“Lucia Stafford will go down in the record books as one of the best Varsity Blues athletes of all time.”
The University of Toronto recognized 19 Varsity Blues student-athletes with Silver T awards on Monday, April 12.
The prestigious Silver T is awarded to Bronze T holders in their graduating year for outstanding athletic performance.
In years past, the awards were handed out at the annual President’s Reception, however, the University of Toronto campuses remain closed as we play our part to ensure the health and wellbeing of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, U of T President Meric Gertler understands and values the exceptional accomplishments and contributions of these U of T students to the university and Varsity Blues program.
Lucia Stafford (Year 4 CivE) will go down in the record books as one of the best Varsity Blues athletes of all time. She was named the OUA and U SPORTS female cross country rookie of the year in 2016, helped the Blues to the 2017 national team title, earned OUA first team all-star and U SPORTS first team all-Canadian honours in all three of her cross country seasons, including winning both races to be named OUA and U SPORTS female athlete of the year in 2019.
On the track, Stafford is a four-time OUA all-star and three-time U SPORTS all-Canadian. In her first season with the Blues, the civil engineering major from Toronto was named the OUA rookie of the year and U SPORTS female performer of the meet, leading the Blues to the 2017 national title. The following season, Stafford was named the winner of the Dr. Wendy Jerome Trophy as the OUA female most valuable performer.
Internationally, Stafford represented Canada at the 2016 U20 world track and field championships, and also earned two fifth-place finishes in the 1500m and 4×400 relay at the 2019 FISU Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy. She was named U of T’s female rookie of the year across all sports in 2016-17, while also being named U of T’s T-Holders’ female athlete of the year and the OUA female athlete of the year across all sports in 2019-20.
This story originally published by Varsity Blues
Previous stories include:
CivMin’s Stafford named female Varsity Blues Athlete of the Year
Lucia Stafford named OUA Athlete of the Week
Lucia Stafford breaks Canadian U23 1500m record
National champion: Lucia Stafford strikes gold in Kingston