Mike Gartner Named CWPA North Player of the Week

Nov. 7, 2007

Providence, RI - Brown junior two-meter forward Mike Gartner (San Jose, CA) has been named the Collegiate Water Polo Association Northern Divison Player of the Week for the second time this season. Gartner led the Bears, who moved up to 17th in the national collegiate poll this week, to a second-place finish at the Northern Division Championship last weekend with 10 goals and 10 ejections drawn in three games.

Gartner scored three goals in each of Brown's opening-day wins over Queens (18-3) and Harvard (10-6). He added three assists, two ejections drawn, and one steal in the blowout victory over Queens, while drawing four ejections and dishing out one assist against the Crimson. In Sunday's championship game against #11 St. Francis, Gartner scored four times and drew four more ejections in a 14-10 Brown loss.

Gartner's 67 goals on the season rank eighth in the country. An Honorable Mention All-American last season, he also leads the team with 82 ejections drawn. Gartner was named Player of the Week on Sept. 11, after he scored 12 goals and drew eight ejections in five games at the MIT Invitational.

In addition to moving up to 17th in the national polls this week, Brown jumped one spot to third in the CWPA Top 10 poll. Both marks are season highs for the Bears. The team is off this week, as CWPA Coach of the Year candidate Felix Mercado prepares his players for the Eastern Championships next weekend at Harvard. The winner of that tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship at Stanford on Dec. 1-2.

This is the fifth time a Brown player has been named Player of the Week this season. Junior Grant LeBeau (San Diego, CA) has won the award twice, while freshman Corey Schwartz (Los Angeles, CA), was Player of the Week last week.