CIS athletes of the week (#9): Queen’s Roote, Laval’s Philibert-Thiboutot honoured

OTTAWA (CIS) – Kayla Roote, a rugby player from Queen’s University, and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, a cross-country runner from Laval University, are the Canadian Interuniversity Sport female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Oct. 27, 2013.

Roote, a fourth-year kinesiology student from Peterborough, Ont., scored 10 points on a pair of tries last Saturday to lead the visiting Gaels to their first-ever OUA title thanks to a 19-15 gold-medal win over the five-time defending conference champion Guelph Gryphons. The 5-foot-9 eightman crossed the try line once in the first half to give Queen’s a 12-5 advantage at the break and again in the second period to make it 19-10 after the locals had pulled to within two points, at 12-10. Roote, who had scored three tries in five games in the regular season, now hopes to guide the Gaels to their first Monilex Trophy triumph this week in Quebec City.

Rugby players Emma Taylor of St. Francis Xavier and Brianna Miller of McGill as well as field hockey player Sheriden Goodmanson of Victoria were also nominated for the women’s award.

Philibert-Thiboutot, a fourth-year business administration student from Quebec City, claimed the individual crown for the second year in a row and helped the Rouge et Or men capture a third straight team title at the RSEQ championship after he completed the 10-kilometre race in a time of 32 minutes and 10 seconds, almost 15 seconds ahead of teammate Benjamin Raymond, Saturday in Sherbrooke. The 22-year-old senior won the three RSEQ events he competed in this season and will now focus on the CIS championship which is set for Nov. 9 in London, Ont., hoping to improve on his 14th-place finish from a year ago.

John Kuto, a cross-country runner from Saint Mary’s, and hockey players Mitch Bennett of UOIT and Derek Hulak of Saskatchewan were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: Emma Taylor, rugby, StFX
RSEQ: Brianna Miller, rugby, McGill
OUA: Kayla Roote, rugby, Queen’s (recipient)
CWUAA: Sheriden Goodmanson, field hockey, Victoria

Male nominees:
AUS: John Kuto, cross country, Saint Mary’s
RSEQ: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, cross-country, Laval (recipient)
OUA: Mitch Bennett, hockey, UOIT
CWUAA: Derek Hulak, hockey, Saskatchewan

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CIS_SIC  
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cissports
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/universitysport

-CIS-