SASKATCHEWAN — The Saskatchewan Games Council announced on Oct. 24 that the recipients of the 2026 Lorne Lasuita Saskatchewan Games Athletic Award were Team Parkland Valley cross-country Skier Levi Maier of Preeceville and Team Lakeland target shooter Elizabeth Miller of Big River.
They have been selected following their participation in the 2026 Saskatchewan Winter Games in Flying Dust First Nation and Meadow Lake from Feb. 15-21.
The Lorne Lasuita Saskatchewan Games Athletic Award is presented to one male and one female athlete who best combine competitive performance, strong leadership, good sporting conduct, and a spirit of fair play, co-operation and friendship. The award provides an athletic bursary to help recipients continue participating in sport.
Maier is described as a determined, dedicated athlete with a deep commitment to his sport. As one of the more experienced members of his team, he strove to lead by quiet example with those around him, assisting his younger teammates with waxing their skis and sharing guidance ahead of races, demonstrating good sporting conduct to his competitors no matter the outcome of his races, remaining flexible throughout schedule changes and thanking every volunteer and coach he encountered.
Despite coming into the games with big goals and expectations for himself – goals that were met, with two golds in the individual U16 sprint and distance races, and a silver in the mixed age relay, Maier remained humble throughout the competition and was gracious in victory, always congratulating his fellow competitors and staying in the finishing area until the races were complete, regardless of the frigid temperatures.
In all, Maier has earned seven medals across three sets of Saskatchewan Games; in addition to two golds and a silver in 2026, he earned one gold and one silver in triathlon at the 2024 Summer Games in Lloydminster, and one gold and one silver in cross-country skiing at the 2023 Winter Games in Regina.
The games have always been a family affair for Maier: he competed alongside his younger sister Charis in 2026 and alongside his older brother Hudson in 2023 and 2024. Their parents Megan and Nathan have supported the siblings by volunteering as coaches or managers at all three events.
Though cross-country skiing is the main pursuit of 15-year-old Maier, he also competes in basketball, volunteers at Ketchen Lake Bible Camp and helps coach youth practices at his home club, the Preeceville Nordic Ski Club. He augments his ski training year-round with running, roller-skiing and weight training.
His dedication was rewarded at the Nordiq Canada Nationals in Quebec this past March, where he earned a bronze and silver medal. The bronze medal, earned on the first day of competition, represented Saskatchewan’s first national medal since 1988. He aspires to one day compete at the Olympics, but before that, has his sights set on qualifying to represent Team Sask. at the 2027 Canada Winter Games in Quebec City next February.
“The Saskatchewan Games have been a very instrumental event and have helped shape my sporting career thus far, and I am very grateful for the coaches and volunteers that helped make it possible. My favourite part was hanging out with my fellow teammates and having success in my races. I am very happy to receive this award and to represent Parkland Valley,” said Maier.
Miller was described as a responsible and dedicated team player. Despite coming into the games feeling under the weather and on the tail end of a difficult year following the death of her grandmother, she was able to not only accomplish her goals of earning a medal and beating her personal best in rifle shooting, but exceed them: Miller took home two gold medals from the rifle shooting and super finals individual events, as well as a bronze medal in the team event.
As a senior member of her five-person target shooting team, Miller easily stepped into a leadership role. She served as her coaching staff’s “right hand,” assisting her Lakeland teammates with equipment checks and competition preparation as well as providing guidance towards their overall games experience. This good sporting conduct and camaraderie extended to her fellow competitors as well; Miller was always sure to congratulate those around her on their performances and cheer on other athletes regardless of their team colours.
Miller’s journey as a shooting athlete began five years ago when she joined the Prince Albert Air Cadets.
This was her second time competing at the Saskatchewan Games, following her participation in the 2023. With only two years of experience in the sport at the time, Miller did not medal, but left the games in 2023 feeling inspired and motivated to improve.
With a subsequent three years of training and competition experience under her belt, she entered the 2026 games in February as a frontrunner, but still approached the competition with humility and focus, striving to compete against herself more than any of her fellow athletes.
It paid off: her score qualified her for the Saskatchewan Target Shooting Association Provincial Championships in March, where she earned fourth place in the women’s rifle competition. This carried her to a strong performance at the Shooting Federation of Canada National Championships in August, held in Saskatoon.
In addition to target shooting, the 17-year-old is also an avid multi-sport athlete, competing in volleyball, curling and broomball, a sport in which she earned a silver medal at this year’s provincial championships.
“The Winter Games was a very enjoyable time, mainly because of the people there that I was able to connect with, the opportunities to see other sports and to compete with new people in my own sport, and the support and flexibility of the staff. Everyone there worked so hard to make everything work for the athletes, no matter what. My favourite memory at the games was at the closing ceremonies where everyone was cheering and celebrating. I was so happy to go home but also sad because I was leaving the people I competed with. Even though they are my opponents, they are also my friends because sports couldn’t happen without those people and no one understands it better than those around me at the moment,” said Miller.
The award was established in 2019 to recognize the valuable contributions Lasuita has made to the Saskatchewan Games program. Throughout his 50-plus year career in sport and recreation, Lasuita has played a key role in more than 50 multi-sport games — including the Saskatchewan Games, the Canada Games and the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. As provincial games consultant until his retirement in 2019, Lasuita played an instrumental role in building the Saskatchewan Games program into what it is today, having been a part of every edition of the biennial Saskatchewan Games from 1974 through 2023 – only missing the first-ever Games in 1972.
Lasuita is an inductee of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, earning a spot as a builder alongside fellow Class of 2023 inductees Hayley Wickenheiser and Ryan Getzlaf.
The next instalment of the Saskatchewan Games will take place in Weyburn from July 23-29, 2028. The 2028 Saskatchewan Summer Games will feature competition in 13 sports among 1,800+ athletes, coaches, and team staff from across the province, and will be supported by upwards of 1,000 local volunteers.
