ST. PAUL, Minn. - This week's CU Athlete of the Week profile features two student-athletes reaching the distinction for the first time this year, track and field member Domonique Gilmer and women's basketball player Zoraa Quoie. Both juniors for the Golden Bears, Gilmer and Quoie stood out as the best competitors on their squads in action last weekend.
Domonique Gilmer (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn. / Iowa Central CC) made his name known during the first few indoor meets of the season, but his 400 meter dash performance at the Minnesota Open on Saturday makes his presence in the track world unmistakable. Gilmer shattered Concordia's former best time in the 400 with his time of 48.86 seconds, winning the event and reaching an NCAA provisional mark in the process. His race leads the NSIC and is the second best in the nation so far this season, trailing only one other DII athlete, Steven Banton of Lincoln, by just six hundredths of a second.
Gilmer's performance is Concordia's first NCAA provisional mark of the 2009-10 season and sets the ball rolling for a chance to race at the NCAA Championships. Ranking second nationally, Gilmer has a great shot to be among the field of athletes chosen for the 400m dash by the time the Championships are held in mid-March and also has a number of chances to best his time and possibly reach an automatic mark. A provisional mark qualifies an athlete for the NCAA Championships, where the top performances are chosen to fill an event. An automatic-qualifying time, a mark of 48.30s in this event, guarantees an athlete a position at the Championships.
Gilmer also ran the lead leg of the CU men's 4x400m relay, helping put up a time of 3:22.5. This mark is just two seconds off of Concordia's best-ever time in the event. Gilmer ran the team's fastest leg in the race with a time of 49.4s.
Concordia guard Zoraa Quoie (Jr., 5-7, Woodbury, Minn. / Iowa) shot 66.7% from the field in a set of NSIC games last weekend, finishing 16-of-24 overall with a 22.5 ppg average. The junior was nearly untouchable from long range, sinking an outstanding 8-of-10 shots from beyond the arc, going 4-of-5 in both games. Quoie also nailed all five of her free throw attempts.
Quoie led the team in scoring both nights, dumping in 22 on Friday against Minnesota State and 23 on Saturday against Southwest Minnesota State. Against the Mavericks, she also had five steals and three assists. Quoie’s results this weekend boost her season scoring average to 10.0 ppg, making her the fifth player on the roster to average double figures for scoring. She has put up a 53.3% field goal average on the year and is shooting a very high 44.7% from three-point range (17-38). In addition to her scoring capabilities, Quoie is also one of the team’s best in terms of finding teammates for a bucket (47 assists). She has a team high 37 steals.
Quoie currently ranks 3rd in the NSIC for steals (2.47), 3rd for assist/turnover ratio (2.47), 5th for shooting percentage (53.3%), 7th for 3FG average (44.7), 13th for assists (3.13).
