One used his heroics with a bat to bring a national championship to Prince George.
The other powered her team to a provincial title and continues to be a dominant player even though her club is now taking jump shots in the top league in the country.
For these reasons, Brandon Hunter and Mercedes Van Koughnett are my choices for Prince George's male and female athletes of the year.
Back in August, the Prince George Westcana Electric Axemen claimed gold at the Baseball Canada Senior Championship, a tournament held at Citizen Field. And the Axemen probably wouldn't have won without Hunter in their lineup. During nationals, he went 10-for-15 at the plate, knocked in 10 runs and scored seven times himself.
But it wasn't just Hunter's stats that were impressive, it was his knack for producing in critical situations. In the playoff semifinal round, the Axemen were trailing the Fort Saskatchewan A's 2-0 in the sixth inning and were in danger of having their championship ambitions spoiled. Then, with a man on base, Hunter stepped to the plate and hammered a pitch over the left-field wall. Tie game, just like that. The Axemen went on to win 4-2.
In the tournament final, Prince George took on the defending-champion Windsor Stars, who were picked by most observers to win again. The Axemen jumped out to a 5-3 lead but the game was still up for grabs until Hunter ripped a grand-slam home run in the fourth inning. His bomb gave the Axemen a 9-3 advantage and they later celebrated a 9-5 victory and the national championship that went with it. In the game for gold, Hunter was 3-for-3 at the dish, had five RBIs and scored twice.
"That was mind-blowing," he said at the time.
Added manager Jim Swanson, who assembled and coached the team: "Brandon Hunter was just everything for us. He came up with clutch hits at the right times -- you have to do that to win a short tournament like this. There's nobody hotter in Prince George right now than Brandon Hunter."
Hunter was the obvious choice as the MVP of nationals. He also took that honour in the Prince George Senior Baseball League in 2012 and was ultimately chosen as the player of the year in the B.C. Senior Baseball Association.
On to Van Koughnett.
In 2011-12, when the UNBC Timberwolves women's basketball team was in its final season of play in the PACWEST Athletic Association, Van Koughnett was selected as a first-team all-star in the league. After posting a 15-1 record, the T-wolves entered provincials with their eyes on a championship and, thanks in large part to Van Koughnett, they achieved their goal. As a third-year guard/forward, she had four assists and four steals in a 71-48 semifinal win against the Camosun College Chargers. Then, in the gold-medal game against the Vancouver Island University Mariners, she hit for 20 points and added 12 rebounds and nine assists in a 62-53 win. For her efforts, Van Koughnett was named MVP of the tournament.
This season, the Timberwolves are new members of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association and Van Koughnett is proving herself as one of the elite players in the higher league. In scoring, she currently ranks 10th overall with an average of 15.3 points per game. She's also third in three-point field goal percentage (.422), ninth in assists (average of 2.7 per contest) and 10th in steals (average of 2.2 per outing).
Aside from their accomplishments, Hunter and Van Koughnett always display high levels of sportsmanship and class.
Quite simply, Prince George couldn't ask for two better representatives inside the lines of competition.
