Cochrane High School recognizes student's athletic excellence

The students receiving awards were contacted prior to the day and stopped by to accept their awards one by one, like a drive-through.

Head Coach at Cochrane High School, Robbie McNab, explained that the ceremony was an effort to keep up social distancing recommendations.

“We couldn’t have the kids in the school, so we had some TV’s set up and the kids did a drop by. From noon until 2 p.m. they just drove by and we gave them the awards,” he said.

For kids that are going to progress onto the next level of athletics, the staff also held a signing ceremony. It’s a tradition at Cochrane High to host an event for students who have accepted placement in post-secondary athletic programs to honour their time with the Cobras.

“If they’ve signed already previously, whether it be to U of C, or Waterloo, or where ever it is, we have a little ceremony them and they sign a piece of paper that says they were a proud Cobra; once a Cobra always a Cobra,” McNab explained. Those students also attended the drop-in event.

This year Cochrane High School recognized multiple athletes in each category that did well this year, or had the potential to do well in the future, said McNab. Normally there is one Athlete of the Year per category, Junior and Senior Varsity boys and girls. However, due to the shortened season as a result of COVID-19, there were multiple athletes selected from each level.

“It’s hard when some of the athletes that didn’t get to do their sports, right? So what we did was say ‘let’s nominate many kids that deserve this and see where they fit,’” he said. “We had to do a little bit of a predictability factor as well.”

The coaches and administration got together to select the students for the awards, McNab said. Due to the pandemic, many of the athletes at Cochrane High School missed out on their opportunity to compete this spring. Many of the athletic programs have regional and provincial competitions; so many of the students were deprived of their opportunity to compete at a higher level.

McNab said that was at the core of the decision to include those students in award considerations.  

“If you give out the athlete of the year solely on what has been done so far, you miss a load of athletes—probably half of them,” he said. “It was pretty good. I think we got the right kids, and it was a lot of fun to do."

One of those students recognized for his athletic achievement was 18-year-old, Logan Higginson.

Higginson played four years of high school football and has been playing basketball competitively for nine years.

His athletic accolades are numerous. All four years that Higginson played with the Cobras the team won a provincial championship. Over the course of his basketball career at Cochrane High School, the team received numerous zones and divisional banners.

Higginson began his athletic career with baseball as a young child but quickly realized the sport was not for him.

He quickly made the switch to basketball, even though, he acknowledged, he’s not exactly built for it.

“I’m obviously not the tallest guy, but hard work pays off,” he joked.

Higginson just graduated with the class of 2020, and with the pandemic still looming, his athletic future is uncertain. He was selected to take part in a talent identification camp at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, but the event was cancelled due to COVID-19.

“It was upsetting,” he said. “It was coming up right away, I was super excited for it, I was getting ready, and then it got cancelled. It was kind of a shot.”

His basketball season also took a hit. When the school was closed due to COVID-19, the basketball season was in full swing.

Last season the boy’s basketball team was narrowly edged out from provincials but managed to earn a spot this year before the season was cancelled.

“That one hurt,” he said of the cancellation.

Higginson said that his drive to compete and push himself is at the heart of his love for sports.

“At first it was just the fun of it, but as I got older things like competition and winning became a big part of it. It’s fun to play the game, but it’s always more fun to win,” he said. “I love the whole aspect of team. I really love having a team and belonging and a community. I love winning. I love fighting with people around me to see where I can go.”

After all of the hours put in and hard work, to be an Athlete of the Year was “amazing.”

“I didn’t expect to get it. I worked really hard, and I did everything I could to get it, but there are so many gifted athletes at Cochrane High School, and to be one of the people chosen to receive that award it felt amazing. It’s kind of indescribable,” he said.

Higginson said that his Head Coach, Robbie McNab, Defensive Back Coach Thomas Knitter, basketball Coach Jamie McLellan, were all present at the awards ceremony. Higginson credited the direction from those three in particular for his athletic success at Cochrane High School.

“I couldn’t have been more thankful to have been given those coaches over anyone else,” he said. “If it wasn’t for those three coaches I would not be where I am today.”

Although his athletic season took a hit, and the talent identification events were cancelled, Higginson said that he is staying positive throughout this process.

“I have faith that something that will come up in the future,” he said. “If not, I have a good plan.”

Higginson said that he plans to attend SAIT’s Primary Care Paramedic program and then hopes to become a firefighter, following in the footsteps of several of his family members.

For a full list of award winners and signees from Cochrane High School’s athletic programs please see below.

Varsity Boys Athletes of the Year

Josh McLellan, Cody Wunder, Logan Higginson, Ben Dobson, and Sawyer Krebs

Varsity Girls Athletes of the Year

Avery Kelley, Zoe Cinnamon, and Abbey Aitken

Junior Varsity Boys Athletes of the Year

Zackary Duncan, William Shea, and Evan Ficzere

Junior Varsity Girls Athletes of the Year

Marcelle de Bruin, Sara Harris, Amy Schmidke, and Faith Solecki

Students who signed with post-secondary athletic programs

Xavier Vaillancourt, Dawson Gladue, Fox Bell, and Cayne Yacey signed with University of Calgary Football

Josh McLellan signed with University of Calgary Volleyball

Avery Kelly signed with University of Waterloo Volleyball

Zoe Cinnamon signed with University of Alberta Curling

William Hunter signed with University of British Colombia Football

Zaak Shapkin and Jude Wilkinson signed with the Calgary Colts Football Club