Not only were they great athletes sporting the green and gold of the UNBC Timberwolves, but they've also proven themselves in the classrooom as top students.
UNBC recognized 11 Academic All-Canadians at a reception Wednesday at the Cranbrook Hill campus and the criteria to make it into that class was difficult.
All 11 competed with their respective teams in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the highest level of postsecondary sports in the country, and were required to use a year of eligibility while maintaining a grade point average of 3.67 or better over the entire school year.
Five players from the T-wolves' men's soccer team made the grade for the 2012-13 CIS Academic All-Canadian team, including Danny Dell (elementary education); Harjas Grewal (biochemistry); Jared Dillabaugh (commerce); Logan Phenuff (biomedical), and Chandan Sangha (biochemistry).
The women's soccer team placed four players on the academic list -- Rebecca Irving (nursing); Kat Hartwig-Clay (biochemistry); Tiffany Bennett (commerce); and Jessica Manning (biomedical).
Sarah Robin (biology) and Jasprit Nijjar (biomedical) maintained above-average marks as part of the UNBC women's basketball team.
Of the 11 players, nine returned to UNBC for the fall season. Dell is now a teacher living in his hometown of Burns Lake, while Irving is now working as a nurse in northern B.C.
Hartwig-Clay, who played her third season for the T-wolves as goaltender, has successfully passed her MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) and is now a candidate for the Northern Medical Program.
Across Canada, a record 2,695 students were on the CIS Academic All-Canadian list, up from the previous record of 2,617 established in 2011-12.
