OCAA Hall of Fame to Induct Four from St. Clair College
Windsor, ON – The 2025 class of inductees into the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Hall of Fame will include four outstanding individuals from St. Clair College's past. Cross-Country Coach Mark Beens, Badminton/Tennis/Cross-Country athlete Nancy Loeffler-Caro, Basketball athlete Kim Pawluk and Golfer Heather MacKenzie will be honoured in early May.
After competing in three sports (Cross-Country, Badminton & Curling) as a Saint, Beens started as an Assistant Coach in 1991 with the St. Clair Cross-Country program spending four seasons that compiled five OCAA Provincial medals highlighted by the 1994 Women's Team gold medal. In 1995 he elevated to Co-Head Coach beginning a 16-year stint which helped lead St. Clair to 13 more medals at the provincial and national levels. At the OCAA meet he guided the Saints to 8 medals with his best season coming in 1998 when the Women's team raced to gold and the Men's team were silver medalists. His teams had three other silver medals and three bronze finishes at the provincial meet. Individual runners for Beens ran to four more OCAA medals accentuated by the first Men's Gold in school history by Martin Labute in 2006 to go with two silver and a bronze. Labute also raced to a CCAA Bronze Medal in 2007 which was St. Clair's first National podium finish in the sport.
Beens served as the OCAA Cross Country Convenor and hosted four Provincial Championships (1995, 1999, 2000, 2009) in addition to the 2003 CCAA National Championships. Instrumental in growing the sport locally and province wide he was the Meet Director for the St. Clair College's Annual College Invitational (1996 to 2009) and St. Clair College's Annual High School Invitational that became the 2nd largest High School Meet in Ontario which at its peak only trailed OFSAA with over a thousand student participants.
For his efforts Beens was named the St. Clair Intercollegiate Coach of the Year on two occasions (1995-96 & 2006-07) and will become the seventh coach in St. Clair's history to be inducted into the OCAA's Hall of Fame and the first solely devoted to Cross-Country.
As an athlete Beens led the Saints to the 1989 OCAA Cross-Country Men's Team Gold Medal before winning the 1989-90 Student-Athlete of the Year Award before graduating from the Architectural Technology program and was later inducted into the St. Clair College Sports Hall of Fame.
Loeffler-Caro was a St. Clair standout in Badminton, Tennis and Cross-Country for four years from 1981-85. In Badminton alone she picked up three medals in Women's Singles winning OCAA Gold in 1983 followed by silvers in 1984 and 1985 to go with a 3rd Place finish in her rookie season.
In her two seasons of Cross-Country, she helped the Saints to a pair of Women's Team Silver Medals in 1981 and 1982 finishing as the top St. Clair runner in first provincial championship race. Tennis became a lifelong passion and while competing for St. Clair she won two Mixed Doubles Gold Medals in 1982 and 1984.
In total she was a 7-time OCAA medalist and coupled with her Advertising-Business diploma was recognized as the St. Clair Student-Athlete of the Year in her graduating year.
Loeffler-Caro continued her playing career after St. Clair College in tennis where she rose to the top spot in Ontario and went as high as 5th in Canada while competing as a rated player on the WTA tour in singles and doubles. Her more recent accomplishments in badminton include Michigan Senior Olympics gold medals in singles and doubles. She went on to become a certified instructor in badminton and tennis with over 40 years of combined experience between the sports in addition to serving as a Tennis Canada Rogers Cup official. Loeffler-Caro is still giving back to players of all ages and since 2020 currently works as a Tennis Professional Instructor with the St. Clair Zekelman Tennis Centre.
Pawluk was part of the re-launch of Women's Basketball at St. Clair College competing for the Saints in four seasons from 2001-05 on a squad that never finished worse than 4th in the province. St. Clair won an OCAA Silver medal in her rookie season followed by a bronze when St. Clair hosted in 2003 and went to the CCAA National Championship after winning provincial Gold in 2004 which is still the only title in school history.
Pawluk's best individual season came in her graduating year when she led the West Region in scoring (16.0 PPG) that earned West First-Team All-Star, OCAA Player of the Year and CCAA All-Canadian recognition as St. Clair's team MVP who took 4th at the provincials in 2005.
She obtained two diplomas from St. Clair College in General Arts and Science as well as Law and Security Administration before moving on to become a Constable with the Niagara Regional Police Service.
MacKenzie played varsity golf for St. Clair College for four seasons (2010-2013) where she graduated from the Professional Golf Management Program. She took part in four CCAA National Championships during her time with her best season in 2012 when she won Individual Silver and Team Gold in the OCAA. MacKenzie was named a CCAA All-Canadian and a CCAA Academic All-Canadian as the women's team placed 4th at Nationals that year.
The following season was almost as impressive and MacKenzie winning an OCAA Individual Bronze, OCAA Team Silver and CCAA Team Silver while finishing as the 4th best female golfer in Canada as the top Ontario golfer. Once again, she was named a CCAA Academic All-Canadian for her outstanding performance in the classroom and on the course.
MacKenzie was named an OCAA All-Academic in three of her four seasons and upon graduation earned her Canadian PGA Professional Designation. She later joined the St. Clair College golf team coaching staff where she spent 8 years with the program as an assistant coach.
The OCAA Hall of Fame ceremony is a bi-annual event that will also induct builders, coaches and athletes from across the province's members which is being held Monday, May 5th at Toronto's Pan Pacific Hotel.