The laureates were announced Wednesday (May 24) night at the McDougall Centre in Calgary. 

The awards programme celebrated its 30th edition at this year's event, dating back to the launch of the Howard Mackie Awards in 1993.

All eight nominees - one female and male athlete from each of the four U SPORTS conferences - received a commemorative gold ring from Baron, the exclusive supplier of commemorative jewellery for U SPORTS.

Gates and Mastromatteo were each presented with a trophy and a $5,000 (£4,000/€4,600) scholarship to attend a Canadian university graduate school.

"On behalf of U SPORTS, I wish to congratulate Sarah and Gabe on being named the recipients of the Lois and Doug Mitchell Awards," said Pierre Arsenault, U SPORTS chief executive.

"We had an exceptional group of nominees this year, with seven Academic All-Canadians and five most outstanding athletes of the year winners in their respective sports."

Gates, a fifth-year guard for the McMaster Marauders women's basketball team, won the 2023 Nan Copp Trophy as the U SPORTS women's basketball player of the year after leading the nation in scoring with 27.3 points per game.

She finished her career as the leading scorer in McMaster programme history with 1,857 points.

She's fearless, said team mate Mia Spadafora.

"I've never known anyone that can catch the ball and know that they're going to score, but that's exactly what Sarah does."

Mastromatteo, a second-year swimmer with the Toronto Varsity Blues, is the 2022-23 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) male athlete of the year and the U SPORTS Male Swimmer of the Year.

At the 2023 OUA Swimming Championships he won six medals, including four golds.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics he competed in the heats of the 100 metres breaststroke and was part of the Canadian team that finished seventh in the 4x100m medley relay, swimming a new personal best relay time on the breaststroke leg.

The other female finalists for this season were UNB hockey player Kendra Woodland of Kamloops, Laval cross-country and track and field runner Jessy Lacourse of Quebec City and Mount Royal hockey player Tatum Amy of Birtle.

The other male nominees were Saint Mary’s cross-country and track and field runner Andrew Peverill of Lower Sackville, McGill swimmer Pablo Collin of Marseille and Alberta volleyball player Jordan Canham of Avonmore.