Laurier ranked fifth for athletics and recreation

File Photo by Heather Davidson
File Photo by Heather Davidson

Wilfrid Laurier University ranked fifth on Huffington Post’s list for top 10 universities in Canada for sports and recreation, according to UniversityHub.ca.

UniversityHub asked over 1,000 students to rate their university’s sports and recreation facilities, among other factors. Laurier was one of three schools in Ontario to be ranked, and the second-best school in Ontario behind Queen’s University.

“It speaks to the work of the whole department team, from our student leader development model that helps support all the events and activities and recreation to the work of our leaders, our student leaders, as well as our staff,” said Peter Baxter, the director of athletics and recreation at Laurier. “Our staff has worked really hard to make sure that we’re the best, we see that vision of being one of the best athletic programs in Canada and this validates that.”

Along with Queen’s, Laurier joins the Bishop’s University, St. Francis Xavier University, Acadia University in the top five for sports and recreation. Finishing out the list are the Université de Montréal, the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Victoria and the University of New Brunswick: Fredericton campus.

Huffington Post said in addition to the crowd at Laurier that attends football games, the Hawks are one of the most athletic schools for its size, with over 500 athletes on 18 varsity teams.

Baxter contributes the ranking to investing in great leadership and coaches, the athletic staff and student leaders at Laurier, as well as the overall Laurier school spirit, all around campus and on game day.

“The spirit of the Golden Hawk is not like anywhere else,” he explained. “You go to other campuses, they’re not all wearing Hawks on campus every day.”

File photo by Heather Davidson
File photo by Heather Davidson

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