Meg Brunelle of Oakham, Mass. to represent Quinnipiac University at National Quiz Bowl

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Meg Brunelle

HAMDEN, CT (02/02/2010)(readMedia)-- Meg Brunelle of Oakham, Mass., a senior athletic training/sports medicine major in the School of Health Sciences at Quinnipiac University, qualified to compete in the National Athletic Trainers' Association's Quiz Bowl in June in Philadelphia after she won a regional quiz bowl competition at the Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association's convention in Boston in January.

Brunelle will be Quinnipiac's ambassador on the national stage as one of three students representing New England and one of the national association's 10 districts. Each district is allowed to have three students and an alternate compete in the national Quiz Bowl, where top prize is $1,000 for the schools' athletic training programs or clubs.

"I wasn't nervous about the regional competition. I just didn't exactly know what to expect," said Brunelle, who is scheduled to earn her bachelor's degree in athletic training/sports medicine in May before beginning the doctor of physical therapy program at Quinnipiac. She currently serves as the athletic training student for Quinnipiac's women's ice hockey team.

Lenn Johns, professor of physical therapy and director of the athletic training and sports medicine program, asked her to compete.

"I asked him if there were questions that I should study for," Brunelle said. He said, 'Nope.' I said, 'Well, what should I look at?' He said, 'Well, hopefully you know everything by now or you might be in trouble," Brunelle recalled.

Susan Norkus, physical therapy professor and clinical coordinator of the athletic training and sports medicine program, said, "Megan's a great student. We knew she would represent our program and Quinnipiac very well."

Brunelle said her experiences both in the classroom and through numerous clinical experiences gave her the knowledge to win the regional competition. Both the regional and national quiz bowls feature five questions in five categories-therapeutic modalities, professional development, assessment of injuries, nutrition and miscellaneous-in a "Jeopardy!" style format.

"I am pretty confident to say that almost any of the seniors in our major would be able to go in and do well in the same situation just because they have prepared us so well," Brunelle said. "I feel I'll be pretty confident to go in and do my thing and we'll see what happens."

Brunelle, who also was named the Joseph Abraham District I Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association Scholarship Award recipient at the Boston conference, was not the only Quinnipiac student to take home an award from the regionals.

Brian Bremmer, a native of Montvale, N.J., who graduated from Quinnipiac in December, won the case study abstract poster presentation contest for his project, "Abdominal Injury in a Male Division I Ice Hockey Player," which he co-authored with Richard Kaplan, athletic trainer at Yale University and Norkus. "It was great that he won," Brunelle said. "It made for a good weekend for Quinnipiac."

In addition, Brunelle will be one of two students presenting case study abstracts at the Southeast Athletic Trainers' Association conference from Feb. 4-6 in Atlanta. Her case study on "Medial Foot Pain in a Division I Collegiate Softball Player," was co-authored by Stephen Straub, professor of physical therapy, and Timothy White, a Quinnipiac staff athletic trainer. Wade Johnson, a senior from Portland, Ore., also has been asked to give an oral presentation of his project, "Respiratory Distress in a Collegiate Field Hockey Player," which he co-wrote with Jennifer Mead, associate athletic trainer at Quinnipiac, Straub and White.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 5,700 full-time undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students in 52 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs of study in its School of Business, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac ranks among the top 10 universities with master's programs in the Northern region in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. The 2009 issue of U.S. News and World Report's America's Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master's programs in the North. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review's The Best 371 Colleges. For more information, please visit http://quinnipiac.edu.