(HALIFAX, N.S.) Atlantic University Sport is proud to announce the 2019-20 AUS Athletes of the Year. UPEI Panthers women's basketball player Jenna Mae Ellsworth has been named the AUS Female Athlete of the Year. Keevan Veinot from the Dalhousie Tigers men's basketball team has been named the AUS Male Athlete of the Year.

Ellsworth and Veinot will now become the Atlantic conference nominees for the Lieutenant Governor Athletic Awards as U SPORTS Athlete of the Year awards—the Jim Thompson Trophy (women’s athlete of the year award) and the Doug Mitchell Trophy (men’s athlete of the year award). Winners will be announced June 25.

2019-20 AUS Female Athlete of the Year: Jenna Mae Ellsworth, UPEI Panthers women’s basketball

Jenna Mae Ellsworth, a five-foot-10 guard with the U SPORTS bronze medallist UPEI Panthers, is the 2019-20 AUS Female Athlete of the Year.

Ellsworth was the recipient of the 2019-20 Nann Copp Award as U SPORTS Player of the Year.

Along with that honour, she became the final member of the Top 100 players of the century, in celebration of the centennial anniversary of U SPORTS women's basketball.

She is just the third Atlantic conference player to ever be honoured as the national MVP in women's basketball.

She was also named a U SPORTS first team all-Canadian.

At the conference level, Ellsworth was honoured as the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player and the AUS defensive player of the year.

She was also named to the AUS first team all-star squad.

She is a three-time AUS second team all-star and also earned rookie of the year nods and a place on the AUS all-rookie team in her inaugural season with the Panthers in 2016-17.

A fourth-year science student from Charlottetown, P.E.I., Ellsworth led the Panthers with 20.5 point per game in the regular season. She averaged 5.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

UPEI finished in first place in the regular season standings with a 17-3 record.

With 1,231 career points scored in four seasons, Ellsworth sits tied for second in UPEI school history with a year of eligibility remaining.

At the 2020 Subway AUS Women’s Basketball Championship, Ellsworth was named Subway Player of the Game in UPEI’s semifinal win and then a tournament all-star as the Panthers earned the program’s first conference title since 1998.

UPEI entered the U SPORTS championship seeded sixth. Ellsworth earned player of the game honours in the national quarterfinals as the Panthers upset the No. 3-seeded Ryerson Rams. She was named UPEI’s player of the game in the national semifinals as the Panthers fell to Brock.

She then led her team to U SPORTS bronze with a game-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds in the 57-50 win over Laval and was named a championship all-star.

2019-20 AUS Male Athlete of the Year: Keevan Veinot, Dalhousie Tigers men’s basketball

Keevan Veinot, a third-year guard with the U SPORTS silver medallist Dalhousie Tigers, is the 2019-20 AUS Male Athlete of the Year.

Veinot was honoured as both a U SPORTS first team all-Canadian and the AUS most valuable player this season.

He is the first-ever Dalhousie player to earn conference MVP honours in men's basketball.

He was also named an AUS first team all-star for the first time in his career this season. He was named to the AUS all-rookie team in his freshman season in 2017-18.

This season, the commerce student from Port Williams, N.S. led the Tigers to a 19-1 regular season record and a first-place finish in the AUS standings.

Veinot led the conference in steals, averaging 2.3 per game, and in assists, averaging 5.5 per game.

He led Dalhousie in both points per game (15.6) and rebounds per game (5.2).

At the 2020 Subway AUS Basketball Championship, he was named Subway Player of the Game in the championship final as the Tigers claimed their fifth conference title in six seasons (Veinot’s second). He was named an AUS tournament all-star.

On the national stage, Veinot led the Tigers to U SPORTS silver—marking Dalhousie’s best performance in program history. Veinot was named the player of the game in the Tigers’ quarterfinal win and earned a place on the championship all-star team.