The list of honours keeps growing for Gage Grassick.
The Prince Albert product racked up personal and team awards during a championship season with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. She added to that total on Monday when she received the Lois Mitchell Award for U Sport Female Athlete of the Year.
“Hearing my name … was just an absolute whirlwind of emotions,” Grassick said during a phone interview on Tuesday. “You go through all the stages of disbelief…. I was so fortunate that the trustees voted me to win this award this year, so I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Grassick was one of four athletes nominated for the award. She edged out a pair of runners in Western University’s Favour Okpali and Laval’s Marie-Frederique Poulin, and Cape Breton University soccer player Alliyah Rowe for the win.
The Mitchell Award is Grassick’s latest individual honour. She also won MVP honours at the U Sports Final 8 tournament, and the Nan Copp Trophy as the U Sports women’s basketball Outstanding Player of the Year. Grassick also received the Mary Ethel Cartwright Trophy as the USask’s Most Outstanding Female Athlete, and was named a first-team All-Canadian.
Grassick set USask single-season records for assists and triple-doubles and led U Sports in three-pointers and three-point shooting percentage. She said those individual accolades are special, but they’re the result of playing on a great team.
“Like I’ve said 100 times, they’re never individual awards,” she explained. “They’re 100 per cent team awards. This year I was so fortunate to receive so many awards because it reflected how great our team was. Really, at the end of the day, any one of my teammates could have been up on that stage other than me accepting an award like that.”
The Huskies had plenty of team success with Grassick in the line-up. The fourth year guard scored 31 points as the Huskies defeated UBC in the Canada West final. Her strong play continued at the U Sports Final 8, where her 35-point effort helped the Huskies defeat Carlton University 85-66. It was the University of Saskatchewan’s third national title.
“Our team last year was phenomenal, and we stepped it up this year and played some of our best basketball that we’ve ever played together,” Grassick said.
Grassick joins volleyball player Adam Ens as the second University of Saskatchewan athlete to win U Sport Athlete of the Year. Ens won the Doug Mitchell Award for U Sports Male Athlete of the Year in 2004.
Wildfred Laurier University quarterback Taylor Elgersma was named the 2025 U Sports Male Athlete of the Year, edging out St. Francis Xavier University basketball player D.J. Jackson, Laval runner Philippe Morneau-Cartier, and University of Calgary basketball player Nate Petrone.
The U Sport Athlete of the Year award winners are selected by the Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board.
“We are so proud of the eight nominees this year. They are exceptional student-athletes and citizens,” Canadian Athletic Foundation board chair Lois Mitchell said in a press release. “Gage and Taylor had outstanding seasons, demonstrating their adaptability to any condition they have faced on the field of competition and in the classroom. They are excellent recipients of the Lois and Doug Mitchell Awards.”
