Lancers honoured at 2008 WESPY Awards
By Tanya Quaglia
Lance Writer
October 15, 2008
 The fourth annual Windsor Essex Sports Person of the Year Awards, held on Tuesday Oct. 7, were a success for Lancer athletes.
Nine Lancers were nominated for various awards, and four of them, along with a coach, struck gold and brought home some hardware.
Lancer basketball star, shooting guard Dranadia Roc, took home the award for Top Female Basketball Athlete of the year.
Roc, a Montreal native and one of the top basketball players in the country, led the Lancers to a 14-8 record, putting the Lancers in the playoffs, averaging 16.6 points per game.
Roc dominated for the Lancers during their first significant playoff appearance, and helped the Lancers earn a berth in the OUA West Championship.
The WESPY award wasn’t the first basketball honour Roc has received. This past season, Roc was named an OUA First-Team All Star, a CIS all-Canadian, as well as team MVP.
The Lancers earned themselves another WESPY award in basketball, when Ryan Steer was named the top male basketball player of the year.
Steer, the now-graduated co-captain for the Lancers men’s basketball team, was a dominant force on and off the court last season.
Earlier in the year, Steer was the recipient of the OUA’s Ken Shield Community Award, which honours athletes who have outstanding achievements in basketball, academics and community involvement.
This past season, Steer had an average of seven assists a game, the best in Canada.
In his five years with the Lancers, Steer never failed to disappoint and was a true leader on the team.
Steer was unable to accept his award in person, as he is currently playing with a professional team in Germany, a fact that speaks of his talent.
Steer plays for Wurxburg in Germany’s top professional basketball league.
As the historic night went on, Lancers looked to dominate even more.
The Lancers have always been successful in track and field events, consistently being ranked first or second in Canada, and at the WESPYs it was no different. Two members of the Lancers track and field team took home awards.
Jamie Adjetey-Nelson was named Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year, and Track and Field assistant coach, Denise Hebert, won the prestigious female Legacy Award.
Adjetey-Nelson won the bronze medal in the pentathlon category at the Canadian Senior track and field Championships in 2007. Later that summer, he placed ninth at the FISU University Championships.
He also put forth a memorable effort at the summer’s Canadian Track and Field Championship, which this year doubled as the Olympic trials.
He came up just short of a spot on Olympic team in the decathlon category.
Hebert, a teacher at Assumption High School, has coached with the Windsor Legion track club for 21 years and at the high school level for 19 years.
She has also coached for Team Canada on multiple occasions, most recently at the 2007 Pan Am Games.
Jessica Matassa, a former student of the University of Windsor was also honoured. Matassa, a Paralympic medalist, won the award for Female Athlete with a disability.
Matassa medaled at the Athens Paralympic Games, and achieved personal bests at the Beijing Games.
This years WESPYs were a success for all local athletes.
From the naming of the Mickey Renaud Leadership Award to the presentation of Athlete of the Year, all local athletes should be proud.
Other Lancers nominated included Greg Surmacz for basketball, Chris Hart for soccer, Andrew Coates for track and field, Harrison Oake for volleyball, and Matt Morencie for football.
Morencie was also nominated for Male Athlete of the Year.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Dorothy Hamill, legendary American figure skater.
Hamill spoke of her difficult lifelong struggles with depression, despite her numerous on-ice decorations.
Windsor Lancer athletes work hard all year round, and at the fourth annual WESPY awards, they showed their dominance.
With four Lancer athletes and one coach winning awards, and five others being nominated, the 2008 WESPYs were definitely a success for athletes and coaches of the Windsor Lancers.
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