The Manitoba Bisons varsity teams have completed another successful  season. In the 2011-12 season, one team (men’s volleyball) returned to  the CIS championship and earned a bronze medal while one team (men’s  hockey) was first in regular season conference standings for the first  time since 1970-71 plus two others teams qualified for post-season  action and one team (track and field) hosted a CIS championship along  with numerous individual accolades plus major conference award winners  and CIS recognition. The Manitoba Bisons distributed their end of the  year hardware at the annual Brown and Gold Year-End Banquet held at Canad Inns - Fort Garry on Saturday, March 31.

Bisons Addie Miles and Dane Pischke were named as Bison Sports Female  and Male Athletes of the Year for the 2011-12 season. Men’s Volleyball  Head Coach Garth Pischke was selected as Bison Sports Coach of the  Year while for the third time Bison Sports Rookie of the Year (Female  and Male) awards were announced and Christina Souza and Anthony Coombs  picked up the first-year honours.

Miles’s selection as the Bison Female Athlete of the Year award winner  is the third time from the 15 year women’s hockey program history.  There has now been three women’s hockey athletes selected in the 49  year history of the award.

The fifth year Bison capped another award-winning season during 2011-12.-       Miles was selected as team MVP and also team captain this season.

• She was named Canada West Second Team All-Star at defenceman  position after converting from being a forward for majority of her  career.
• Once again, she was the team top scorer for the fifth consecutive  season and was eighth in the Canada West scoring with 22 points (nine  goals, 13 assists) while playing all 24 conference regular season games.
• Miles was second in Canada West scoring among defenceman with 22 points.
• In the 2011-12 season, the fifth year student-athlete leaves  Manitoba being one of the most award-winning players in the program’s  15-year history. In her five-year career, she was a second team  all-star in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 plus first team all-star in  2008-09 and Canada West Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Team in the  2007-08 season. Along with the conference rewards, the Winnipeg native  played for Team Canada and won gold at the 2011 Winter Universiade in  Turkey. In addition, she finished as Top Bison all-time scorer and  tenth overall in Canada West career scoring with 123 points (52 goals,  71 assists) while playing in 116 of 120 regular season games.

Pischke’s selection is the first time a men’s volleyball  student-athlete has been named Bison Male Athlete of the Year since  the 2003-04 season. There has now been 15 men’s volleyball athletes  selected in the 53 year history of the award. This ranks the sport in  a tie with hockey for first spot for Bison male yearly winners.

Pischke had an amazing year both at conference and CIS level in his  fourth year at Manitoba during the 2011-12 season.

• He was selected as team MVP this season.
• In the 2011-12 season, Pischke was CIS First Team All-Canadian and  Canada West First Team All-Star at the right side position plus a CIS  Championship All-Star.
• The fourth year student-athlete was first in CIS with 292 kills plus  first in CIS with 337.5 points in the regular season.
• He earned the best plus/minus among all players at the 2012 CIS  Men’s Volleyball Championship.
• In addition, he was tied for 12th with 164 digs and 13th in CIS  hitting percentage with .295. The Winnipeg native started and played  in all 20 regular season games and also accumulated 65 total blocks,  14 assists and six service aces.
• Pischke was selected Smitty’s Bison Sports Athlete of the Week in  four different occasions (most this year by a Bison).
• Helped the team to a 18-2 regular season record, a Canada West  silver medal and a bronze medal at the 2012 CIS Men’s Volleyball  Championship.

For the female athletes, they have given the year-end Athlete of the  Year award since the 1963-64 season. Volleyball continues to lead with  20 winners, six ahead of women’s basketball (counting multi-sport  winners) and 12 ahead of women’s track and field (counting multi-sport  winners), hockey and gymnastics are tied at four with three selections  each. Bison Male Athletes of the Year have been selected since the  1959-60 season with volleyball and hockey now tied for first spot with  15 winners followed by football (10), basketball plus track and field  (6) tied for fourth and then swimming and wrestling at two.

Along with the Athletes of the Year, Garth Pischke was selected for  the third time as Bison Sports Coach of the Year in the 11 year  history of the award. He becomes only the second Bison coach to win  this honour three times. Some of his highlights included:

• He led his team to a CIS bronze medal, which was the highest placing  by a Bison team at the CIS level during the 2011-12 season.
• In his 31st season as Bisons head coach, has guided the Bisons to  the CIS National Championships for a 26th time and have now collected  nine CIS gold medals, nine CIS silver medals, and five CIS bronze  medals.
• Pischke guided the team to a 18-2 regular season record and a Canada  West silver medal.
• The Bison men’s volleyball was ranked as high as number two in CIS  Top 10 this season.
• Earlier in the season, he accomplished another milestone with his  1200th career coaching victory with a 3-0 victory over #1 Trinity  Western on Jan. 27/12 and has the most overall coaching wins by a CIS  head coach.

