CFL quarterback prospect Buckley, Olympic swimmer Masse win BLG Awards

CALGARY – Andrew Buckley and Kylie Masse are having a big 2016.

In addition to winning the BLG Awards as the top athletes in Canadian Interuniversity Sport on Monday, Masse will swim in the Olympic Games and Buckley will take a shot at becoming a CFL quarterback this summer.

“That just tells you the calibre of athlete coming out of the CIS,” Buckley said. “It’s an incredibly talented league and I think very under-rated.”

Buckley capped five years quarterbacking the University of Calgary Dinos by setting a single-season CIS passing record of 3,162 yards. The Dinos went 8-0 in the regular season.

The University of Toronto’s Masse (pronounced MOSS) swept three backstroke finals and finished top two in all seven of her races at the CIS swimming championship.

Buckley won the Hec Crighton Trophy that goes to the most valuable player in CIS football a second straight year. The 22-year-old Calgarian will attend the Calgary Stampeders camp later this month.

“I’ll be the lone CIS quarterback trying to make the CFL this year,” Buckley said. “I do feel like I’m representing the CIS and sure hope I do a good job.”

Masse, a 20-year-old from Lasalle, Ont., won four gold medals and three silver at the CIS championship.

The second-year kinesiology student twice broke the Canadian record in the 100-metre backstroke at April’s Olympic trials to punch a ticket to Rio.

She said the momentum and confidence gained from her performance at the university championship helped propel her onto the Olympic team.

“Going into trials with that kind of mindset and having come off that championship I think helped a lot my races at trials,” Masse said. “Obviously CIS is doing an amazing job and it’s a great foundation and support system and competition environment to be able to succeed in.”

Her goal is to make the final in Rio.

Buckley and Masse each received $10,000 post-graduate scholarships, a watch and a gold ring at Monday’s ceremony in Calgary.

Masse earned the Jim Thompson Trophy that goes to the female winner, while Buckley was given the Doug Mitchell Trophy as the top male athlete.

According to the CIS, there are 12,000 student-athletes competing annually for 56 universities.

The other male finalists were McMaster volleyball player Stephen Maar and hockey players Jordan Murray out of the University of New Brunswick and Guillaume Asselin from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres.

McGill hockey player Melodie Daoust, Acadia basketball player Paloma Anderson and Thompson Rivers University volleyball player Iuliia Pakhomenko were the other female finalists.

Student-athletes must compete in CIS sport a minimum of two years to be eligible and can’t be a previous recipient of a BLG Award.

CFL football player and Olympic bobsledder Jesse Lumsden, Olympic women’s hockey team goaltender Kim St. Pierre and Olympic heptathlete Jessica Zelinka are among previous recipients of the awards, which are sponsored by the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais.

The Canadian Athletic Foundation that chooses the winners consists of 19 business people from five Canadian cities. Lawyer Doug Mitchell, a former CFL player, executive and commissioner, is chairman of that board.

The public was also invited to vote online on the CIS, BLG and Sportsnet websites.

Among the friends, family and coaches Buckley had in the audience Monday were Stampeder coach Dave Dickenson and general manager John Hufnagel.

Buckley participated in the Stampeders’ training camp in 2015. He got reps in a pair of CFL pre-season games before returning to the Dinos for his final year of eligibility.

In addition to the CIS passing record, the six-foot QB set a Canada West record in completion percentage (72). The Stampeders re-signed Buckley this year, so he will postpone medical school to pursue a pro football career.

“Right now, the little boy in me wants to pursue the pro football career and see how long I can take that because it’s such a rare opportunity,” Buckley said. “Med school is something that’s definitely going to be down the line.”

The University of Calgary leads all schools in BLG winners with eight since the inaugural awards in 1993. McGill, British Columbia, McMaster and Toronto have four BLG winners apiece.