Abbotsford – Daniel Campbell of the University of the Fraser Valley men’s golf team has been honoured for a historic season, earning the PACWEST conference’s male athlete of the year award across all sports.
Campbell, a Bellingham, Wash. product, becomes the fifth Cascade to win a PACWEST athlete of the year prize, dating back to the 1999-2000 season when the conference began handing out annual awards to its top male and female athletes.
Campbell is the first golfer, male or female, to win a PACWEST athlete of the year award.
Kayla Bruce (women’s volleyball) was female athlete of the year in back-to-back seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13). Prior to that, three Cascades basketball players were honoured – back when the conference was known as the BCCAA, and before the UFV hoops teams moved up to the Canada West/U SPORTS ranks. Jamie Vaughan (men’s basketball) was male athlete of the year in 2005-06, and Jamie Born (2004-05) and Lauren Alonzo (2002-03) were female athlete of the year winners.
Campbell, in his third year of eligibility after transferring to UFV after two seasons at Skagit Valley College, fashioned the most dominant campaign in the history of the Cascades men’s golf program. In conference play, he won two tournaments (the VIU and UFV invitationals) en route to claiming the PACWEST individual title by nine strokes. He went on to win the CCAA national individual title in similarly decisive fashion, prevailing by eight strokes at Royal Ashburn Golf Club in Whitby, Ont. to become the first Cascade to win a CCAA individual crown.
With Campbell leading the way, the UFV men’s team swept the PACWEST and CCAA national championships.
He’s continued to excel during the Cascades’ spring schedule, picking up his team-record fourth win of the season at the UFV Spring Invitational.
“We’ve had some pretty successful teams over the years, and we’ve had some great players come through our program,” UFV head coach Chris Bertram enthused. “But Daniel’s season has been a historic one.
“One of the highlights was his performance at nationals. To win by eight shots says a lot about the quality of player that he is. That was a very tough golf course with a very deep field, and he played almost perfect golf for four days here. It was probably one of the best overall 72-hole performances I’ve seen in my years here.”
