LANGLEY, B.C. – Spartan men's volleyball alum and former national champion, MVP and male athlete of the year Josh Howatson is the latest induction into the Canada West Hall of Fame.
 
Howatson enjoyed tremendous individual and team success as a volleyball student-athlete at Trinity Western University from 2003 to 2007. 
 
The six-foot-six setter earned a host of awards and medals over his four years as a Spartan, which culminated in 2007 when he became Trinity Western's first BLG Award winner as the Canadian university male athlete of the year, while also receiving a pair of national awards: the Dale Iwanoczko Award as the CIAU MVB student-athlete of the year, along with national MVP.
 
That season he led TWU to the first Canada West men's volleyball title in school history. The previous year, 2006, he was part of the team's first national title, won in Hamilton with an emphatic 3-0 sweep of the Alberta Golden Bears in the gold medal final. A two-time CIAU championship tournament all-star, Howatson has a complete set of medals from nationals, having picked up silver in 2005 and bronze in 2007. He also has a pair of Canada West silver medals from 2005 and 2006.
 
Howatson was also a back-to-back Canada West First Team All-Star and All-Canadian First Team member in 2006 and 2007. He was named a Canada West Second Team All-Star in 2005. 
 
A Victoria native, he has played internationally for Canada, including at the 2010 World Championships, as well as professionally in France, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. Howatson majored in Christianity and Culture at TWU, graduating with a bachelor of arts in 2007. He later earned a Master of Public Administration, International Development, from U.K.-based York University.
 
Howatson is the first Spartans volleyball player to earn the distinction, while being the fifth Trinity Western alum to enter the Hall of Fame. He joins Paul Hamilton, Natalie Boyd, Kristen Funk, and Nick Perugini. 

About the Canada West Hall of Fame
For the last century, organized university sport has been a central part of the student experience at institutions across Western Canada. Beginning with the University of Manitoba capturing the first Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) men's hockey banner in 1919-20, student-athletes have been competing to reach their full potential in sport and the classroom, while enriching campus life.

To commemorate 100 years of university sport across Western Canada, the Canada West Hall of Fame was created in the spring of 2019, with the first induction class set to be unveiled throughout the 2019-20 season.

VISIT: www.CanadaWestHallofFame.org

About Canada West
Since 1972, Canada West (CW) has been a leader in Canadian university sport, working to provide our student-athletes the opportunities to excel in sport, the classroom, and their communities. CW and our 17 members from across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba collectively carry on a legacy of competitive excellence, as our champions proudly go on to represent the conference at U SPORTS national championships.

Canada West – training leaders, building champions.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.

-TW-