Swimmer Gabe Mastromatteo, basketball player Sarah Gates named U Sports athletes of the year

University of Toronto swimmer Gabriel Mastromatteo and McMaster basketball player Sarah Gates earned the Doug and Lois Mitchell Awards as this year's top athletes in Canadian university sports Wednesday.

Mastromatteo of Kenora, Ont., won the 50-metre and 100-metre men's breaststroke in U Sports record times at the national championship.

The 21-year-old, who was an Olympian in Tokyo in 2021, also won silver medals in the 200-metre breaststroke and in the 4 x 100 medley relay for the Varsity Blues.

Gates of Newmarket, Ont., was the country's top scorer in women's basketball this season with 27.3 points per game.

She capped her university career as the Marauders' all-time leading scorer in women's hoops with 1,857 points over five seasons.

Mastromatteo and Gates each received their trophies and a $5,000 scholarship to pursue post-graduate studies at a ceremony Wednesday evening in Calgary.

⭐️U SPORTS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Sarah Gates, of the <a href="https://twitter.com/McMasterSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@McMasterSports</a> Women’s Basketball team is the winner of the 2023 Lois Mitchell Award!<br><br>⭐️ ATHLÈTES DE L’ANNÉE DE U SPORTS : Sarah Gates de l’équipe de basketball féminin de McMaster est la lauréate 2023 du prix Lois Mitchell! <a href="https://t.co/KPyxUtWFww">pic.twitter.com/KPyxUtWFww</a>

The top U Sports male and female athletes have been recognized since 1993 when former CFL player and commissioner and UBC football alum Doug Mitchell founded the awards.

Mitchell died last year at the age of 83.

His wife Lois Mitchell, who was Alberta's lieutenant-governor from 2015 to 2020, has continued their joint sponsorship of the awards.

The honours were previously called the Howard Mackie Awards, BLG Awards and