MONTREAL – Freshman swimmer Loïc Courville-Fortin of Repentigny, Que., and soccer senior Chloe Renaud from St. Hubert, Que., have been named as male and female athletes of the year, respectively, at McGill University.

SEE VIDEO STREAM (approx 75:00)

LINK TO: 2025 McGill Athletics Awards Gala Booklet
 
It was a remarkable day for the varsity swim program, which took home a school record six of the 10 major trophies handed out at the 47th annual McGill Athletics awards gala held Wednesday evening at the Evo Plaza Centre-Ville, a student residence located in downtown Montreal.
 
As the student-athletes who brought most credit to the University by reason of their athletic achievements, it marked the sixth consecutive year and 19th time in school history, that a member of the men's swim team won the D. Stuart Forbes Trophy. On the women's side, it was the third occasion that a soccer player took home the Gladys Bean Trophy.

Renaud, who was also announced as Martlets Team MVP, led the women's soccer league in scoring with 12 goals in 14 games, was voted player of the year in the RSEQ conference.
 
Rookie of the Year Awards went to Courville-Fortin, a 20-year-old biochemistry freshman, and swimming teammate Nathalie Day, an 18-year-old Arts freshman from Vancouver, B.C.

Courville-Fortin, who was also named Team MVP, won five gold medals at the conference swim championships in addition to silver and bronze at Nationals. He becomes just the fifth athlete in school history to win both the top rookie and athlete awards in the same season. He joins an elite list that includes basketball's Nasko Golomeev (1969) and hockey's Mathieu Poitras (2005), along with swimmers Steven Bielby (2009) and Clément Secchi (2019).
 
(MORE DETAILS ON ALL AWARD RECIPIENTS BELOW)

Two trophies were presented to a graduating male and female athlete, respectively, for proficiency and leadership in athletics over their university careers:

The Richard Pound Award went to swimmer Bruno Dehem-Lemelin, a civil engineering senior from Montreal, who was celebrating his 25th birthday.

The Muriel V. Roscoe Award went to soccer's Mara Bouchard, a psychology senior from Granby, Que.
 
Among the other laureates was the Uldis Auders Memorial Trophy, which was presented to basketball's Lily Rose Chatila of Quebec City. This honour goes to the top sophomore, in any sport, who best combines academic excellence with athletic prowess. A second-year science student majoring in anatomy and cellular biology, she led the basketball Martlets in scoring, earned RSEQ first-team all-star status and was also announced as Team MVP during the gala.
 
The Dr. Mac Teskey Award for overcoming adversity while serving as an inspiration to others, went to Martlets swimmer Emilia Mastromatteo, a 20-year-old science junior from Kenora, Ont. After dominating the Quebec university circuit, she suffered a medical crisis during the fourth league meet (on Feb. 1) that kept her out of the conference championships. But five weeks later, she rallied to score 90.5 points over all five of her races at Nationals to account for 10 per cent of McGill's total points scored (936.5) at the U SPORTS championship meet in Toronto. That gutsy performance helped push the fourth-ranked Martlets ahead of heavily-favoured Calgary by 16 points for a second-place finish.
 
The Martlet Foundation Trophy, presented to the varsity team of the year, went to the women's swim team for the sixth time since 1986. They placed first of six schools at the RSEQ championship to capture the conference title for a fifth straight season. With a roster of 23 swimmers, a team record 19 of them qualified for the U SPORTS national championships in Toronto, where they finished a best-ever, second place of 20 schools. The Martlets had a dozen conference all-stars, including 10 on the first team. They also had four second-team All-Canadians, based on medals won at Nationals. They set eight school records, won six of their seven meets, had seven McGill athlete of the week awards, received two major conference awards, and bench boss Peter Carpenter won a national award as U SPORTS coach of the year in swimming.

The Harry Griffiths Trophy, awarded to the top team outside the jurisdiction of U SPORTS, was presented to the men's lacrosse squad for the fifth time since 1996. They posted an 11-2 record overall, including a perfect 10-0 in regular-season play to win the CUFLA East and qualified for Nationals where they suffered a heart-breaking 12-11 semifinal loss to Western in quadruple overtime. The Redbirds maintained a 39-man team roster and had six CUFLA East all-stars. A well-organized club, they generated about $26,000 during a recent one-day, McGill24 crowdfunding event, in addition to offering an indigenous scholarship and presenting an annual Legacy Game in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Finally, tribute was also paid to McGill's 13 All-Canadians, 83 conference all-stars and two league championships won during the 2024-25 varsity season. Conference banners were captured in both men's and women's swimming. A single-season school record 14 of 26 varsity teams competed at a national championship, including men's soccer in Oshawa, Ont., which qualified for the first time in 13 years, dating back to the 2011 season. The other teams to qualify for Nationals included badminton (m & w), cross-country running (m & w), lacrosse (m), swimming (m & w), artistic swimming (w), track & field (m & w), rowing (m & w) and golf (m).
 
