CALGARY – Kate Pexman of the University of Calgary Dinos women's volleyball team is one of Canada's Top 8 Academic All-Canadians, U SPORTS announced Tuesday.
Pexman, the reigning Canada West player of the year, is the top female academic student-athlete in the conference for the 2017-18 season. She, along with seven other standouts from across the country, will be honoured Jan. 29 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada.
A Schulich School of Engineering student, Pexman is the seventh student-athlete in Dinos history to be honoured as a Top 8 Academic All-Canadian, joining football's Andrew Buckley (2014-15), women's hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser (2010-11 and 2011-12), soccer's Kelly Matheson (1999-2000), and Olympic swimming medallist Curtis Myden (1993-94, 1998-99).
She leads an impressive group of 137 Dinos student-athletes who earned Academic All-Canadian status in the 2017-18 year, bringing the University of Calgary's all-time total up to 2,252 since the program's inauguration in 1990.
"Kate truly embodies what it means to be a student-athlete," said Dinos Athletic Director
Jason Kerswill. "She has shown a tremendous ability to strike the right balance between her academic pursuits and her athletic goals, allowing her to excel in both areas. Achievement at this level requires commitment, passion, and purpose, and Kate clearly demonstrates these characteristics on a daily basis.
"Having 137 Academic All-Canadians overall – better than one in four of our varsity student-athletes – speaks to the dedication all Dinos have for their academic endeavours and is a testament to the hard work that they, our coaching staffs, and our Dinos GPS academic support team put in."
FULL LIST: 2017-18 UCalgary Dinos Academic All-Canadians
The Governor General's Academic All-Canadian Commendation was founded by the Right Honourable David Johnston, former Governor General of Canada, who first honoured Canada's Top 8 student-athletes in 2013.
U SPORTS student-athletes achieve Academic All-Canadian status having maintained an average of 80 per cent or better over the academic year while competing for one - or more - of their university's varsity teams. Among these outstanding individuals, one female and one male student-athlete from each of the four U SPORTS conferences are selected annually to make up the Top 8.
KATE PEXMAN
Hometown: Calgary, Alta.
Faculty: Schulich School of Engineering
Program: Geomatics Engineering
Sport: Volleyball
Eligibility in 2017-18: 3rd
Kate Pexman has always been a great volleyball player – but as her career progressed on the court, she became a force to be reckoned with in the classroom as well.
Pexman opened her U SPORTS volleyball career in style, earning national Rookie of the Year honours in 2015, after joining the varsity team out of the high-performance Dinos Volleyball Club in Calgary and posting the fourth-best kills total in Canada. An injury forced her to the sidelines for virtually all of her sophomore season, but as she battled through recovery from that she began to find her niche in one of the toughest programs on campus – the Schulich School of Engineering.
Making her return to the court in 2016-17, the Calgary native finished as the Dinos' offensive leader and picked up Second Team All-Canadian recognition, in addition to Academic All-Canadian honours. Despite missing six more matches due to injury in 2017-18, Pexman was named the Canada West Player of the Year and a First Team All-Canadian as the Dinos captured the Canada West title. In preparation for the 17-18 campaign, Pexman won a gold medal for Alberta in beach volleyball at the 2017 Canada Games in Winnipeg.
All of this while balancing a full course load pursuing a degree in geomatics engineering, where she had a GPA of 3.97 in 2017-18, in addition to coaching community volleyball and continuing an eight-year commitment volunteering with Calgary Reads – an organization devoted to inspiring a love of reading and supporting literacy in children.
"Kate is the epitome of a successful student-athlete," said Dinos head coach
Natalie Gurnsey. "She is fiercely passionate about what she is studying in school and intensely committed to excelling in the classroom. She is equally driven to be her best on the volleyball court and strives to make the biggest contribution she can every time we compete. I admire Kate's achivements in both arenas of her life, and sometimes wonder how she can balance it all!"
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Kate Pexman has had a string of successes in the 2017-18 Dinos women's volleyball season, continuing her record of high achievement," said Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, the former President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calgary and herself an engineer. "The UCalgary community has watched with pride through the years as Kate has achieved her academic and athletic potential through great focus and dedication. Kate is always committed to delivering her personal best, and she is a role model on the volleyball court and in the classroom."
2017-18 U SPORTS TOP 8 ACADEMIC ALL-CANADIANS
Canada West
Ed Ilnicki, University of Alberta, football, business
Kate Pexman, University of Calgary, volleyball, geomatics engineering
Ontario University Athletics
Nick Vanin, Western University, football, Doctor of Medicine
Alina Dormann, University of Toronto, volleyball, biology/health and disease
Reseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ)
Francis Carter, Concordia University, wrestling, psychology/behavioural neuroscience
Amélie Augé, Université de Sherbrooke, track and field, PhD in chemistry
Atlantic University Sport
Sven Stammberger, Dalhousie University, basketball, master of business administration
Ciera Disipio, Cape Breton University, soccer, community studies
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