B.C. athletes take their bows

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A pair of familiar faces have been honored as British Columbia's top Aboriginal athletes for their performances in 2004.

For the second straight year, Lara Mussell, an ultimate Frisbee star, has captured the Tom Longboat Award as the province's top female Aboriginal athlete.

And Richard Peter, a wheelchair basketball player, has been named B.C.'s top male Aboriginal athlete.

Peter had previously won the regional award in 2000. That year he was also named as the country's top male Aboriginal athlete.

By winning regional awards, both Mussell and Peter are now in the running for the national Tom Longboat Award to be presented April 21 in Miramichi, N.B.

The awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC), which are being staged April 17 to 23 in Miramichi.

Mussell was surprised to see she was named the B.C. winner.

"I was surprised to get it last year, but incredibly delighted," she said. "I didn't think I'd win it again. It's nice to get some recognition for the sport though. Ultimate Frisbee is a newer sport and it doesn't get much attention."

Mussell, a Sto:lo Native who recently moved to Maple Ridge from Chilliwack, has been a member of the national ultimate Frisbee squad since 1998.

This past August she helped Canada win the world team championship in Turku, Finland. About 30 countries sent squads to the world meet held every four years.

Mussell was also a member of the Canadian squad that had captured the 2000 world tournament in Germany. Mussell, 30, is now hoping to win the national Tom Longboat Award.

"I think it would be really great to win it," she said. "It would be amazing to have my name on there with all the other great athletes."

Mussell had won the provincial Tom Longboat Award in 2003 by leading her club team called Prime to the Canadian championship.

Peter, a 32-year-old Vancouver resident, is a long-time member of the national men's wheelchair basketball squad. He first joined the Canadian club in 1994.

Since then he has competed in three Paralympic Games, starting in 1996 in Atlanta. The Canadian team placed fifth in Atlanta, but Peter and his teammates captured the gold medal at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia.

It was primarily for his efforts at that event that Peter won both the regional and national Tom Longboat Awards in 2000.

Richard Peter, a Cowichan Native, helped Canada defend its Paralympic crown this past year in Athens, Greece.

He is the only Native on the national wheelchair basketball club.

Peter has been a paraplegic since the age of four when he was run over by a school bus while playing on a road.

He's obviously glad to capture another regional Tom Longboat Award.

"When I get recognized like that, it's a great honor," he said.

Peter also realizes winning another Paralympic gold medal makes him a legitimate contender for the national award as well.

"Winning another gold medal has put me up there," he said.

Besides Peter, eight other male regional winners are eligible for the national award. There is a total of nine female regional winners.

Meanwhile, a pair of other B.C. residents, Kara Jan Willie and Alain Lepine, have been selected as the province's top Aboriginal coaches for 2004.

Willie, a soccer coach, and Lepine, who coaches football, are in contention for national awards as well. The Tom Longboat Awards for coaching will also be presented in Miramichi.