For individuals and teams alike, the year saw McGill student athletes bring home some serious hardware.
The varsity program was done proud by the men’s lacrosse team (winners of the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association Championship), the co-ed tennis team (first-time Tennis Canada National Collegiate champs) and Canadian University Rowing women’s gold medalists Kalyna Franko and Luce Bourbeau. At the conference level, McGill garnered seven league championships: men’s and women’s basketball, women’s cross-country running and track and field, men’s rugby, lacrosse and baseball. The CIS named Melodie Daoust its hockey player of the year and Shaquille Johnson its football rookie of the year—on top of 10 McGill student athletes being named CIS All-Canadians, 72 being crowned Conference All-stars and 15 winning Quebec Foundation Scholarship Awards.
All that brawn was matched by brain-power, too: Track and field athlete Sarah McCuaig received a Rhodes Scholarship, hockey player Marc-André Dorion earned a spot on the CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadians, 69 athletes made the CIS Academic All-Canadian list, and 162 Redmen and Martlets earned a spot on the Principal’s Student-athlete Honour Roll. And medical student Laurent Duvernay-Tardif made history in a big way, becoming only the second Quebec university football player ever to capture two major conference awards in the same season, as well as receiving one of eight inaugural Governor General’s Academic All-Canadian Commendations.
From big wins to new digs, here are more bright lights from the year in Athletics:
- McGill hosts the largest indoor track meet in Canada
Valerie Grand'Maison with coach Peter Carpenter (Photo by Vikki Crane) - McGill women’s swim team member Valérie Grand’Maison wins Paralympic swimming gold
- McGill’s Daoust named Women’s Hockey Player of the Year
- McGill’s Shaquille Johnson named football’s top rookie
- Runner McCuaig becomes McGill’s 134th Rhodes Scholar
- Redmen win first-ever national lacrosse title
- McGill rallies to capture national tennis championship
- McGill crew strikes gold at Canadian university rowing championships
McGill Athletics facilities undergo a facelift:
- Molson Stadium receives new playing surface for 98th year of operation
- Refurbished McGill Fitness Centre opens its doors on September 1, 2012