MOUNT PLEASANT – Two Iowa Wesleyan College athletes received honors from the Midwest Collegiate Conference this week, as Sheray Brown (Jr.-Detroit, Mich.) and Xavier Shields (Fr.-St. Albans, N.Y.) both garnered MCC Athlete of the Week awards on Monday.
Brown was named the co-recipient of the league’s Women’s Basketball Player of the Week award, while Shields was named the MCC’s Men’s Track Athlete of the Week. Both received the award for the first time this season and the first time in their careers at IWC.
Brown shares the award with Rachel Hannam of Waldorf College after leading the 14th-ranked Tigers to a pair of wins last week, both against teams just outside the NAIA Division II top 25. She averaged 14 points, 13 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game in wins over St. Ambrose University and Mount Mercy College, and also shot 78% from the field, making 11 of 14 shots.
The 5-11 forward had 11 points, 16 rebounds and four assists on Wednesday in an 80-68 win over St. Ambrose, taking over the game with 12 rebounds in the second half. Brown then had her second straight double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four steals on Saturday in a 74-58 win over Mount Mercy, shooting 6-for-7 from the field and hitting three three-pointers.
For the season Brown is averaging 8.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Her rebounding average ranks third in the MCC and 16th nationally, and she now has 11 games with ten rebounds or more, including seven of her last eight games.
Shields received the MCC men’s track athlete award after winning the 55-meter dash at the Cornell College Hilltop Invitational on Saturday. The freshman bested a field of 52 competitors, winning the finals with a time of 6.52 seconds. That time was good for third on the IWC all-time indoor performance list and also made Shields a provisional qualifier for the NAIA National Championships as he met the national ‘B’ standard of qualification.
Shields reached third on Wesleyan’s performance list in his first career meet this year and improved on that mark three times since. Earlier this season he also reached second on the Tigers’ all-time list in the 400 with a time of 53.16.
The IWC women’s basketball team’s next game will be Wednesday when it faces #19 ranked Grand View University at 5:30 p.m. in Des Moines. The Tiger indoor track & field teams will be at the MCC Indoor Championships on Saturday in Sterling, Ill.
For more information regarding the IWC basketball or track programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
