Click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.

Athletes celebrated at the Kinsmen Sportsman Dinner

Nov 7, 2015 | 10:22 PM

The Kinsmen Raiders Sportsman celebrated the achievements of four outstanding athletes Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre.

Jessica Vance was presented with the Female Athlete of the Year, Tanner Byrne earned the Male Athlete of the Year and Whitney Darchuk-Parenteau was named the Sportsperson of the Year. NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Paul Coffey was the guest speaker, and did an interview for the fans with Adam Growe, the host of Cash Cab.

Vance finished her five-year Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League career with four league records among goaltenders to be named the Female Athlete of the Year.

All with the Prince Albert A&W Bears, Vance registered records of 48 wins, 16 shutouts, 91 games played and 5,128 minutes played. Vance also represented Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games.

During the summer, Vance was named as Team Saskatchewan’s starting short stop at the Western Canada Summer Games for softball, and had the game winning RBI in the bronze medal match. Vance is currently on the University of Manitoba Bisons hockey team on a scholarship.

Byrne earned himself the Male Athlete of the Year award for becoming the Top Canadian and eighth best bull rider in the world after his success on the Professional Bull Riding tours this season.

Byrne’s highlights include a third place finish at the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas, and being presented with the Max Clunie Ring of Honour at the Clunie-Cooper Memorial PBR in May. Byrne is the lone Canadian on the Jared Allen Pro Bull team.

In his career, Byre is a three-time qualifier at the Calgary Stampede and has rode six times at the Canadian Finals.

Darchuk-Parenteau is the sportsperson of the year and has success in just about every sport she’s competed in.

In Olympic weightlifting, Darchuk-Parenteau has won threet consecutive gold medals at the Synergy Strength Bridge City Beatdown in Saskatoon, as well as spots in the Canadian Westerns and Nationals.

In CrossFit, she has three straight Top 10 finishes at the CrossFit Games Regionals.

Darchuk-Parenteau also spends a big chunk of her time coaching and training others to be their physical best. She’s also opened up her own CrossFit affiliated gym, Pure Athletics.

panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow