Gibson, McMillen named Zaxby's Athletes of the Week

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University basketball guard Trenton Gibson and cross country runner Nicole McMillen have been named the Zaxby's Athletes of the Week.  McMillen earns her fourth Zaxby's Athlete of the Week honor, while Gibson garners his inaugural mention.

Gibson, a freshman from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, averaged 18 points and seven rebounds per game during the Pioneers' two South Atlantic Conference games at Anderson and Catawba.  In Wednesday's game at Anderson, he posted 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists in his 37 minutes of action.  He followed with a season-high 21 markers while also grabbing six boards and dished out four assists.

Gibson leads Tusculum in scoring and assists averaging 13.0 points (16^th in SAC) and 3.5 helpers per contest (8^th in SAC).  He is also the team's top free throw shooter at 80.9 percent (11^th in SAC) and is third on the team in rebounding, grabbing 5.8 boards per contest (17^th in SAC).

McMillen, a senior from Pickering, Ontario, finished 59^th overall at the 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country National Championship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She covered the 6,000-meter course in 23:57.7 to become the best finisher at nationals in program history.

McMillen was the second-place runner among the South Atlantic Conference entries in the field of 266 total competitors.  She was also fourth among runner from the Southeast Region.

The 59th-place finish by McMillen came in just the third collegiate cross country race of her career. A four-year starter on defense for the Tusculum women's soccer team, she was a member of the first-year Pioneer track and field team last winter and spring. After Tusculum was eliminated from the SAC Women's Soccer Championship, McMillen had the chance to enter the SAC Cross Country Championship and finished fifth overall. She then competed at the Southeast Regional and placed fifth to clinch an at-large berth to nationals.  For her efforts, she was named to both the All-SAC first team and the All-Region first team.

The Tusculum University Athlete of the Week Award is sponsored by Zaxby's, located at 3280 Andrew Johnson Highway in Greeneville.  The Zaxby's Athlete of the Week Award honors one male and one female athlete each week from an in-season sport.

2018-2019 Zaxby's Athletes of the Week