one male student.

Davidson became a double award winner when presented with the female Murray Fraser Award. The volunteer chair of SAAC, she was also the event chair for the wildly successful Youth Relay for Life at the University of Calgary, which raised more than $50,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society. She put in hundreds of hours planning for that event as well as the 'Making Cuts' head shave fundraiser at the Dinos' first home football game of the season while re-establishing SAAC as a viable body and voice of the student-athletes.

The men's Murray Fraser award goes to Wade Tam. In his third year as a member of the Dinos events staff, Wade has gone above and beyond in everything he does. From his game day hosting responsibilities in the gym to being the official statistician for Dinos men's hockey, Wade is always looking for more responsibility and consistently goes far beyond expectations.

Gauntlet Extra Effort Awards
Kristen Barton and Aaron Richards

Each year the Gauntlet, the University of Calgary's student newspaper, recognizes two student-athletes who have overcome adversity to contribute to their teams. The 2011 awards go to Kristen Barton of the Dinos women's soccer team and Aaron Richards from men's hockey

Despite a heavy workload while working toward her master's degree in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Barton has consistently been one of the most committed members of the Dinos women's soccer team. She played through the entire 2010 season with a serious knee injury which required off-season surgery to repair – and even then missed just one week of winter training after having surgery.

Richards, the 2009-10 captain of the Dinos men's hockey team, missed the entire first half of the season with a serious health issue. He was given clearance to return to the team after the Christmas break and made an immediate impact, recording 12 points in 13 games with the team to help them to a second-place finish – their best since 1997 – and the first trip to the CIS University Cup since the 1999-2000 season.

Kinemedics Athletic Therapy Scholarships
Samara Tocher (clinical) and Kate Trippier (field)

The Kinemedics scholarships reward two Athletic Therapy majors for their work each season – one for clinical and one for field. Each recipient receives a $1,250 scholarship. Samara Tocher is the recipient of the clinical award after working with the Dinos rugby team, while Kate Trippier, who worked with the Dinos football team, received the field award.

44th Annual Night of the Dino
AWARD WINNERS

Dr. Dennis Kadatz Athletes of the Year
Erica Morningstar, swimming
Graham Vigrass, volleyball

Bill Popplewell Rookies of the Year
Jenna Smith, hockey
Eric Dzwilewski, football

Calgary Booster Club Scholar-Athlete Awards
Shannon Davidson, hockey
Bogdan Knezevic, swimming
Tessa Miller, soccer
Brock Nixon, hockey

Awards of Merit
Jason Block, swimming
Dustin Butler, hockey
Courtney Campbell, field hockey
Sam Effah, track and field
Gen Haley, wrestling
Sam Hurl, football
Erica Morningstar, swimming
Amonn Nelson, track and field
Graham Vigrass, volleyball
Hayley Wickenheiser, hockey

Freshman Awards of Merit
Fiona Doyle, swimming
Eric Dzwilewski, football
Brett Howard, soccer
Matt Letkeman, basketball
Rachel Machin, track and field
Jenna Smith, hockey

Murray Fraser Volunteer Awards
Shannon Davidson
Wade Tam

Dr. Lou Goodwin Award
Rick Pelletier

Marg Southern Award
Sandra Wigg

Kinemedics Athletic Therapy Awards
Kate Trippier (field)
Samara Tocher (clinical)

Gauntlet Extra Effort Awards
Kristen Barton, soccer
Aaron Richards, hockey

-UC-