ANTIGONISH/SYDNEY: Two of Atlantic Canada’s top university athletes are in the national spotlight as finalists for the prestigious Lois and Doug Mitchell Awards, honouring the U SPORTS Athletes of the Year.
Cape Breton University’s Alliyah Rowe and St. Francis Xavier University’s DJ Jackson were recently named Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Athletes of the Year and are now among the elite few in contention for Canada’s top university athletic honour.
Rowe, a fifth-year striker from Kitchener, Ont., has had a historic career with the Cape Breton Capers women’s soccer team. This season, she earned the Chantal Navert Memorial Trophy as the U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Player of the Year, leading the country with 21 goals and ranking second in game-winners.
Her dominance helped propel CBU to an undefeated regular season (10-0-2) and a conference title – her third AUS Championship. She was named AUS MVP for the third year in a row and championship MVP in the playoffs.
Rowe’s name is now etched in the AUS record books. She is the all-time leader in career goals with 77, smashing the previous record of 53. She also holds the single-season record with 25 goals (2023) and twice netted six goals in a game during that same season.
A four-time U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian and five-time AUS First Team All-Star, Rowe finishes her university career as one of the most decorated players in AUS history. She also received the 2024-25 CBU Female Athlete of the Year award.
She becomes the fifth Cape Breton athlete to be a national finalist for U SPORTS Athlete of the Year, joining past greats like Osman Omar (2022), Justin Maheu (2015), Kelsey Hodgson (2010) and Sarah Drake (2003).
StFX’s Jackson, a third-year guard from Mississauga, Ont., had a breakout season for the X-Men basketball team. Jackson was named AUS MVP and led the X-Men to a 15-5 record and first-place conference finish.
He was the U SPORTS scoring champion, averaging 24.4 points per game, and led the AUS in steals with 2.2 per game.
He added 7.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while leading the country in free throws made (124). His 86.1 per cent free-throw average ranked seventh nationally.
Jackson’s clutch performances in the AUS Championship – where he posted back-to-back 33-point games – earned him tournament all-star recognition, even as the X-Men finished as runners-up. He was also named a U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian and StFX Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
He now joins the ranks of seven other StFX athletes who have previously been named finalists for national athlete of the year, Sarah Bujold (2017), Emma Taylor (2015), Tyson Beukeboom (2012), Michael Marousek (2011), Olympian Ghislaine Landry (2009), Richard Karikari (2003) and Fred Perry (2000).
The winners of the 2025 Lois and Doug Mitchell Awards will be announced on June 2, during a ceremony in Collingwood, Ont. U SPORTS will announce finalists from the Canada West, RESQ and OUA regions in the coming days.
Both Rowe and Jackson have already left lasting legacies in the AUS and now have a shot at the highest honour in Canadian university sport.