Two Okanagan residents were winners at Sport BC’s annual athlete of the year awards.
Held in Vancouver on Thursday, Nash Semeniuk of Kelowna Secondary School was named B.C.’s male high school athlete of the year for the 2023 season.
The Grade 12 student played both basketball and volleyball for KSS.
Also winning an award was Kelowna’s Malindi Elmore, who was the master athlete of the year.
The annual awards honour athletes, teams, coaches and officials throughout the province.
“We were inspired by the sport stories of all of our finalists, the category winners, and the organizations they represent,” Sport BC president Rob Newman said.
During the 2022-23 school season, Semeniuk helped Kelowna’s basketball team to a fourth-place finish at the provincial championships.
The KSS volleyball team also won several titles in 2022, including the Okanagan regional title and the provincial championship.
And in 2023, the Owls defended both their regional and provincial titles for a third straight year. Semeniuk was named a first-team all-star.
Notably, another Okanagan athlete was in the running for B.C. male high school athlete of the year.
Vernon Secondary School’s Mark Johnson, who plays football and basketball, was also nominated.
Johnson, at six feet five inches tall and 260 pounds, was a key figure in Vernon winning the 2A provincial football championship, a 61-22 romp over Ballenas of Parksville. Johnson, also a senior, was named the game’s MVP and top student-athlete.
He was also his basketball team’s leading scorer.
Meanwhile, Elmore added another award to her lengthy athletics career.
The former national track and field athlete is now Canada’s top-ranked marathon runner.
At the 2023 Berlin marathon, she set a new personal best time of two hours, 23 minutes and 30 seconds, shaving 80 seconds off her previous best.
That time also qualified the 43-year-old for the 2024 Olympic Games.
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