Mariner in the news: Stephens named athlete of the year

Mariners' midfielder eyeing career in England with Sheffield

By Josh Aldrich


Nanaimo Daily News

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Jared Stephens came to Vancouver Island University as a raw athlete out of Terrace.

Now, four years later, he is leaving as the top male athlete in the Pacific Western Athletic Association.


Stephens dominated the PacWest men's soccer league this year as he led the Mariners to a provincial championship and the top seed heading into the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championships where they finished with a bronze medal.

On Wednesday he was named the PacWest's top male athlete across all sports, just the latest in a long line of awards this season.

Now he is eying a move to England to play in Sheffield.

This latest award was not something he was expecting, but he says it is representative of what the program has been able to build over the last four years at VIU.

"My awards that I am getting right now are just indicative of the team I play for," he said. "I hope when I get these awards the guys on the team can take some pride out of it ... it's rewarding what we built as a team the last four years."

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