OTTAWA (CIS) – Western Ontario pentathlete Jen Cotten and Calgary volleyball player Graham Vigrass are the BlackBerry Canadian Interuniversity Sport female and male athletes of the week for the period ending March 14, 2010.

Vigrass, a third-year science student from Calgary, was named tournament MVP at the CIS championship in Kamloops, B.C., after he guided the sixth-seeded Dinos to their first national title since 1993. The 6-foot-8 right side averaged 4.43 kills per set and was selected Calgary player of the match twice in three contests, including the gold-medal final, as the Dinos upset No. 3 Dalhousie in five sets in the opening round, two-time defending champion and No. 2 Alberta 3-2 in the semis, and No. 4 Trinity Western in four games for CIS gold.

Basketball players Jimmy Dorsey of Cape Breton and Jules Diagne of UQAM, as well as Ottawa long jumper Christopher Greenaway were the other male nominees.

Cotten, a fifth-year sciences student from Barrie, Ont., was chosen the outstanding female performer of the CIS track and field championships for the second straight year after she capture her fourth pentathlon title and finished the meet held at the University of Windsor with five medals, including two gold. Cotten, who was named CIS female athlete of the year in field events prior to the championships, won the pentathlon with 3,947 points and the long jump with a leap of 5.96 metres, claimed silver in the 60m hurdles thanks to a personal-best time of 8.55 seconds, and led the Mustangs' 4x400 and 4x200 relays to third-place finishes, including a school-record time of 3:48.48 in the 4x400.

Dalhousie runner Celia Peters, Laval sprinter Geneviève Thibault and Alberta hockey player Dana Vinge were also nominated for the women's award.

Female nominees:
AUS: Celia Peters, track & field, Dalhousie
QSSF: Geneviève Thibault, track & field, Laval
OUA: Jen Cotten, track & field, Western Ontario (recipient)
Canada West: Dana Vinge, hockey, Alberta

Male nominees:
AUS: Jimmy Dorsey, basketball, Cape Breton
QSSF: Jules Diagne, basketball, UQAM
OUA: Christopher Greenaway, track & field, Ottawa
Canada West: Graham Vigrass, volleyball, Calgary (recipient)

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. 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.

-CIS-