Myers And Taylor Named REDS Athletes Of The Year

(FREDERICTON, NB) Ella Myers, of the women’s rugby team, and Jace Taylor, of the football team, have been named the UNB REDS competitive club teams female and male Athletes of the Year for the 2025-2026 season.

The two were among those recognized in the first of this week’s two REDS Awards galas, Wednesday night at UNB’s Richard J. Currie Center.

Myers was a pivotal piece of the REDS’ offence, able to find gaps and exploit them. An on-field leader with tremendous field vision, Myers was an ACAA all-star and the conference’s player of the year.

“It’s an honour,” said Myers. “My coach, Bailey (Andrews), taught me everything that I know, not just the rules, but the fun of the sport and that’s what brought me here, not scoring points or anything like that, but really loving the game and wanting to show up all the time to practice and all the time to games.”

Taylor was named an AFL all-star for the third consecutive season.

When he’s not making big plays as part of the REDS’ passing game, he’s a physical blocker in the run game. He’s also a special teams contributor.

“Really, I think it boils down to everything my teammates do to help me be successful and put me in a position to help our team win,” he said.

“I do whatever is asked of me, and knowing that if I’m going to put in work on plays that aren’t designed for me to be successful that I’m going to be given more opportunities to be successful myself and that by putting in work in areas that other people wouldn’t I’ll be awarded opportunities to be successful,” Taylor added.

Myers’ women’s rugby teammate Avery Saunders was named the REDS female Rookie of the Year, while Matt Beach, of the baseball team, was the top rookie on the men’s side.

Saunders was the ACAA Rookie of the Year and a conference all-star in her first season while Beach hit an incredible .472 with five home runs, 19 RBI and eight stolen bases.

Veteran UNB Cheer coach Becca O’Donnell was named the REDS’ Coach of the Year after leading the team to first place finishes in every competition they entered.

Baseball’s Mark MacNevin, who has held numerous titles with the team over almost two decades, was named Volunteer of the Year.

Emma Dunnett, of the field hockey team, and football’s Sean McDowell, were named the REDS’ Unsung Heroes.

UNB’s U SPORTS teams will be honoured in the second of the two awards nights, on Thursday.

REDS COMPETITIVE SPORT CLUB TEAM AWARDS

BASEBALL

MVP – Connor Hill

ROTY – Matt Beach

R&B – Alex Rushton

CHEER

MVP – Anne Gonthier

ROTY – Sullivan Gaudet

R&B – Jonah Se

DANCE

MVP – Madison Scholten

ROTY – Neala Quinn

R&B – Olivia Patriquin

FIELD HOCKEY

MVP – Grace Gormley

ROTY – Lillian Nowlan

R&B – Megan Brennan

FOOTBALL

MVP – Jace Taylor

ROTY – Jake Rozell

R&B – Aaron Olafson

WOMEN’S RUGBY

MVP – Ella Myers

ROTY – Avery Saunders

R&B – Emily Thornton

MEN’S RUGBY

MVP – Bryan Graham

ROTY – Bimsara Peiris

R&B – Declan McCormick

WOMEN’S TENNIS

MVP – Emma Murray

R&B – Jigisha Kumari

R&B – Aishwarya Balakrishnan

MEN’S TENNIS

MVP – Ben Hamilton

ROTY – James Faround-Watt

R&B – Harshit Upadhyay

STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB REDS

PHOTO BY: Michael Mohan/UNB Media Services