Chilliwack native Sarah Wierks, a first year forward for the UFV Cascades, was named to the 2011 CIA All-Canadian All-Rookie team last Thursday.
The CIS women’s basketball national championship banquet was held in Windsor, Ontario.
Wierks becomes the first Cascade women’s basketball student-athlete to be honored with an All-Canadian award in UFV’s five year association with the CIS.
The science-studies major played in 27 of the 29 Canada West and CIS regular and post season games this year, averaging 10.3 points per game while scoring 277 points.
The Chilliwack secondary school graduate played 26.6 minutes per game, pulling down a total of 237 boards for an average of 8.8 rebounds per game.
Her dominance in the middle of the court showed as UFV improved from 2-16 the previous year to 12-12, good for seventh place overall in Canada West and a post season berth.
Wierks was outstanding in the post season, helping UFV sweep the University of Winnipeg Wesmen in two straight.
The Cascades earned a berth in both the Canada West Final Four and the CIS inaugural Regional National Championships tournament.
Wierks was the player of the game in a CIS East Regional game against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.UFV lost the game 78-69, but Wierks scored 12 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
“I am very proud of Sarah’s accomplishments this year and I am very happy she was recognized for all her hard work on the court,” said UFV head coach Al Tuchscherer.
Before enrolling full-time at UFV, Wierks was a graduate of the Junior Cascades program, which Tuchscherer founded and coordinates.