Upload a Photo Upload a Video Add a News article Write a Blog Add a Comment
Blog Feed News Feed Video Feed All Feeds

Folders

Featured (605)
Results (920)
Recaps (55)
News (28)
Awards (10)
Entries (31)
RRW (15)
MEAC (0)
NAIA (0)
All (66352)
 

 

National Athletes of the Week Rewrite the Record Books - USTFCCCA

Published by
DyeStatCOLLEGE.com   Jan 27th 2014, 10:41pm
Comments

National Athletes of the Week Rewrite the Record Books

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

January 27, 2014   

NEW ORLEANS –How good were the collegiate performances this weekend? Good enough that top-10 all-time marks in collegiate or Division II/III history didn’t earn U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Athlete of the Week nods.

MORE INFO: All-Time Indoor Collegiate Top-10 Lists | Top 2014 Marks for All Divisions

In two-day span that featured two of the best collegiate women’s middle-distance performances in history by two The Bowerman Watch List members, Oregon’s Laura Roesler edged out Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino as the women’s Division I National Athlete of the Week.

Roeser raced to the second-fastest all-conditions indoor mark in collegiate history at 800 meters in 2:01.32 at Kentucky, in addition to splitting at 2:02.5 in the Ducks’ nation-leading distance medley relay performance the night before and running a leg of Oregon’s runner-up 4×400 relay team after.

The fact that she was in control of her historic 800 meters race and it ended with a victory gave her the slight advantage over D’Agostino, whose 4:28.31 mile was – though tied for third all-time among collegians and seventh among Americans — four seconds slower than winner Mary Cain’s.

The Division I men’s honor stayed in the Pac-12 as Arizona’s Nick Ross joined a six-way tie at No. 10 on the all-time indoor collegiate performers list in the high jump with a clearance of 7-7 (2.31m) at New Mexico. He is just the third collegian in history to clear 7-7 in the month of January.

Christopher Reed of Minnesota State is the men’s Division II National Athlete of the Week for the second consecutive week, this time as the all-time best shot putter on the Division II indoor list with a mark of 65-5½ (19.95m) at the Minnesota Jack Johnson  Invitational.

First year New Mexico Highlands long jumper took the Division II lead in the event in her very first indoor competition in the event with a leap of 19-10¾ (6.06m) at Air Force to earn the Division’s women’s National Athlete of the Week honor.

Melanie Brickner of UW-Oshkosh checked in as the women’s Division III National Athlete of the Week and the No. 9 performer in Division III history in the weight throw with a mark of 61-4¼ (18.70m) at the North Central (Ill.) Cardinal Opener.

Connecticut College’s Mike LeDuc recorded an 11-second personal record at 5000 meters in a runner-up 14:17.32 finish – narrowly missing the Division’s all-time top 10 – at the Boston Terrier Invitational to earn the men’s Division III honor.

More information on each of the winners can be found below.

National Athletes of the Week are announced each Monday throughout the season, with male and female awards for all three NCAA Divisions. Nominations are open to the public and can be completed here.

DIVISION I MEN

Nick Ross, Arizona

Senior | High Jump
Murrieta, Calif. | Vista Murrieta HS
School Bio | TFRRS Profile

Continuing his triumphant return to NCAA competition following a redshirt year in 2012-13, Ross leapt to new heights with a personal-best 7-7 (2.31m) clearance at the New Mexico Cherry & Silver Invitational Friday evening. In addition to joining a six-way tie as the 10th-best performer in collegiate history, he became just the third collegian to clear a height of 7-7 in the month of January – and the first since 2000. He joins Texas’ Mark Boswell (2000) and former collegiate record holder Franklin Jacobs of Fairleigh Dickinson (1978) as the only other member of that list.

After clearing the previous height of 7-5¼ (2.27m) in one attempt to clinch the win, he took two unsuccessful shots at 7-7 before clearing it on the third and final try. If the winning height wasn’t impressive enough, he did it without any warm-up attempts prior to the beginning of the event. 

Honorable Mention:
Deon Lendore, Texas A&M – Set the indoor collegiate dual meet record at 400 meters in winning the Texas A&M Triangular in a nation-leading 45.74.

