Raya Surinx and Max Speiser are Bison Sports Athletes of the Year

Raya Surinx and Max Speiser were named Bison Sports Athletes of the Year on Saturday afternoon, as the school’s annual awards were handed out on campus.

Overall, 11 total awards were presented. Claude Berube was named Coach of the Year, becoming the first individual to receive CoY on five separate occasions. Meanwhile, Lena Klassen was selected Female Rookie of the Year and Sean Rowe was named Male Rookie of the Year, becoming the first offensive lineman to earn the honour.

Leadership and Community Development awards were given to Lily Francis on the women’s side and Mark Rauhaus on the men’s side. Wayne McMahon took home the Pat Gill Legacy Award, and Michelle Sawatzky-Koop was named Assistant Coach of the Year.

Additionally, Wyatt Tait earned Teammate of the Year and Lara Denbow received the Spirit of the Bison award.
 

In the 61-year history of the Female Athlete of the Year award, Surinx’s selection is the 24th overall for women’s volleyball, the most of any sport. She becomes the first volleyball player to earn the honour since Rachell Cockrell in 2015, following up on her Rookie of the Year nod last season. 

In just her second season of eligibility, Surinx, the Bisons’ primary outside hitter, earned the Mary Lyons Award as the player of the year in U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball. She became the first Bison to receive this honour since Cockrell in 2015, and the sixth Bison overall, following Kathy Preston (2002), Louise Wlock (1998), Loriann Sawatzky (1995) and Michelle Sawatzky (1991 and 1992). Surinx was also the youngest-ever Bison to earn Player of the Year. 

The Team Canada selection was dominant in 2023-24, leading the nation in kills with 388 – 70 more than anyone else – despite missing the last two games of league play. She also led the country with 4.85 kills per set, helping Manitoba to a regular season program record of 20 wins, while hitting from all six positions on the court. 

At the service line, Surinx recorded at least three aces in five different matches, including a career-high eight on November 18 against Mount Royal, the third most in a five-set Canada West match. Her 40 aces overall were sixth in the nation.

Surinx’s 388 kills were the eighth most in a Canada West season, and the second most by a Bison in the rally scoring era (Cockrell had 471 in 2014-15). Her kills per set average is also the second-most in a season in the rally scoring era, just behind Cockrell (5.06).

In just two years, Surinx’s 84 career regular season aces are already the second-most in Bisons history in the rally scoring era and 18th all-time in school history. Meanwhile, her 671 career kills place her 20th all-time in school history.

“Those of us that see Raya every day are not surprised in her recognition, as she maximizes her talent both on the court and in the weight room,” said head coach Ken Bentley.
 
“She is highly coachable, selfless, is an amazing teammate, and does her very best every single day. Her consistency in training reflects her performance throughout her time with us these past two years.”

In the 64-year history of Male Athlete of the Year award, Speiser became the ninth track and field member to earn the honour. That’s the fourth-most of any program. His selection is the first on the track side since Simon Berube in 2019. 

Speiser completed his final season as a Bison in 2023-24, and will go down as the most decorated heptathlete in school history.

At nationals this past year, he earned gold, recording five personal bests along the way, including in all four events on day one. He’s the only heptathlete at Manitoba to ever win gold at nationals, as well as the only person to earn gold, silver and bronze at U SPORTS. 

Speiser’s 5270 points at nationals were just three shy of the school record, all the more impressive considering he was originally a walk-on athlete specializing in high jump. He also qualified for U SPORTS in pole vault, helping the Herd to a silver medal, their best finish at nationals since 1997.

Speiser was also key in helping the Bisons win their third straight Canada West Championship on the men’s side, reaching the final in the 60m hurdles individually, along with earning points in the pole vault. It was the first time since 1996 that the Herd three-peated at the conference championship. 

“A few hundred points every year, he’s gotten faster, he’s gotten stronger every year,” said coach Wayne McMahon, the 2024 Pat Gill Legacy Award recipient. 

“Each event he’s improved. The first day [at nationals] was a personal best. They were all equal or better than he’d done before.”

“The fact that he’s also our team MVP is not just because of his athletic ability,” added head coach Claude Berube. “He’s a team guy. He can walk out of his Bisons career very proud of what he did.”

Along with the Athletes of the Year, Berube was selected as Coach of the Year for the fifth time, the most of any coach in school history. He also won CoY in 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2019. 

