Blazers Men's Volleyball Bring in Titan Outside Johnston
The CMU Men's Volleyball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Levi Johnston for the 2024-25 MCAC season. The Transcona Collegiate and Winman Volleyball Club student-athlete joins the Blazers as one of the top recruits of his graduating class, and will look to make an immediate mark on his new team.
Transcona Collegiate is not typically known to be a hot bed for top volleyball talent in the province but Johnston may be changing the narrative, as he led his varsity team to an MHSAA "AAA" Provincial Finals in his grade eleven season, and then continued to make history by captaining the squad to a "AAAA" Provincials berth in his senior year after the school's athletics programs got bumped up to the top tier in the province. It was the first time the Titans had featured at a "AAAA" provincial championship in the school's history. The team even managed to make a splash at the championships, upsetting their seventh-seeded Steinbach Regional opponent in the first round to make it into the "Elite Eight" of their new division. A dual-sport threat both on the volleyball and basketball court, Johnston was named an MHSAA "AAA" Provincial All-Star in both disciplines in the same season during his grade ten year, and followed that up with Graduating All-Star recognition this past season alongside being named to the "AAAA" All-Manitoba team.
Now into his final club volleyball season, Johnston continues his training with Winman Volleyball Club, who sit among the top squads in the province, and are hoping to make a splash at this year's Volleyball Canada's Youth Nationals held later next month in Edmonton, Alberta. The team just recently returned from Calgary where they competed in the Best of the West Tournament, which features some of the top squads from Western Canada in a warmup for the national championships. A member of Winman since his 16U season, Johnston's 17U team were finalists at the 2023 provincial championships, and look to be in a tight race with Bisons club for the top spot again this year. 2023 was a big year for Johnston on many volleyball fronts, as he also featured on Team Manitoba at the North American Indigenous Games held in Halifax, where he and his teammates earned silver medals in the multi-nation tournament.
A natural leader, Johnston got connected to CMU through Blazers Sports Camps this past summer, where he helped mentor the next crop of up-and-coming athletes in and around Winnipeg, and looks to do the same again this July and August when the camps startup again. He connected with Blazers head coach Don Dulder, who was immediately intrigued by the skillset and athleticism Johnston would bring to the program, stating "Levi is a tremendous left side who was selected to the All-Manitoba team, which itself is a huge accomplishment. He's a great leaper who is the complete package of a player, possessing excellent passing skills alongside a next level jump serve. He's undoubtedly one of the top left sides in the province and we're super excited to have him join our team, and feel that he is more than an adequate replacement for our graduating left sides. He's a top notch character guy that will fit well with our team personnel, and I'm really looking forward to working with him."
Johnston will look to finish his final youth club season strong later this spring at Nationals, and then will get to work training with the Blazers on the hard court, while honing his skills further on the beach courts in the city during the summer months. He is especially excited about the opportunity to play for Dulder, who was the 2024 MCAC Men's Volleyball Coach of the Year, and a Manitoba Volleyball Hall of Famer, as well as the opportunities to test his skills at the next level against competition from across Canada.
Following a seventh-consecutive MCAC Finals appearance this February, the Blazers will once again look to make an appearance on the national stage next season when the CCAA Men's Volleyball Nationals are held here in Manitoba, hosted by the Providence Pilots. For the first time in CCAA history, two teams from Manitoba will make the championships in a bid to increase the middle province's visibility on the national stage and show why Manitoba is still a hot bed of top talent in the country. The CCAA is the national body for collegiate athletics in Canada, offering 10 national championships in seven sports. Now finished its third full year of participation, the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference joins five other established CCAA conferences; PacWest (BC), ACAC (Alberta-Sask), OCAA (Ontario), RSEQ (Quebec) and ACAA (Atlantic).
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