Jan. 8, 2009

Eugenia Broadus, a sophomore women's basketball player, and Cayle Byers, a sophomore wrestler, had strong showings in December and for their performances, they've been named George Mason Female and Male Athletes of the Month for December.

Broadus helped lead the Patriots to a 2-3 record in the final month of 2008. Broadus nearly averaged a double-double contributing 11 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in December. She also had nine steals, seven assists and four blocks in the five games. In December, she set single-game career highs in points (18), rebounds (14), field goals (6), free throws (8) and assists (3). The Washington, D.C. native also tallied her first career double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds playing in her hometown in Mason's win at Howard on Dec. 21. Broadus entered the month of January ranked seventh in rebounding among all Colonial Athletic Association players.

Byers captured the 197-pound title at the Nittany Lion Open before finishing as the runner-up at the 2008 Southern Scuffle. The Chugiak, Alaska native was named the CAA Wrestler of the Month after posting an 8-2 record in 10 matches to improve his overall record on the year to 17-2. Byers is ranked sixth by InterMat and seventh by Amateur Wrestling News in the latest polls. The No. 6 ranking is the highest by a George Mason wrestler since Donnie DeFilippis finished the season ranked fifth at 141 pounds in 2001.

This is the second time Byers has won the George Mason Athlete of the Month award. He was received the honor in December of 2007. Previous winners of this year's George Mason Athelte of the Month Award were Sean Kelley (Sept., men's soccer), Rebecca Walter (Sept., women's volleyball), Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe (Oct., men's soccer), Ashley Danner (Oct., women's swimming and diving), Ryan Pearson (Nov., men's basketball) and Brittany Poindexter (Nov., women's basketball).