TORONTO, Ont. - For the first time during the 2021-22 season, a Guelph Gryphon student-athlete has been named U SPORTS Athlete of the Week. On Wednesday (Nov. 10), the U SPORTS office announced
Kiana Gibson (Guelph Gryphons, women's cross country) and Kairo Coore (Cape Breton Capers, men's soccer) as the latest recipients of U SPORTS Athlete of the Week honours.
U SPORTS Athletes of the Week (Nov. 1-7, 2021)
Kiana Gibson (Guelph Gryphons, women's cross country)
Kairo Coore (Cape Breton Capers, men's soccer)
Kiana Gibson takes home U SPORTS Athlete of the Week honours following the latest outstanding performance in her memorable senior season as a Gryphon. The 21-year-old Ottawa native led the way for the Gryphons women's cross country team this past weekend at the 2021 OUA Cross Country Championships in London, where she finished 1st overall in a field of 87 runners representing 16 different universities to lead the Gryphons women's cross country program to a first-place finish in the overall team standings.
For the Gryphons women's cross country team, it marked an OUA-record 18th conference title in program history and first since 2016. Gibson's impressive time of 29:40 in the 8km race skyrocketed her to a first-place podium finish, where she stood alongside fellow Gryphon
Olivia Roussel (29:47) who finished with silver. For Gibson, it marked the third time this season she had earned a first-place finish in the individual results, with the arts and sciences major also claiming individual gold at both the Don Mills Open (Oct. 2) and Marauder Invitational (Oct. 30) earlier this season. Gibson's performance on Saturday in London was part of a dominant team effort from the Gryphons women's cross country team, who placed five runners in the top seven and finished 41 points clear of the next closest school (Western) in the overall team standings. Throughout her time at the University of Guelph,
Kiana Gibson has excelled not only athletically, where she also competes as a member of the national championship-winning Gryphons women's track and field team,
but also in the classroom and in the community. Following the 2019-20 season, Gibson was named the recipient of the OUA's Community Service Award.
Nominees
CW: Summer Masikewich, Saskatchewan, basketball
OUA: Kiana Gibson, Guelph, cross country
RSEQ: Laura Guay, Laval, rugby
AUS: Grace Longely, Acadia, soccer
Kairo Coore, Cape Breton Capers
A first-year forward from Whitby, Ontario, Kairo Coore was named most valuable player of the 2021 AUS Men's Soccer Championships, after helping the Capers capture their fifth consecutive conference banner. The forward recorded four goals in two victories on home turf, scoring twice in the Capers' 3-1 quarterfinal win over the UNB Reds and notching a pair in their 4-0 championship final victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies. Coore, who led the nation with 15 regular-season goals, was also named an AUS first team all-star. The No.1 Capers will be one of eight teams that will compete at the 2021 U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship, hosted by the University of Carleton from November 18-21.
Nominees
CW: Benjamin Hillis, Regina, basketball
OUA: Andrew Davies, McMaster, cross country
RSEQ: Clement Secchi, McGill, swimming
AUS: Kairo Coore, Saint Mary's, cross country
