Selva Planincic and Shawn Maranan were named the Winnipeg Wesmen athletes of the year Thursday during the Wesmen Athletics year-end awards banquet at the Radisson Winnipeg Downtown. 

It was the second straight year that Maranan, a fourth-year guard on the men's basketball team, was named the male athlete of the year, while Planincic earned her first honour as the top female athlete. 

Entering a season with a roster reload, Selva Planincic helped the Wesmen women's volleyball team outperform the preseason predictions. 
 
Planincic, a fourth-year outside hitter, set career-highs in kills, kills per set and was the top outside attacker on the team by percentage. 
 
In 2023-24, Planincic took on a greater role as a leader and she responded with a number of big-time performances. In a November win over Brandon she became the first player in Canada West history to record zero attack errors on more than 20 swings, and her .680 attacking was a Canada West season-high for an outside hitter. 
 
She had double-digit kills in 12 matches, including a career-high 17 twice. And she recorded a career-high 22 digs in a January match at Fraser Valley. 

For the season, Planincic finished with 215 kills and 244 digs. 

Maranan, who was named a Canada West second-team all-star and an all-star at the Final 8 in Quebec City, set career-highs in assists per game, steals and free throw percentage.
 
He led the nation with 7.2 assists per game and made nearly 90 per cent of his free throws, which ranked third in U Sports. 
 
Maranan got better as the season went along, averaging 13.3 points, 8.6 assists and 2.2 steals per game over the final 10 conference games, while posting three double-doubles in that span.
 
In the post-season he averaged 21.8 points and 10 assists per game.

Elsewhere Thursday, Kato Jaro of men's basketball and Brooke Duncalfe of women's volleyball were named the rookies of the year. Both student-athletes were named to the all-rookie teams by the Canada West conference.

Jaxon Rose of men's volleyball and Madison Priebe of women's soccer were named the most improved athletes. Rose played his first full season since a devastating injury to both legs in the 2022-23 preseason sidelined him for four months. He became a key contributor to his team's run to the conference final four, attacking at better than .330 in seven of his final 11 matches. Priebe was named a conference all-star and is the first keeper in Wesmen soccer history to earn a conference all-star. 

MAJOR AWARDS
Keith and Dianne Cooper Award (community service and character)
Taylor Cangemi, women's volleyball
Dave Anderson Award (friend of the Wesmen/unsung hero)
Doug Goltz, Jino Distasio
Tom Kendall Award (highest GPA)
Taylor Cangemi, women's volleyball
Barry and Lynn Jones Scholarship
Liam Kristjanson, men's volleyball

TEAM MVPs
Women's Soccer: Madison Priebe
Women's Volleyball: Selva Planincic
Women's Basketball: Anna Kernaghan
Men's Basketball: Donald Stewart
Men's Volleyball: Ethan Duncan