The evening concluded with the introduction of the newly-elected slate of officers for the 2025-26 McGill Varsity Council, which will be led by President Ella Durno (track), VP Communications: Anika Cormier (hockey) & Selima Guidara (volleyball), VP Community Outreach: Mathieu Gagnon (hockey), VP Varsity Affairs: Reilly Sullivan (field hockey) & Kiara Gilroy (track), VP Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: Aaliyah Kamdar (soccer) and SSMU Athletic Rep: Annette Yu (rugby).
 
(MAJOR AWARD PROFILES LISTED AFTER TEAM MVPs BELOW)

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2024-25 MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARDS FOR McGILL'S 26 VARSITY TEAMS
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Team	MVP	HOMETOWN
Artistic Swimming (w)	Sonia Dunn	Ottawa, Ont.
Badminton (m)	Nicolas Germain	Laval, Que.
Badminton (w)	Eliana Zhang	Ile-Bizard, Que.
Baseball (m)	Brad Marelich	Pasadena, Calif. (USA)
Basketball (m)	Georges Lefebvre	Montreal, Que.
Basketball (w)	Lily Rose Chatila	Quebec City, Que.
Cross Country (m)	Devin Chapple	Toronto, Ont.
Cross Country (w)	Sophie Courville	Montreal, Que.
Field Hockey (w)	Natalie Doehla	Stowe, Vt. (USA)
Football (m)	Éloa Latendresse-Regimbald	Montreal, Que.
Golf (m)	Simon Savaria	La Prairie, Que.
Golf (w)	Amy Wang	Markham, Ont.
Hockey (m)	Brandon Frattaroli	Pierrefonds, Que.
Hockey (w)	Taylor Garcia	Ottawa, Ont.
Lacrosse (m)	Zach Bye	Greenwich, Conn. (USA)
Rowing (m)	Ayoub Sabri	Rabat (MOROCCO)
Rowing (w)	Abigail Powell	Warwick (BERMUDA)
Rugby (m)	Anderson Recker	Halifax, N.S.
Rugby (w)	Emma Piers	Montreal, Que.
Soccer (m)	Ibrahim Chami	Laval, Que.
Soccer (w)	Chloé Renaud	St. Hubert, Que.
Swimming (m)	Loïc Courville-Fortin	Repentigny, Que.
Swimming (w)	Elizabeth Ling	Calgary, Alta.
Track & Field (m)	Robert Gerstner	Winnipeg, Man.
Track & Field (w)	Donna Ntambue	Montreal, Que.
Volleyball (w)	Élyssa Lajmi	Thionville (FRANCE)

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PROFILES FOR MAJOR INDIVIDUAL AWARD RECIPIENTS
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MAJOR D. STUART FORBES TROPHY
(Male Athlete of the Year)

Loïc Courville-Fortin is a 20-year-old science freshman majoring in Biochemistry, who hails from Repentigny, Que. He won the RSEQ swim conference rookie of the year award, merited first-team all-star status and second-team All-Canadian honours. He was named four times as McGill's athlete of the week and twice won the RSEQ weekly honours. Over his six major meets, he collected 17 gold medals, two silvers and a pair of bronzes. At the RSEQ conference championship meet, he garnered five gold medals, broke one team record and a conference mark. At the Nationals, he won silver (200 IM) and bronze (200 backstroke) medals, while breaking four school records and four RSEQ records.


GLADYS BEAN TROPHY
(Female Athlete of the Year)

Chloe Renaud was voted women's soccer player of the year in the RSEQ conference and merited All-Canadian first team honours. A 5-foot-5 midfielder from St. Hubert, Que., she is a three-time league all-star who tallied 12 goals and added four assists to capture the RSEQ conference scoring crown and tied for fifth in the nation among goal leaders. The 21-year-old psychology junior became the first member of the Martlets to score a dozen goals in 23 years. She scored against all seven of the other teams in the Quebec league and found the net in 10 of the team's 14 games. Credited with three winning goals, she was named three times as the team's player of the game, twice as the McGill athlete of the week and merited the RSEQ weekly honour once.

