Okotoks: Where Cougars become Dawgs

On any given afternoon or evening in the summertime, chances are thousands of people are packed into Okotoks’ Seaman Stadium taking in a Dawgs baseball game.

The Dawgs are part of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL), Canada’s summer collegiate league. The program started in Calgary in 1995, with the team making Seaman Stadium their home in 2007.

Since the opening of the stadium, dozens of Mount Royal students and alumni have had the chance to intern and work for the Dawgs each summer, providing invaluable experience in the sports industry.

Anyone who tunes into the games' livestreams will recognize the tones of Peter Klein and Conrad Krausert, both MRU broadcasting alumni who were on the mic for just about every outing this season. The pair alternates between who does play-by-play and colour commentary, though sometimes it ends up being a solo play-by-play call if the other is unavailable.

Klein graduated from MRU with his diploma in 2009 while Krausert officially became an MRU alum in 2025.

Just a few chairs over in the broadcast booth sit Alex Fercho and Naomi Campbell, both current students in MRU’s Bachelor of Communication — Broadcast Media Studies with Fercho heading into his final year and Campbell into her third year.

Fercho serves as the part-time in-game announcer, reading out each player's name as they come up to bat as well as any other special announcements. Campbell serves as the scorekeeper, tracking every pitch, out and run, in detail.

It’ll be from one sports season to the next for Fercho and Campbell as they prepare to work for the Cougars once again this fall, resuming their roles of hockey game day staff supervisor and hockey broadcast colour commentator, respectively.

Jake Zelez, ticket office team member, is another Cougar who has found a job in Okotoks upon graduating this year. The Bachelor of Health and Physical Education — Sport and Recreation Management grad was a familiar face, selling tickets and making sure the guest experience is the best it can be.

"MRU students and alumni come well prepared, ambitious and eager to learn, bringing relevant education and a drive we get excited for year after year,” says Dawgs president Tyler Hollick.

"We value the relationship we have built with the school and its students and are excited to continue welcoming MRU students and alumni for many years to come."

The Dawgs have wrapped up their season after being swept by the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the WCBL’s West Division final. Despite their ousting from the playoffs, they still walk away with the President’s Trophy with a league best 42-12 regular season record.

PR students cover the bases

The 2026 season was a big one for Bachelor of Communications — Public Relations graduate Emma Calliou. Though she's been with the Dawgs since 2023, this season was her first as the team’s operations manager since graduating in 2025.

With two seasons under her belt as hospitality manager, it was a natural transition for her.

Calliou adds that her Mount Royal foundation also helped as she assumed her new role.

“Oftentimes I treat what I learned at MRU as common knowledge and it is not until I end up working on projects or in conversations where I learn that not everyone approaches communications or management the same way I do.”

She says while her public relations background is extremely important to her role, she does find a lot of value in the soft skills that MRU helped her develop.

From co-ordinating promotions to greeting people in the ticketing office, Calliou is at every game. The experience has come full circle for her, as she’s now part of the team that hires and trains MRU students.

“Two years ago, I was them,” she reflects. “I was using the Dawgs as my co-op and working towards my degree and now to be on the other side guiding them through that same journey also opens my eyes to how much I've grown since.”

Calliou now aims to make the experience the best it can be for the next round of students that take on practicums with the Dawgs.

“I loved my internship at Dawgs, but like any internship you may walk out with gaps in experience or areas you wanted to explore more, and so with that I also lean on previous PR experience to ensure the students are walking out with tangible communications deliverables to complete their fourth year.”

Emma Balderston and Abby Fralic were among this year’s PR students working with Calliou.

Both Balderston and Fralic, who are going into their fourth year, have been an integral part of the 2026 Dawgs season. Balderston worked with the promo team while Fralic took on the role of media co-ordinator.

Fralic knew she wanted to work with the Dawgs before they even began recruiting for the season.

“I reached out in the fall expressing my interest in working with the organization before jobs were even posted. I really highlighted my sports experience from playing on the MRU fastball team. I knew I wanted to work in sports, so I did a wide variety of volunteer work for youth softball organizations,” Fralic says.

The fastball team is a competitive club operating through Recreation at MRU.

Fralic also brought that experience having worked with the social media team for MRU’s Riddell Library and Learning Centre. She says her three years in the PR program really helped her understand and navigate the different audiences she would be catering to.

“This comes into play a lot for both social media and written communications. I would say the most helpful class was media relations, because I do a lot of communication with local journalists and news outlets, as well as hosting media events.”

As she returns to campus for her final year in the fall, Fralic will resume her role as a student ambassador with the Library. Keep an eye on their social channels to see some of the content she and the other ambassadors create.