Mitsubishi athletes of the week: CIS champions Gerig, Brunsting honoured

Gerig, a second-year human kinetics student from Fort Langley, B.C., was named tournament MVP at the CIS championship after she led the host Spartans to the second Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy in team history. The sophomore forward, who was second in Canada West scoring in the regular season with nine goals, tallied twice in the first round of the CIS tourney to lead Trinity Western to a 3-0 shutout of Laurier, scored in the penalty kick session in a 1-0 semi-final win over Victoria, and was a constant threat in Sunday's 1-0 gold-medal victory over Brock.

Memorial basketball player Meghan Dalton, Laval cross country runner Catherine Cormier and Brock soccer player Tiffany Scriver were also nominated for the women's award.

Brunsting, a fourth-year biological engineering student, captured individual gold Saturday at the CIS championships in Quebec City and led the Gryphons men to a third straight team title and the most dominating performance at the CIS meet in over 20 years. The native of Stirling, Ont., completed the 10-kilometre race in 32:08.3 to become the first Gryphon to win the men's event since Paul Williams in 1977, and was the leader a Guelph team that placed four runners in the top six to finish with only 27 points, the lowest total at the CIS meet since Ottawa was crowned with the same tally in 1986.

Hockey players Justin Donati of UPEI, Alexandre Demers of UQTR and Steve Christie of Manitoba were the other male nominees.

Female nominees: AUS: Meghan Dalton, basketball, Memorial QSSF: Catherine Cormier, cross country, Laval OUA: Tiffany Scriver, soccer, Brock Canada West: Daniela Gerig, soccer, Trinity Western (recipient)

Male nominees: AUS: Justin Donati, hockey, UPEI QSSF: Alexandre Demers, hockey, UQTR OUA: Matt Brunsting, cross country, Guelph (recipient) Canada West: Steve Christie, hockey, Manitoba

-CIS-