RICHARD POUND AWARD
(Proficiency & Leadership in Athletics over McGill awarded to a male student-athlete in his final year)
 
Bruno Dehem-Lemelin, is completing his sixth year at McGill, where he earned a civil engineering undergraduate degree. A four-time conference all-star, he twice merited All-Canadian status. A three-year team captain, he helped guide the squad to five consecutive conference championships. The 25-year-old Montrealer earned Academic All-Canadian laureates while earning a berth on the President's Student-athlete Honour Roll.  He is a recipient of the T. Palmer-Howard Award for leadership, combined with high academic achievement and athletic prowess. He served on the Varsity Council, was an ambassador for the swm team's McGill24 crowdfunding project and volunteered three years as a coach with the McGill Master's Swim Club.


MURIEL V. ROSCOE AWARD
(Proficiency & Leadership in Athletics over McGill career; awarded to a female student-athlete in her final year)
 
Mara Bouchard is a 23-year-old psychology senior from Granby, Que., who is completing a double minor in sociology and behavioural science. She qualified for the President's Student-athlete Honour Roll and was named as a 2024 recipient of a Jean Béliveau Athletic Award at McGill for combining leadership with academic excellence and athletic prowess. With the soccer Martlets, she is a four-time conference all-star who has earned All-Canadian status in each of her last three seasons. The 5-foot-4 midfielder is a defensive-minded specialist renowned for stealing the ball without fouling. She was voted as the league's rookie of the year in 2021 and made the U SPORTS All-Rookie squad. Over her four years of university soccer, she served as team captain and didn't miss a game, dressing for 56 consecutive regular season outings and four more in playoffs. In January, she signed a contract to play for the Montreal Roses of the Northern Super League.


MALE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
(Must be in first year of eligibility and no older than 21 as of Sept. 1)

Loïc Courville-Fortin, Swimming, Science (Biochemistry), 20 yrs., Repentigny, Que.

(see profile above)


FEMALE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
(Must be in first year of eligibility and no older than 21 as of Sept. 1)

Nathalie Day, an 18-year-old Arts freshman from Vancouver, B.C., had an impressive rookie campaign, collecting seven gold medals, three silvers and three bronzes over her seven meets. The backstroke and breaststroke specialist, she collected three gold medals at the conference championship meet. She earned RSEQ conference first-team all-star status and qualified for Nationals, where she won two B finals and swam in two others (4x100 freestyle relay and 4 x 100 medley relay).


ULDIS AUDERS MEMORIAL AWARD
(Top sophomore student-athlete)

Lily Rose Chatilah, a 5-foot-7 guard from Quebec City, is a 20-year-old science sophomore majoring in anatomy and cellular biology. Voted the Team MVP and a conference first-team all-star, she was named three times as the McGill athlete of the week. Chatilah started in 15 games and finished fourth among the RSEQ basketball scoring leaders, averaging 12.7 points per game. She reached the 20-point plateau three times, including a season-high of 29 in a 69-62 victory against Concordia on Jan. 16, 2025. It was the highest single-game total by a McGill player in 15 years, since Anneth Him-Lazarenko tallied 32 against UQAM on Feb. 27, 2010. Chatilah led the league with an 85.7 per cent success rate in free-throw shooting (30/35), ranked third among league leaders in minutes played (30.1 minutes per game), third in assists per turnover ratio (1.4), fourth in assists per game (3.2), fifth in steals per game (2.1), sixth in minutes played (29.2), seventh in field-goal shooting at 41.1 per cent (69/168) and eighth in three-point shooting at 33.3 per cent (23/69).


DR. MAC TESKEY AWARD
(Overcoming adversity through demonstrating courage & morale worthy of honorable mention)

Swimmer Emilia Mastromatteo is a 20-year-old science junior from Kenora, Ont. She dominated the Quebec university circuit and collected an impressive total of 20 goald medals, three silvers and a pair of bronzes through the first six meets overall. On pace to win the conference's swimmer of the year honours, she suffered a medical crisis, collapsing after her last race at the fourth league meet on Feb. 1.  That resulted in her missing the conference championships. But five weeks later, she rallied to score 90.5 points over all five of her races at Nationals to account for 10 per cent of McGill's total points scored (936.5) at the U SPORTS championship meet in Toronto. That gutsy performance helped push the fourth-ranked Martlets ahead of heavily-favoured Calgary by 16 points for a second-place finish.



SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca