Nikki Wright Named CIS Athlete of the Week

19 Nikki Wright CIS Athlete of the Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CIS - Mitsubishi athletes of the week
Soccer players Wright, Craig honoured

Sept. 17, 2008

OTTAWA (CIS) - Soccer players Nikki Wright of Trinity Western and Paul Craig of UPEI are the Canadian University Sport Mitsubishi female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Sept. 14, 2008.

Wright, a first-year human kinetics student from Cloverdale, B.C., scored all of her team's goals last weekend as the Spartans (1-0-2) tied No. 5-ranked UBC (2-0-2) 1-1 and edged No. 9 Victoria (2-2-0) 2-1 to remain undefeated in conference play. The 18-year-old freshman, who played with the Vancouver Whitecaps Reserve last year and was one of the most coveted recruits in Canada West, is tied for second in conference scoring with three markers in as many outings.

"I am pleased for Nikki, it is well deserved. Anytime you can score three times against two of the best teams in Canada, it is a huge plus for yourself and of course the team. Nikki played a vital role in a very important weekend for us because we are young and many of our players hadn't played in that intense environment," commented TWU head coach Graham Roxburgh, "As she develops more areas of her game, Nikki is going to become an extremely dangerous player for us in Canada West.

"Not only is it a nice accolade for Nikki individually, but it also is a great note for our young team, because the whole team had a great contribution in helping our success last weekend," added Roxburgh.

Memorial soccer player Maxine Morris, Laval rugby player Claudiane Renaud and Guelph rugby player Britt Benn were also nominated for the women's award.

Craig, a third-year student from Charlottetown had back-to-back two-goal performances as the undefeated Panthers (4-0-1) beat Mount Allison 3-1 and Acadia 4-1 to take a three-point lead in the AUS standings. The 20-year-old striker, who tallied the game-winner against Mount Allison, leads the conference and ranks second in the nation with five goals in five outings.

Sherbrooke cross country runner Simon-Pierre Landry, Laurier soccer player Yousef El-Abbar and UBC soccer player Nick Poole were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: Maxine Morris, soccer, Memorial
QSSF: Claudiane Renaud, rugby, Laval
OUA: Britt Benn, rugby, Guelph
Canada West: Nikki Wright, soccer, Trinity Western (recipient)

Male nominees:
AUS: Paul Craig, soccer, UPEI (recipient)
QSSF: Simon-Pierre Landry, cross country, Sherbrooke
OuA: Yousef El-Abbar, soccer, Laurier
Canada West: Nick Poole, soccer, UBC

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. The CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, and 32 World University Championships. For further information, visit www.universitysport.ca.

-CIS-

For more information contact:

Michel Bélanger
Communications Manager
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
Fax: (613) 562-5669
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.universitysport.ca

Scott Stewart MSS
Sports Information Director
Trinity Western University
604.513.2123
604.513.2065 fax
604.764.1533 cell
ssstew@twu.ca
gospartans.ca
Developing the Complete Champion

Last Updated: 2009-09-03
Author: Scott Stewart
Email: ssstew@twu.ca