Four UBC Okanagan Heat student-athletes were named Canada West Players of the Week on Tuesday including women's cross country's Lauren McNeil, men's golf's Ryan Gillis, women's soccer's Megan Sun and men's soccer's Ronan Woodroffe.
Four UBCO Heat athletes recognized as Canada West Players of the Week
The four athletes recognized as Canada West Players of the week represents the most the UBCO Heat have had in a single week since the conference switched to the Player of the Week format in 2021. The previous most in a single week was two in October 2022.
Lauren McNeil – Women's Cross Country
Stewart Cup: Individual Champion - 25:53.3
In her first race for the UBCO Heat in three years, Lauren McNeil picked up right where she left off winning the Stewart Cup on Saturday.
The Canada West and U SPORTS silver medalist back in 2021, McNeil won her third race as a member of the Heat, outpacing the second place finisher by one minute and 16 seconds. McNeil is back at UBCO after attending the school as an exchange student in 2021 and is coming off a gold medal with Team Great Britain in the women's team half marathon at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Ryan Gillis – Men's Golf
CW Championships: Round 1 - 64 (-8)
CW Championships: Round 2 - 71 (-1)
Ryan Gillis was clearly feeling right at home during the 2024 Canada West Golf Championships, hosted in Kelowna at the Okanagan Golf Club. His brilliant performance helped him claim the individual men's title and helped the Heat to a first place team finish.
Gillis blitzed the course in Round 1, shooting an impressive eight under-par 64, tying the lowest round ever recorded at a CW championship. He then shot a one under-par 71 the next day to bring home the win, finishing two strokes ahead of teammate Thomas Lemay. ?
He becomes the third consecutive member of the Heat to win the individual gold medal after Justin Towill's back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
Megan Sun – Women's Soccer
Oct. 11 at TRU - 44 min played, 2 goals, 1 GWG, 3 SOG, 3 shots
Megan Sun came into the match as a second-half substitute and proceeded to play hero for the UBCO Heat, singlehandedly changing the outlook of the Pacific Division playoff picture.
After her team fell behind 2-1 to the WolfPack, and crucial playoff positioning hanging in the balance, Sun tied the match in the 79th minute. With the game in stoppage time, Sun won a race to a loose ball and drew a penalty. She stepped up and scored her second of the match to give the Heat the win.
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?A UBCO loss would have seen TRU vault the Heat into 4th in the Pacific Division standings. Instead, Sun's heroics leave the Heat on the brink of securing their second-straight playoff berth as they now sit 5 points clear of their Interior BC rivals with two games remaining.
Ronan Woodroffe – Men's Soccer
Oct. 11 vs TRU - 4 saves, 1 penalty stop, 1 GA, 1 win (2-1 Heat victory)
?Oct. 12 vs TRU - 6 saves, 1 penalty stop, 1 GA, 1 win (1-0 Heat victory)
Woodroffe set a pair of UBCO career records with his 10 saves in two wins against the TRU WolfPack this past weekend. He became the Heat's career saves leader with 188, passing former Heat Nicholas Reitsma's previous record of 178. He also set a new team wins record with 12, passing the old mark of 11 held by Mitch McCaw. His 10 saves also moves him into a tie for 10th for most saves in a single season in Canada West history with 84.
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?His performance was punctuated by a pair of penalty stops against the WolfPack, one in each game. Woodroffe stopped Jonathan Rinaldi to keep his team ahead 1-0 on Friday night before making another penalty save on Minwoo Kang on Saturday when the game was still knotted at zeroes.
-With files from Canada West