Two-sport stars Tre Ford, Sophie de Goede take annual Canadian U Sports honours

Tre Ford of the Waterloo Warriors and Sophie de Goede of the Queen's Gaels were named winners of the Lois and Doug Mitchell U Sports athletes of the year awards on Wednesday night.

Ford completed 63.4 per cent of his passes for 1,465 yards and 10 touchdowns in last season's shortened six-game football schedule. He added 629 rushing yards and three rushing TDs en route to winning the Hec Crighton Trophy as the outstanding football player in U Sports.

Ford, from Niagara Falls, Ont., also competed on Waterloo's track and field team. He finished fifth in the 60-metre dash at the national championship.

She led the Gaels to their first U Sports women's rugby championship in program history, finishing second in tournament scoring with 42 points.

De Goede later joined the women's basketball team and helped the Gaels win a bronze medal at the Final 8 championship. She averaged 9.8 points a game during the season and led the Ontario conference with an average of 12.1 rebounds a game.

"On behalf of our entire membership, congratulations to both Tre and Sophie on being named the 2022 U Sports athletes of the year," U Sports interim CEO Dick White said in a release. "We are proud of your extensive accomplishments on the field of play and in the classroom.

"We look forward to watching you become leaders both in the community and in the next stage of your athletic and professional careers."