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St. Francis athletic award winners

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St. Francis senior girls basketball player Rachel Bufalino was presented with an outstanding leadership award by her school. BPSN Photo.

Following are the 2019-20 athletic award winners at St. Francis Secondary School in St. Catharines.

Junior girls basketball: Ava Hitchcock, outstanding leadership.

Senior girls basketball: Rachel Bufalino, outstanding leadership.

Cheerleading: Ashley DiPasquale, outstanding participation; Lauren Araujo, outstanding leadership.

Mason Petrucci

Boys cross country: Mason Petrucci and Sam Nolan, excellent athleticism.

Golf: Blake McGowan, boys MVP: Avery Allen, girls most improved.

Junior football: Aeden Macfadyen, most improved on offence; Nixon Provenzano, outstanding effort on defence.

Senior football: Ethan Reid and Quinton Duemo, outstanding performance on offence; Johnny Kunej, outstanding performance on defence.

Junior girls volleyball: Lily Brown, outstanding performance

Senior girls volleyball: Grace Gill, MVP; Hayleigh Finch, outstanding participation.

Varsity boys volleyball: Andres Pelaez, outstanding leadership,

Tennis: Eesa Huq, boys outstanding performance; Alexa Wall, girls outstanding performance.

Curling; Joshua Lepp, boys award; Samantha Robitaille, girls award.

Igor M’Baya

Junior boys basketball: Vladimir Brundula-Ilija, outstanding leadership.

Senior boys basketball: Igor M’Baya, MVP.

Girls hockey: Emily Sabourin, outstanding participation.

Varsity boys hockey: Blake Venneri, MVP: Joshua Gillesby, outstanding leadership.

Swimming: Lea Formicuccia, girls swimmer of the year; Cross Carbonara, boys most improved.

Wrestling: Michael Setrak, outstanding performance.

Schools are encouraged to send a list of their athletic award winners for publication on BPSN to bpuchalski@cogeco.ca. Please include pictures of athletes of the year if available.

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Bill and Bernie

Bernie Puchalski, a graduate of Brock University and Niagara College, worked in journalism in Niagara for more than 27 years before taking a voluntary buyout from The Standard at the end of 2016. He started his career as a news reporter for the Niagara Falls Review before switching to sports reporting. He was a sports reporter and sports editor at the Niagara Falls Review before joining the Standard's sports department in 1996. He was named the Standard's sports editor in 2000 and became the regional sports editor, in charge of the Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Standard, in 2015, a position he held until he left the company. During his time in newspapers, he was a multiple winner and finalist for numerous Ontario and Western Ontario Newspaper Awards for sports reporting, spot news reporting and humour writing. He was a member of the Standard Boys Basketball Tournament committee and co-chair of the Standard Girls Basketball Tournament, helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for bursaries presented to participants in the tournament. He also served on countless local sports committees both in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.

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