Queen's Wilkie honoured as ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS athlete of the week

OTTAWA (CIS) – Maddie MacKenzie, a rugby player from Acadia University, and Alex Wilkie, a cross country runner from Queen's University, are the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Nov. 1st, 2015.

MacKenzie, a fourth-year science student in her third year of eligibility from Peterborough, Ont., scored three tries in the AUS final to lead the Axewomen to a 34-17 road win over first-place StFX and the first conference title in program history, ending a 17-year domination by the X-Women in the process. The veteran fly-half was named player of the game and championship MVP after she found the try zone twice in the first half as Acadia built a 17-7 advantage at the break, before adding an insurance score late in the contest. MacKenzie and the top-seeded Axewomen face tournament host Queen's in their CIS championship opener Thursday at Kingston.

McGill cross country runner Mélanie Myrand, Toronto field hockey player Amanda Woodcroft and Thompson Rivers volleyball player Iullia Pakhomenko were also nominated for the women's award.

Wilkie, a third-year health studies student from Almonte, Ont., topped a field of 108 runners to claim the individual gold medal at the OUA championships in Waterloo. In a thrilling finish, the 5-foot-10 junior completed the 10-kilometre race in 30:45.3 to edge Windsor's Paul Janikowski by a single second. Wilkie now hopes to improve on his 10th place from a year ago at the CIS championships, which are set for Nov. 14 at Guelph.

Cross country runners Matt McNeil of Dalhousie and Nicolas Morin of Laval, as well as Victoria soccer player Cam Hundal were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: Maddie MacKenzie, rugby, Acadia (recipient)
RSEQ: Mélanie Myrand, cross country, McGill
OUA: Amanda Woodcroft, field hockey, Toronto
CWUAA: Iullia Pakhomenko, volleyball, Thompson Rivers

Male nominees:
AUS: Matt McNeil, cross country, Dalhousie
RSEQ: Nicolas Morin, cross country, Laval
OUA: Alex Wilkie, cross country, Queen's (recipient)
CWUAA: Cam Hundal, soccer, Victoria

Source: CIS