James Harris, Florida State – Is the only collegiate male in the top-10 nationally in both a field event (No. 2, high jump – 7-5¼/2.27m) and a track event (No. 10, 400 meters – 46.43).

Will Geoghegan, Dartmouth – Became the first collegiate sub-4:00 miler of 2014 with a seven-second personal record to win the Boston Terrier Invitational mile in 3:58.04.

Matt Gillespie, Iona – Bounced back from a 4:01.89 mile four hours later to run a collegiate-leading 7:52.24 3000 meters for a personal record at the Boston Terrier Invitational with a strong late-race surge.

 

DIVISION I WOMEN

Laura Roesler, Oregon

Senior | Middle Distance
Fargo, N.D. | Fargo South HS
School Bio | TFRRS Profile

The returning national 800 meters runner-up both indoors and outdoors from a year ago, Roesler’s first go at her signature race in 2014 cemented her as the early favorite at this year’s championships. The Oregon senior ran away from the field at the Kentucky Rod McCravy Invitational on Saturday – the Division I Meet of the Week – and turned in a winning time of 2:01.32 on UK’s oversized track (291m) for the second-fastest indoor all-conditions performance in collegiate history. She finished more than five seconds clear of runner-up Yanique Malcom of Alabama.

Teammate Annie LeBlanc helped her through approximately 400 meters in approximately 60 seconds, and Roelser carried the momentum to pull farther away from the pack in the second half of the race.

In addition to her individual showing at 800 meters on Saturday, she also ran on Friday the 800-meter leg of the Ducks’ nation-leading distance medley relay in approximately 2:02.5. Hers was the decisive leg of the relay, as she gave the Ducks a lead that would eventually translate to a 10:56.77 – fourth-fastest in school history.

She would return to the track Saturday for the Ducks’ 4×400 relay, which would finish runner-up.

Honorable Mention:
Abbey D’Agostino, Dartmouth – Finished runner-up at the Boston Terrier Invitational mile in a persona-record 4:28.31, giving her a tie for the third-fastest indoor mile in collegiate history and the seventh-fastest in American history.

Kendra Harrison, Kentucky – Won the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational 60-meter  hurdles in a collegiate-leading 7.96 – just .01 shy of the all-time collegiate top-10 – after running an 8.00q in the preliminaries for the nation’s two fastest times.

Kendell Williams, Georgia – Scored a collegiate-leading and American Junior record 4302 points at New Mexico in her first collegiate pentathlon and her second overall collegiate competition to miss joining the all-time top-10 in the event by 64 points. Ranked sixth in the nation in the long jump and ninth in the high jump.

Jasmine Todd, Oregon – Claimed the collegiate lead in the long jump with a mark of 21-0 (6.40m) at Kentucky to go along with her No. 2 mark at 60 meters.

 

DIVISION II MEN

Christopher Reed, Minnesota State

Senior | Throws 
Omaha, Neb. | Central HS
School Bio | TFRRS Profile

One way to hold on to your National Athlete of the Week honor is to jump from No. 7 all-time in your event on the Division II indoor list to No. 1, which is exactly what Reed did this past weekend in the shot put.

The senior exploded for a nearly-three foot indoor personal-best 65-5½ (19.95m) to win the Minnesota Jack Johnson Invitational, breaking the previous Division II indoor record of 64-11½ (19.80m) held by Ashland’s Kurt Roberts not just once but twice. In addition, the mark is the fourth-best ever recorded in collegiate competition by a Division II student-athlete, indoor or outdoor.

He erupted on his fourth-attempt for 65-2¾ (19.88m) to become the first Division II man to surpass 65 feet indoors, and topped himself with his 65-5½ on the next attempt.

Reed currently stands sixth on the all-college TFRRS descending order list and leads all Division II throwers by nearly three feet.

Honorable Mention:
Kevin Batt & Tabor Stevens, Adams State – The duo finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the mile at New Mexico in 4:02.07 and 4:02.66. Batt is now the second-fastest performer in Division II history, while Stevens is No. 4.

Paul Davis, McMurry – Moved to No. 8 on the all-time indoor shot put list in Division II with a mark of 62-10 (19.15m) in winning the Kansas Jayhawk Classic.

