McGill mops up at Quebec Foundation gala awards

(LEFT TO RIGHT: SARAH McCUAIG, STEVEN BIELBY, ALEX PICARD-HOOPER AND CHARLINE LABONTE EACH WON MAJOR AWARD CATEGORIES AT THE QUEBEC FOUNDATION GALA)

MONTREAL -- McGill took home 18 of 84 bursaries handed out at the 26th annual Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence gala at the Delta Centre-Ville hotel, Wednesday night, as a combined total of $189,750 was doled out to worthy student-athletes from nine Quebec universities.

McGillians won a school record five of the 11 major categories, sweeping both academic excellence prizes, with distance runner Sarah McCuaig ($2,000), a 22-year-old physiology junior from Waterloo, Ont., and swimmer Steven Bielby ($2,000) of Pte. Claire, Que., being selected. Bielby, a 22-year-old electrical engineering senior, was a double winner, taking home an additional sports excellence distinction valued at $1,750.

McGill also swept both athlete-of-the-year honours for team sports, with hockey stars Alexandre Picard-Hooper of Boucherville, Que., and Charline Labonté of Boisbriand, Que., each receiving $2,000 awards.

The final major honour went to the defending CIS champion hockey Martlets, named as the Quebec women's sports team of the year.

Additional subsidies went to hockey players Marc-André Dorion (academic, $1,750) of St. Bruno, Que., Ann-Sophie Bettez (athletic, $1,500) of Sept-Iles, Que., and Cathy Chartrand (athletic, $1,500) of Lac Nominingue, Que., in addition to basketball's Anneth Him-Lazarenko (athletic, $1,750) of Panama City and football's Ben Thompson (athletic, $1,500) of Fredericton, N.B.

Recruitment bursaries were handed out to five basketball players, including Dianna Ros ($5,000) of Montreal, Shelby Eveleigh ($3,500) of St. Hubert, Tiye Traore ($3,000) of Sudbury, Ont., Marie-Eve Martin ($1,750) of Granby, Que., all members of the Martlets, and Redmen basketball's Simon Bibeau ($1,750) of St. Bruno.  Other recruitment cheques were granted to hockey's Mélodie Daoust ($3,500) of Valleyfield, Que., soccer's Rebecca Green ($3,000) of Green's Harbour, Nfld., and volleyball's Geneviève Plante ($1,750) of Montreal.

Laval led all institutions with 22 bursary recipients, followed by Université de Montréal (20) and McGill's 18, which was one shy of the school record established last year.

Rounding out the list was Concordia (10), Sherbrooke (6), UQAM (3), Bishop's (2), UQTR (2) and the Université du Québec en Outaouais (1). The McGill total surpassed the previous school best of 16 in 2008.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. OF QUEBEC FOUNDATION AWARDS HANDED OUT TO McGILL ATHLETES (by year)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1983    4
1984    3
1985     1
1986    4
1987    5
1988    8
1989    16
1990    7
1991    3
1992    9
1993    10
1994    12
1995    15
1996    13
1997    10
1998    7
1999    8
2000    11
2001    3
2002    3
2003    7
2004    5
2005    9
2006    7
2007    11
2008    16
2009    10
2010    19
2011    18

--------------------------------------------------------------------
INDIVIDUAL McGILL AWARD RECIPIENTS, YEAR-BY-YEAR
--------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman

McGill Athletics & Recreation

514-398-7012