Under Berube’s guidance, the Bisons sent 21 athletes to nationals this past year, with five gold medal finishes and four silvers. The men’s team’s nine podium finishes were the most since 1995, which ties for the third most in school history, while their silver medal was the best finish at nationals since 1997. 

The men also claimed their third straight Canada West Championship, the first time since 1996 accomplishing such a feat. Overall, the team had 14 podium finishes, and 16 total at the event. Five athletes also broke program records during the season (Jordan Soufi, 60m, Adam Andres, 60m hurdles, Daxx Turner, triple jump, Ty Cox-Yestrau, 200m, Anna McConnell, shot put). 

“Like they say it takes a village to build something, literally any coach here will tell you the same thing,” said Berube. 

“From administration, to the Bisons Integrated Support Team, to Academic Advisors, to strength and conditioning, dietician, sports psych, athletic therapists, the therapy clinic, doctors, all the Bisons staff. Thanks to everyone for what you do. And you can’t do this job without assistant coaches, with the same dedication. And of course none of us can do this without the athletes. Thank you to all the athletes for what you’ve done. You keep me young, you keep me wanting to do this. I’m not going away for a while yet.”

The Female Rookie of the Year award went to Lena Klassen of cross country and track and field. It’s the second time (and first since 2014) in the 14-year history of the award that a cross country and track and field athlete has earned the honour. 

Klassen was the fastest rookie to finish the U SPORTS Cross Country Championships, earning Rookie of the Year recognition. She became the first Bison since Jennifer Ervick in 1998 to claim the award. 

Klassen was also named to the Canada West All-Rookie team in cross country. On the track she recorded several personal bests, and was part of the women’s 4×800 relay that qualified for nationals. 

The Male Rookie of the Year award went to Sean Rowe of football. It’s the first time in the 16-year history of the award that an offensive lineman has been selected, and second overall selection for the program (Anthony Coombs, 2012). 

Rowe became the first player in head coach Brian Dobie‘s 28-year tenure to start at left tackle as an 18-year-old true freshman. 

The Dakota grad was part of a Bisons offensive line that helped pave the way for the second-leading rushing total in the conference (1443 yards, 180.4 yards per game). Rowe also protected the blind side for Canada West’s rushing touchdown leader, quarterback Jackson Tachinski (six), and he helped running back Vaughan Lloyd rush for a career-high 343 yards. 

The Student-Athlete Leadership and Community Development Awards were distributed for the 17th time, one for each gender. Bisons football offensive lineman Mark Rauhaus, also the U SPORTS Russ Jackson recipient, was selected for the men, while Lily Francis took home female honours for track and field. Rauhaus’ selection was the eighth in the history of the award, the most of any sport on the men’s side, while Francis’ selection was the fourth for track and field, the second-most of any program. 

The 11th year of the Pat Gill Legacy Award was given to track and field assistant coach Wayne McMahon, the primary coach for Male Athlete of the Year Max Speiser. McMahon was one of the school’s first scholarship athletes in the 1970s and has been a part of the program for more than 50 years.

Additionally, in its sixth year, the Bison Sports Assistant Coach of the Year Award went to Michelle Sawatzky-Koop of women’s volleyball. The former Bisons Female Athlete of the Year, national champion and Olympian helped the Herd to a bronze medal finish at nationals, and the program’s first back to back trip in 22 years. 

In its fourth year of existence, Teammate of the Year went to men’s basketball forward Wyatt Tait. Nominated by fellow forward Simon Hildebrandt, Tait was lauded for his team-first attitude all year, rightfully earning the nickname of “The Glue Guy.”

Finally, in its second year, women’s high jumper Lara Denbow won the Spirit of the Bison award. Denbow came back from a stress fracture last season to win gold at Canada West and nationals, with her leap of 1.78m at the former being the second highest in school history. 
 

Along with the major awards, Bison Sports recognized an MVP from each team for the season:

Men’s Golf — Cole Peters
Men’s Cross-Country — Justin Kroeker
Women’s Cross-Country — Lena Klassen 
Men’s Track and Field — Max Speiser 
Women’s Track and Field — Anna McConnell 
Men’s Swimming — Andriy Usan 
Women’s Swimming — Kelsey Fillion 
Football — Jackson Tachinski 
Women’s Soccer — Karina Bagi
Men’s Hockey — Jonny Hooker
Women’s Hockey — Sarah Dennehy
Men’s Basketball — Daren Watts
Women’s Basketball — Lauren Bartlett 
Men’s Volleyball — Josh Jehle
Women’s Volleyball — Light Uchechukwu