Sport Yukon handed out their Major Awards honours Thursday in a small ceremony in the lobby. To follow the COVID-19 guidelines, the recipients arrived one at a time to receive their trophies.

A selection committee voted on the seven available awards; male/female international athlete of the year, male/female national/territorial athlete of the year, coach of the year, administrator of the year, and team of the year.

National/Territorial Athlete of the Year - Delia Therriault

Delia Therriault, 12, burst onto the archery scene with an impressive performance during the Multi-site Indoor Championships of the Americas on Dec. 16. Therriault set a new Canadian record during the MICA shoot.

Hailing from Mayo, Therriault came to Whitehorse for the Arctic Winter Games, making the team with ease. In just over a year, she has competed in all available championships, despite the pandemic, with excellent results.

On top of her Canadian record, she placed second in her age group during the Canadian Indoor Championships.

“It feels amazing,” said Therriault. “I didn’t think I would get this far in just two years. It feels really good.”

She had a big 2020, but already has plans for 2021.

“I don’t know, I’m hoping we can go to a few competitions when stuff starts to clear out,” said Therriault. “At least do what we did last year and send our scores into Archery Canada.”

Therriault was one of three athletes involved in archery to win an award. She said it felt great to share in the moment with them.

“It feels really good,” said Therriault. “It means our coach is doing good and our team is doing good. I think we will do good in the next few years. Definitely.”

With a laugh, she said she will be going for that international award next.

National/Territorial Athlete of the Year - Emmett Kapaniuk

Yukon archers saw plenty of success this year. Emmett Kapaniuk, 14, tied the Canadian record for his age category. Kapaniuk most recently won a gold medal at the Canadian Indoor Championships and MICA.

With this much success early in his archery career, his name is becoming well known in the archery community. This is no surprise, he puts all his time, focus, and efforts into the sport.

“It feels pretty good,” said Kapaniuk. “Was not really expecting it with all that’s going on, it didn’t cross my head. But, it feels really good.”

Kapaniuk has his sights set high for 2021 and beyond.

“Hopefully, I can start going into international competitions once they open up,” said Kapaniuk. “In the next few years, I’ll go for the big Team Canada spot and see where it goes from there.”

In the short term, Kapaniuk said he will continue to build on his 2020 campaign.

“I’ll go to more tournaments, get a wider range for archery and styles and keep on building on that,” he said.

International Female Athlete of the Year - Dahria Beatty

Yukon Olympian Dahria Beatty has continued to be one of the top-ranked skiers in Canada and was the only skier nominated to the World Cup Team.

She has consistently placed in the top 30 at world cup ski events. Her 2020 achievements include an 11th place finish in the team sprint in Dresden, Germany, and 29th place finish in the sprint in Dresden. Beatty also had a 37th place finish at the Falun, Sweden sprint world cup.

International Male Athlete of the Year - Dylan Cozens

Now seeing success in the NHL, Dylan Cozens had a strong season in international competitions while representing Canada at the world junior hockey championships.

He began 2020 by winning gold at the world juniors in the Czech Republic. Team Canada beat Russia 4-3, and Cozens scored the opening goal for the Canucks.

To finish 2020, he co-captained Team Canada at the Edmonton world juniors. He was one of the tournament’s leading scorers and he and his teammates earned the silver medal.

Team of the Year - Yukon North Stars Female Mustangs

This gold medal-winning team was comprised of 16 players from four communities; Dawson (two); Haines Junction (one); Watson Lake (two); and Whitehorse (11).

Their gold medal win at the team’s first tournament of the year, Angles on Ice Hockey Tournament, came down to the wire. In an exciting shootout, the team persevered and earned gold. Their record over the weekend was 4-1.

Throughout the year, the girls played in different divisions but did an excellent job of coming together and training whenever possible.

The North Stars won gold and Team of the Year together, they also interviewed together as a team.

“Good, great, amazing,” shouted the girls about the accomplishment.

The highlight of the tournament for them was the shootout.

“We had the best shooters and the best goalie,” they said.

The girls who were able to attend said they look forward to getting back on the ice together and winning more gold medals.

The team was, Caely Burdes, Cassandra Cebuliak, Emma Curtis, Alia Drummond, Jaden Ezzard, Rachel Kormendy, Kianna Loots, Alaina Joe-Beaudin, Heidi Nash, Isabelle Paquette, Callie Quaile, Emma Silbernagel, Kailey Smith, Emery Twardochleb, Alix Walchuk, and Taylor Bierlmeier. Coaches: Trevor Twardochleb, Jessica Pumphrey

Coach of the Year - Warren Kapaniuk

Having two athletes win major awards in 2020 makes Warren Kapaniuk a deserving winner for coach of the year. The Yukon’s archery team has seen growing success throughout the years and that culminated in 2020.

Even though plenty of competitions were axed because of COVID-19, the competitive team still shot, virtually, in the Archery Canada Region Indoor Nationals and MICA.

At the Canadian Indoor Nationals, the team won six medals, including two gold. Kapaniuk hopes the team’s success will continue to help archery grow in the Yukon – both recreationally and competitively.

“I’m really proud of the archers, especially Emmett and Delia,” said Kapaniuk. “They went the whole year without competitions and were able to still put on their best performances at the end.”

Kapaniuk said he is looking forward to what the next year will bring.

“Over the last five years, we’ve slowly been building the competitive archery team,” said Kapaniuk. “We’ve got some really good young archers coming up that hopefully want to go the competitive route.”

When it was announced he was a winner, Kapaniuk said it was unexpected.

“It feels great, I was probably more surprised than Emmett was,” said Kapaniuk. “Coaching archery wasn’t something I planned on, it is something I fell into when my sons started doing it. It took and now we have a fairly competitive team.”

Administrator of the Year - Sophia Marnik

In 2020, Sophia Marnik was the head organizer and chief of results for all races at the biathlon facility. That included Arctic Winter Games trials for both ski and snowshoe, Yukon Championships, and the Grey Mountain Invitational Ski Race.

When COVID-19 hit and athletes could no longer travel to compete, Marnik helped organize the Grey Mountain Cup. Three races were held in 2020 and the final race will be held this Saturday and Sunday.

She also organized the after race-snacks, laundered the athlete bibs, and posted biathlon results to social media. Marnik also holds the position of secretary on the board of directors for Biathlon Yukon.

“It is nice to be recognized when you put the work in,” said Marnik. “It is never why you do the work but it is nice to know that people see what you are up to.

“I do it because I love biathlon and I want to see it successful.”

The Grey Mountain Cup races that have been held during the pandemic, Marnik thinks, have brought a lot of joy to the athletes.

“I think the athletes are really happy this year that they got to race which they wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise,” said Marnik.