Gray, Vernon highlight nominees for U SPORTS Athletes of the Year

TORONTO, Ont. (U SPORTS) – U SPORTS is proud to announce the eight nominees for the 2018 BLG Awards celebrating the U SPORTS Athletes of the Year for the 2017-18 season.

The 2018 nominees for the Doug Mitchell Trophy presented to the U SPORTS Male Athlete of the year are Alberta Golden Bears football player Ed Ilnicki, Laurentian Voyageurs basketball player Kadre Gray, Concordia Stingers wrestler Francis Carter and UNB Varsity Reds basketball player Javon Masters.

On the women’s side, the finalists for the Jim Thompson Trophy presented to the U SPORTS Female Athlete of the Year are Calgary Dinos rugby player / wrestler Temitope Ogunjimi, volleyball players Theanna Vernon of the Ryerson Rams and Marie-Alex Bélanger of the Montréal Carabins and Acadia Axewomen basketball player Paloma Anderson.

The eight national nominees will be honoured on Monday, June 4 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver, B.C., as part of the 2018 U SPORTS Conference and Annual Meeting. It will mark just the second time the BLG Awards have been held in Vancouver and first since 2011.

The BLG Awards were established in 1993 by U SPORTS and national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP to recognize the top male and female athletes from U SPORTS-affiliated universities. One male and female nominee are chosen to represent each of the four conferences: Canada West (CW), Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and Atlantic University Sport (AUS). All finalists will return home with a commemorative gold ring from Jostens.

The winners will be determined by the Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board chaired by Doug Mitchell, National Co-Chair of BLG.

Click here to view the All-Time BLG Award Nominees and Winners