DIVISION II WOMEN

Shanice McPherson, New Mexico Highlands

Freshman (Indoor) | Multis/Jumps
Holmwood, Jamaica
School Bio | TFRRS Profile

McPherson made the most of her first collegiate indoor long jump competition at New Mexico Highlands, leaping to the top of the Division II qualifying list with a mark of 19-10¾ (6.06m) at the Air Force Invitational. The jump was good for third in the Division I-heavy field, just a quarter of an inch out of the runner-up position.

In fact, any one of her three attempts that measured farther than 19-8¾ (6.00m) would have given her the Division II lead in the event nationally. Her second attempt resulted in the 19-8¾ measurement, followed by her winning distance of 19-10¾ on her third and a 19-10¼ (6.05m) on her fourth before passing the final two attempts.

She is currently the lone automatic qualifier in the event, and her winning mark was just shy of the best mark of 19-11 (6.07m) recorded during her first outdoor campaign in 2013.

Honorable Mention:
Alicia Nelson, Adams State – Finished third in the mile at New Mexico in a Division II-leading 4:48.5 behind The Bowerman Watch Lister Colleen Quigley of Florida State in second and winner Georgia Peel of FSU.

Ada Udaya, New Haven – Emerged victorious from a field of 163 competitors in the women’s 200 meters at Boston in 24.05 for the Division’s second-fastest time.

DIVISION III MEN

Mike LeDuc, Connecticut College

Senior | Distance
Canton, Conn. | Canton HS
School Bio | TFRRS Profile

The Division III cross country champion continued his strong 2013-14 campaign with the Division’s fastest 5000 meters time of the young season, clocking a 14:17.32 to finish runner-up among a field heavy with Division I and II competitors at the Boston Terrier Invitational.

LeDuc hung with the chase pack throughout most of the race behind winner Maksim Korolev of Harvard, taking control of that pack in the late stages of the race to eke out a victory over Providence’s Benjamin Connor at the line by two-thirds of a second. The next-nearest Division III competitor was nearly 40 seconds behind.

He missed by just four seconds a spot among the Division’s all-time top-10 performers.

Honorable Mention:
Richard Roethel, Christopher Newport –In the Division III heptathlon record-holder’s first indoor multi since winning the NCAA title in 2012, he posted a DIII-leading 4957 at the CNU Captain’s Invitational and is ranked No. 3 in the high jump in the Division

Matt Melton, Amherst – Posted a two-second career-best 48.55 over 400 meters to finish 17th as the top DIII athlete at the Boston Terrier Invitational.

DIVISION III WOMEN

Melanie Brickner, UW-Oshkosh

Junior | Throws
Marathon, Wis. | Marathon HS
School Bio | TFRRS Profile

Brickner heaved a winning throw of 61-4¼ (18.70m) at the North Central (Ill.) Cardinal Opener – the Division III National Meet of the Week – to not only claim the top spot on the Division III qualifying list but also the No. 9 spot on the all-time Division III performers list.

After three attempts in the mid-17-meters range, she unloaded her winning throw to secure the win and her spot in history. The throw was a personal record by nearly two feet, eclipsing her 59-10½ (18.25m) to finish third at NCAAs a year ago.

She now owns the top spot on the Division III qualifying list by two feet. She also finished third in the shot put.

Honorable Mention:
Jaclyn Konopka, MIT – Matched her career best in the pentathlon with a score of 3453 at the Harvard Multi Meet, tying her mark set at the 2013 ECAC. Both are just 13 points shy of the all-time top-10 list in the Division’s history.

Emelia Scheemaker, Ithaca – Set the Division III lead in the triple jump by nearly two feet with a runner-up mark of 40-2¼ (12.25m )—an all-conditions personal-best —  at the Cornell Upstate Challenge against mostly Division I competition. She is just 2¼ inches shy of the all-time Division III top-10 in the event.



More news

History for DyeStatCOLLEGE.com
YearVideosNewsPhotosBlogs
2024 3   867  
2023 11 11778 3385  
2022 9 18630 1191  
Show 28 more
 
+PLUS highlights
+PLUS coverage
Live Events
Get +PLUS!