Five Mounties named AUS conference all-stars

Five Mount Allison University athletes were honoured as 2009-10 conference all-stars this past season.

Getting the nod for the best in their fields were: Iain MacLeod and Allie MacLean (second-team soccer all-stars, Atlantic University Sport (AUS); Mike Filer and Aaron Harper (offensive line, AUS football); and Gary Ross (inside receiver, special teams, and conference MVP, AUS football).

Gary Ross, a resident of Windsor, Ont., has been one of the best players ever to don the garnet and gold for Mount Allison. This past season, he was selected as the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference's MVP and is now a nominee for the Hec Crighton Award as Canada's top university football player.

The five-foot-nine receiver/returner was an all-star inside receiver and the conference's top special teams player for the fourth consecutive season.

Ross broke three AUS records, leading the conference this year in receptions (60), receiving yards (818 yards), receiving touchdowns (four), and all-purpose yards (1,423 yards). He was the only Atlantic conference player to average over 100 yards receiving per game (102.2 yards per game) and despite opposing teams continually kicking away from him in punting and kickoff situations, he was still able to record 281 punt return yards and 186 kickoff return yards, including a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown against McGill.

Winning all-Canadian awards twice last season, Ross was also a four-time winner of the AUS player-of-the-week selections this past season.

He is a former city all-star and MVP from Riverside Secondary School in Windsor. In his rookie season, Ross was named as one of Mount Allison's athletes of the year, and the football team's overall MVP and offensive MVP. He is a two-time university athlete of the year, and a four-time AUS all-star.

Ross is currently enrolled in fourth-year science and plans to pursue a career in dentistry.

Aaron Harper, a Lloydminster, Sask. resident is a six-foot-three, 310-pounder for the football Mounties who received honours this year as one of the AUS conference's best linemen (tackle). A past Calgary Colts player, he was selected to participate in the past East-West Bowl of Canadian university football. A former league all-star and lineman of the year from Lloydminster Comprehensive High School, Harper is currently enrolled in his third year and is majoring in sociology.

Mounties' second-year guard from Brantford, Ont., six-foot-two, 318-pound Mike Filer is a former player with Brantford Collegiate Institute, where he was a two-time lineman of the year. He is currently in arts at Mount Allison and majors in sociology.

The soccer team's hardworking midfielder Iain MacLeod of Mt. Pearl, Nfld., was named to the AUS second-team all-stars. Mount Allison's athlete of the month for October, he was a driving force on and off the field, and the Mounties' leading scorer with four goals. For much of September, he led the conference in scoring and his outstanding play led the Mounties to an excellent start in the season and a run at the playoffs.

A fifth-year player in commerce, MacLeod is a past member with the Newfoundland Canda Games team coached by former Mountie Andrew Moyst, and was a former star with O'Donel High School, in Mount Pearl.

West Branch, N.S. resident Allie McLean of the soccer Mounties, also the university's athlete of the month for October, moved from wide defence to the centre of it, and became one of the reasons the Mounties made such big strides forward this season. In recognition of her efforts, she too won second-team AUS all-star honours at the fullback position.

McLean is a past star from Northumberland High School in Alma, N.S., where she was coached by Phil Ruiz, a former all-Canadian soccer Mountie. McLean is currently in her third year of arts and is majoring in political science at Mount Allison.