HIGH ACHIEVERS: Gee-Gees ranked No. 2, after successful 2024-25 U Sports varsity team championships

By Martin Cleary

Sports is all about the numbers.

There are numbers on players’ uniforms, team standings, endless individual statistics, rankings and seedings to keep us overwhelmed.

So, let’s add some more numbers, following the recently completed 2024-25 U Sports university season.

U Sports has 13 national varsity team championships on its schedule. These are exclusively team sports and not sports for individual student-athletes who earn points leading to a team standing.

Have you ever wondered which university in Canada would be ranked No. 1, after the 13 U Sports team championships? It’s not something High Achievers has heard much discussion about, so that prompted this corner of the sports world to delve into those national championship results to produce an unofficial, season-ending overall ranking.

Here’s how High Achievers determined the final rankings. In the case of men’s and women’s soccer, basketball, hockey, volleyball and curling as well as women’s rugby and field hockey, the national champion earned 10 points, the finalist received eight, the bronze medallist six, the fourth-place finisher four and the quarterfinalists two points each.

In the case of football, the Vanier Cup champion picked up 10 points, the runner-up eight, the semifinalists five each and the four conference finalists two points each.

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U Sports is comprised of 58 member universities and 42 schools had one or more teams qualify to participate at the national championship level in 2024-25.

How impressive were the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on the national varsity team sports scene for 2024-25? The Gee-Gees ranked No. 2 with West Coast universities above and below them.

The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds topped the chart with a runaway 42 points as they were the only school with three national team championships (men’s and women’s soccer as well as women’s rugby).

The Gee-Gees relied on five sports (men’s hockey, women’s and men’s basketball, women’s soccer and women’s rugby) for their team points as uOttawa placed second at 32.

The University of Victoria Vikes placed third with 30 points, having won the women’s field hockey and men’s basketball titles as well as reaching the women’s rugby final.

The top six was completed by Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks (men’s and women’s curling champions) at 28 points, University of Saskatchewan Huskies (women’s basketball gold medallist) with 26 points and Université Laval Rouge et Or (football champion) at 22 points.

The Carleton University Ravens, who were silver medallists in women’s basketball and men’s curling, were 10th at 16 points.

The Gee-Gees posted remarkable varsity team performances because of key senior players in their men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer and women’s rugby rosters.

During the University of Ottawa’s annual awards banquet in early April, athletic department officials not only honoured student-athletes in all their sports, but also celebrated the careers of four student-athletes for “their historical impact on their respective teams and on the Gee-Gees as a whole,” according to a program press release.

The Gee-Gees’ annual evening of honour recognized four Career Achievement Award recipients – Natsuki Szczokin, fifth-year guard, women’s basketball; Dragan Stajic, fifth-year guard, men’s basketball; Cassandra Provost, fourth-year forward, women’s soccer; and Ketsia Kamba, fifth-year lock, women’s rugby.

This season, all four players have been part of conference championship-winning teams and U Sports medal winners, selected All-Canadians and have rewritten the Gee-Gees’ record books during their combined 19 seasons at uOttawa.

Speed and tenacity took Szczokin to new heights at both ends of the court for the Gee-Gees’ women’s basketball team. In 2024-25, she was the team’s leading scorer (376 points in 22 games, 17.1 ppg), No. 1 in the OUA conference in assists (106) and unmatched in the country in steals (89).

She finished her university career with 1,224 points in 102 games, which is the most by any guard in the women’s program. The 2023-24 athlete of the year also is the Gee-Gees’ record holder for steals (262) and is second all-time in assists (406).

Szczokin’s all-around efforts helped uOttawa win its third OUA championship this season and its third U Sports national championship bronze medal. She also was named the MVP of the 2025 OUA Critelli Cup championship tournament.

A 2025 first-team All-Canadian, Szczokin also became the second Gee-Gees’ player to be named a four-time OUA All-Star. Szczokin also excelled in the classroom and was a four-time Academic All-Canadian.

A dynamic shooter, passer and leader, Dragan Stajic is the Gee-Gees’ record holder for career assists (414 in 94 games) and ranks third in the program for steals (188). He was a three-time OUA conference All-Star as a point guard and became a second-team All-Canadian during the 2024-25 season.

During his five-year career as a Gee-Gee, Stajic, a graduate of the Canada Topflight Academy high school prep program, was a significant part of one of the most productive periods for uOttawa men’s basketball. He helped the Gee-Gees win OUA conference titles in 2023 and 2025 and U Sports bronze medals in 2023-25. At the 2023 U Sports championship, he earned a berth on the tournament all-star team.

A proficient goal scorer, Cassandra Provost was recognized as the OUA women’s soccer player of the year for a Gee-Gees’ program record third time, which happened after she was honoured as the conference rookie of the year in 2021.

She was the OUA’s top goal scorer for the last three years, counting a program record 61 goals and 71 points. By scoring 23 times in 2023, Provost set a single-regular-season goal scoring record.

Provost, who also was the 2023 RSEQ indoor player of the year recipient, was a three-time OUA All-Star and a three-time U Sports All-Canadian.

She was a key player as the Gee-Gees won the FISU Americas championship, three OUA titles and U Sports bronze medals in 2022 and 2024.

When Ketsia Kamba was selected a first-team U Sports All-Canadian for the third time in women’s rugby, she became only the second Gee-Gee to earn that distinction. She was one of the top locks in program history.

Kamba certainly knew how to score as she ranks second all-time for producing tries (22) in the regular season.

At the U Sports national championships, she was named a tournament all-star in 2022 and 2024 and celebrated one silver and two bronze medals with her teammates. She also is a two-time RSEQ conference champion and a three-time silver medallist.

In the 2023-24 season, Kamba was named uOttawa’s Community Engagement Award winner. She contributed to the Black Student-Athletes Advocacy Council and the women’s rugby team’s Rugby Academy and LEAD Program.