DJ Jackson honoured as AUS Male Athlete of the Year
Cape Breton CAPERS women’s soccer striker Ally Rowe has been named the AUS Female Athlete of the Year while DJ Jackson, a guard for the STFX X-Men basketball team, is the AUS Male Athlete of the Year.
Cape Breton's Ally Rowe, STFX's DJ Jackson named AUS Athletes of the Year
(HALIFAX, N.S.) Atlantic University Sport is proud to announce its 2024-45 AUS Athletes of the Year. Cape Breton CAPERS women's soccer striker Ally Rowe has been named the AUS Female Athlete of the Year while DJ Jackson, a guard for the STFX X-Men basketball team, is the AUS Male Athlete of the Year.
As the AUS Athletes of the Year, Rowe and Jackson will become the Atlantic conference nominees for the Honourable Lois Mitchell and Doug Mitchell U SPORTS Athlete of the Year Awards.
2024-25 AUS Female Athlete of the Year: Ally Rowe, Cape Breton CAPERS women's soccer
In her fifth year of eligibility with the Cape Breton CAPERS women's soccer team, Ally Rowe has been named the 2024-25 AUS Female Athlete of the Year.
A community studies student from Kitchener, Ont., Rowe was named the 2024 recipient of the Chantal Navert Memorial Trophy as the U SPORTS women's soccer player of the year.
She led the country in goals this season with 21 and finished second in game-winning goals with six on the season.
Rowe led the CAPERS to an undefeated, first-place finish in the AUS regular season standings with a 10-0-2 record and was named the conference's most valuable player for the third consecutive season.
In the postseason, she was named championship MVP after leading Cape Breton to the conference title—the third banner of her AUS career.
Rowe is a four-time U SPORTS first team all-Canadian and a five-time AUS first team all-star. In her inaugural season with the CAPERS in 2019, she took home U SPORTS rookie of the year nods in addition to being named the top AUS rookie.
She wraps up her AUS career having left her mark in the conference record books. Rowe is the all-time leader in career scoring with 77 goals—far surpassing the previous record of 53.
She also holds the AUS record for goals in single season with 25 in 2023. She occupies both third and sixth place in this same category with her 2024 season performance of 21 goals and her 2019 rookie season total of 14 goals.
Rowe also holds the conference record for goals in a single game, having posted six-goal games on two occasions—both during the 2023 season.
She was also the conference scoring champion in all but one of her five seasons, and the U SPORTS scoring champion in her final two seasons.
Rowe was honoured as the 2024-25 Cape Breton CAPERS Female Athlete of the Year.
2024-25 AUS Male Athlete of the Year: DJ Jackson, STFX X-Men Basketball
DJ Jackson, a third-year guard with the STFX X-Men, is the 2024-25 AUS Male Athlete of the Year.
A human kinetics student from Mississauga, Ont., Jackson was named the AUS most valuable player this season, leading the X-Men to a 15-5 regular season record and a first-place finish in the conference standings.
He was the 2024-25 U SPORTS scoring champion, averaging 24.4 points per game.
He averaged 7.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game for the X-Men this season, and led the conference in steals, averaging 2.2 per game.
He led AUS in free throws (124-144) and had the best free throw percentage (86.1).
Jackson's standout season earned him U SPORTS first team all-Canadian nod.
He was also named a tournament all-star at the Bell AUS Men's Basketball Championship where the X-Men were the 2025 runners up, despite back-to-back 33-point games from Jackson.
He was honoured as STFX's 2024-25 Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
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