CommunitySportsTop Story

Soccer ace Zoe Rowe among athletes honoured at Premier’s athletic awards

A number of young athletes from this newspaper’s coverage area were presented with provincial athletic awards last week at the annual gala event.

Gleb Evstigneev of Paradise was one of only two athletes awarded a Team Gushue Award, valued at $5,000.

Evstigneev boasts an impressive athletic and academic record. A well decorated gymnast, Evstigneev recently earned a gold medal in the trampoline competition at the Canada Games, and also represented Team Canada at the 2023 Pan American Championships, finishing first in the individual category. He is currently in his third year at Memorial University and maintains a 3.17 grades point average.

Zoe Rowe of Conception Bay South was awarded the inaugural Michelle Healey Memorial Award. Rowe competed with Memorial university’s Sea-Hawks women’s varsity soccer team, and was named team MVP. Off the field, Rowe volunteers with organizations including Easter Seals, CBS Soccer, and the MUN Biochemistry Society.

The award, valued at $5,000, is awarded to a female athlete based on athletic success and commitment to community.

 A number of athletes were awarded 2024 Premier’s Athletic Awards, including Amelia Coady, Shae LeDevehat, Jordan Flynn, Chase Tucker, Brooke LeDevehat, Kylie Sooley, Colin Dyer, Karen Greek, and Falon McLoughlan of Mount Pearl; Amy Harris, Benjamin Fudge, Ryan Greene, Katie Winsor, Nicholas Quinn, Gavin Baggs, Tyson Snow, and Jorja Row of Paradise; and Molly Gill, Haley Ryan, Stephen Westcott, Kyle Slade, Cailey Locke, Will Carroll, Brandon Joy, Jonathan Flynn, James Traverse, and Jenna Lake of Conception Bay South.

Other winners included James Power of the Goulds, Jessie Penney of Clarke’s Beach, Rachel Tuff of Witless Bay, and Jasmine Wheadon, Matthew King, and Brooklyn Shortt of Carbonear.

Meanwhile, at CBS council on November 5, councillor-at-large Christine Butler singled out the athletes from the town who were recognized with awards this year.

Fellow councillor-at-large Paul Connors focused on the achievements of Zoe Rowe, and the significance of winning the inaugural Michelle Healey Memorial Award.

“Michelle was a well-known, very respected athlete and friend of everybody throughout the province,” Connors noted. “And a resident of Conception Bay South won that.”

Connors said anyone who has been involved in sports in CBS probably knows Rowe.

“She’s an all around athlete,” Connors said. “I coached her in hockey and in ball hockey, and she excelled in those sports and basically everything she went at. But soccer is really her thing. She’s playing with the Memorial (University) Seahawks, she was MVP of the team last year, and she won some other awards last year. But beyond her achievements, Zoe is deeply committed to volunteering for things such as Easter Seals, I think she still volunteers with the (CBS) soccer association, and the MUN biochemistry club. She’s all around a great young adult here in our town. She was recognized when she became a Rhodes Scholar finalist and was honoured as the 2023 winner of the Atlantic Universities’ community service award for her exceptional volunteer work. So, I think this is a great award, and it’s in memory of a great person, Michelle Healey, and to be the first winner of that award was a great job.”

Mayor Darrin Bent, who knows Rowe personally because of his own involvement working with the CBS Soccer Association, agreed with that assessment.

“I was talking with Zoe over the last couple of days,” he said. “And typical Zoe, she wanted a little bit of field time to see if she can hone up her skills. I suspect that Zoe Rowe is honing her skills for some sort of professional soccer career because she is definitely above and beyond (her peers) in this province and her hard work and natural skill are incredible. And like you said, she was a finalist for Rhodes Scholar last year, which says a lot about who this person is. And to win the inaugural Michelle Healey Award is just tremendous.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *