After another terrific season both on and off the court, UBC Okanagan Heat forward Jordan Korol has been selected as the Sylvia Sweeney Award recipient by the U SPORTS’ Canada West Conference.
Korol graduated from Vernon Secondary and hails from Coldstream, and she becomes the first Heat student-athlete to be honoured with one of the conference’s major awards which were announced Thursday morning.
The award is given to the athlete who best excels in three key areas: basketball, academics, and community involvement; Korol, as the conference winner, will move on as the nominee from Canada West for the U SPORTS national community service award of the same name.
As the first UBCO student-athlete in any sport to earn a CW major award, the fourth year forward also becomes the first from the Heat to be a finalist for a major U SPORTS award since UBC Okanagan joined Canada West in 2011-12.
On the court, Korol became the first player in program history to average a double-double for the course of an entire season thanks to 13.0 points and 10.2 boards a contest.
Korol, a team captain, also became the first female basketball player to be named a Canada West Star of the Week following back-to-back outstanding performances against the Mount Royal Cougars. That weekend in Calgary, Korol set a new career-high with 26 points the opening night and nearly topped that mark with 24 the following day.
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Korol has also been a model-student athlete in the classroom, as she has been named a U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian on two occasions and is on pace for another this year.
A former cancer survivor herself, the forward has been a volunteer with the B.C. Cancer Society for the past couple of years and also recently helped out with the Canadian Blood Service “hockey gives blood” media day.
Looking to inspire young basketball players, Korol has been a staple with the Junior Heat Basketball program as a guest coach since her arrival in 2015-16.
Heat head coach Bobby Mitchell of Vernon couldn’t say enough about how Korol has been a great role-model for UBC Okanagan and Heat Athletics.
“I think I can speak for not only the women’s basketball team but the entire Heat family that we are all very proud of Jordan to win this award, a first for the school and program,” said Mitchell.
“Jordan is the perfect example of how a student-athlete should carry themselves on and off the court and she does it consistently. For our women’s program, she is laying the foundation for what the Heat way looks like, players in the program or coming in don’t need to look very far to see this example, again we are all very proud of her.”
The forward will be returning for one final season next year as the Heat return nearly everyone off of this year’s squad along with bringing in another strong recruiting class.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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