Bson Sports began honouring rookie of the year lin the 2009-10  season. In the third year of Bison Rookie of the Year awards that  reflects the outstanding contribution of a first year Bison, the Bison  Female Rookie of the Year is from the women’s volleyball program as  setter Christina Souza made an immediate impact in her first season at  Manitoba.

• She was named to CIS All-Rookie Team.
• Souza started all of the 18 conference regular season games and  played in all 74 regular season sets plus all eight playoff sets  during the season.-       On a very young team, she was the ‘quarterback’ at her position and  was fourth overall in CIS with 665 assists.
• In addition, she ranked 17th in Canada West digs and had 73 kills  (fifth best on team), 36 total blocks (fifth on the team) and 18  service aces (fourth on the team) in conference regular season play.

The Bison Male Rookie of the Year is football running back/kick  returner Anthony Coombs. He had a award-winning season with Manitoba.

• He was named CIS First Team All-Canadian.
• Coombs was named Canada West All-Star and selected as a Canada West  Football Athlete of the Week twice.
• Produced 640 rushing yards (eighth best in CIS) and added eight  rushing TDs (fifth most in CIS) along with 1203 all-purpose yards  (first in Canada West) while playing 7 of 8 conference regular season  games.
• Named World Team MVP for his performance when the International  Federation of American Football World Team defeated the U.S. Under-19  National Team by a 35-29 score in USA Football’s third annual  International Bowl on Feb. 1 in Austin, TX.
• And the Winnipeg native became the first University of Manitoba  student-athlete to be included in the 56-year history of the “Faces in  the Crowd” section of Sports Illustrated in the Feb. 27 issue.

The Student-Athlete Leadership and Community Development Award were  handed out for the sixth time to one female and one male recipient.  Fifth year women’s track and field student-athlete Lisa Wong and fifth  year track and field student-athlete Travis Toet were this season’s  award winners, which highlights their leadership skills, community  involvement and also academics and athletics.

Wong was involved in numerous aspects in the community.

• She will be completing her studies at the Asper School of Business  this year.
• Wong is a member of CANU, helping children with promising futures  find the opportunities they require to succeed.
• Amember of UMAC (U of Manitoba Athletes Council) who volunteers  with both the Siloam Mission and Bisons Against Bullying programs over  the years.
• Wong is the captain of her team for a third consecutive season.
• She canvasses for the Canadian Cancer Society.
• Through the Home School Leadership Program, Wong taught kids and  their parents proper running technique, and how to train.
• Te Winnipeg native is also a Track and Field coach at her alum high  school at Fort Richmond Collegiate.

Toet finished his Manitoba career being an ambassador outside of university.-       He is in his final year at the Asper School of Business.

• Toet is a coordinator of the CANU program for inner city elementary  school kids, helping children with promising futures find the  opportunities they require to succeed.
• He was a Bison Book Buddy.
• Toet has been volunteering with Bisons Against Bullying for the past  three years.
• He was a volunteer at the Canadian Junior Track & Field  Championships hosted at U of Manitoba this past summer.
• Toet volunteered with political campaigns, including those at the  federal level.
• The Winnipeg native is also helped coach Track & Field at his alum  high school at Immanuel Christian School.

Along with the major awards, Bison Sports recognized team MVP from  each team, each year.

• Women’s Basketball – Maria Pawlyshyn
• Men’s Basketball – Stephan Walton
• Women’s Cross Country – Lacey deJong
• Men’s Cross Country – Thomas Miller
• Football – Anthony Coombs
• Men’s Golf – Josh Wytinck
• Women’s Hockey – Addie Miles
• Men’s Hockey – Blair Macaulay
• Women’s Soccer – Chloe Werle
• Women’s Swimming – Luella Ocon
• Men’s Swimming – Riley Pickerl
• Women’s Track & Field – Lisa Wong
• Men’s Track & Field – Zacharie Durand
• Women’s Volleyball – Kristi Hunter
• Men’s Volleyball – Dane Pischke