Burlington, Ont. - Aiden Warnholtz has capped off an impressive fourth season in the OUA receiving the Ken Shields award for athletic performance and community service.
Warnholtz is the first Ravens since Kevin Churchill to win the award. Churchill won the honour three years in a row from 2012-14.
From Kanata, Ontario, Warnholtz is a three-time U SPORTS Champion and two-time OUA champion.
Four Time Academic All-Canadian studying health sciences, Warnholtz was named Nike Top Performer of the 2022 U SPORTS National Championship game. In just over 125 career games, Warnholtz has played over 2,600 minutes, recording over 1,200 points and 400 assists along with 77 steals and 364 rebounds.
Warnholtz finished the 2022-23 season with Ravens’ records for assists, 145, and minutes played, 731. Warnholtz finished ninth in the OUA in three-point percentage, first in assists and ninth in points. Aiden record 20-or-more points eight times during the season including 36 on January 8th at Ontario Tech.
Earlier this season, Aiden entered the Ravens’ top 10 three-point field goals and assists lists, finishing the regular season in eighth with 129 threes and third with 286 assists behind only Philip Scrubb and Aaron Doornekamp.
Aiden has acted as a mentor and a tutor for the organization Athletes Combating Racism (ACR) in the Ottawa area.
ACR’s mission is to combat systemic racism by being a consistent partner in the community and providing equal opportunities to all youth.
The Athlete Mentorship Program that Aiden has participated in is designed to combat racism by providing mentorship and guidance to youth and young adults to help them navigate the world around them despite structural racism, and ultimately dismantle those structures.
The School Tutoring Program is an on-going program for youth in the community to receive one-on-one tutoring with a variety of academic subjects with a paired tutor. The tutoring program will also operate in part with the mentorship program.
Second-year Raven and fifth-year forward Grant Shephard is back to his winning ways. After being named Canada West Rookie of the year six seasons ago, Shephard was named an OUA second team all-star this season. The powerful forward known for his impressive post-play and power dunks recorded career highs in points, rebounds and dunks while setting a new single-season rebounds record for the Ravens program (221).
After two long years, freshman Marjok Okado finally had his chance to shine. The first-year Ravens guard exploded in the second half of the season establishing himself as one of the most dynamic and entertaining players in the league. Okado shot 42.7% including an impressive 43.7% from three-point range while coming just short of the 200-point total.
