DENVER ? Boise State’s Paige Olivetti and Fresno State’s Sharon Ayala have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Indoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week for the week of Jan. 21-27. This is the first career WAC Indoor Athlete of the Week honor for both Brooks and Bothum. This is the first season that honors for both “Track” and “Field” athletes will be awarded each week.
Olivetti, a junior from Reno, Nev., (Wooster), captured the Blue and Orange Classic 400-meter dash title with a personal-best time of 57.03. Her 400-meter mark currently leads the WAC and is nearly a full second improvement over her 2007 season-best time of 57.95. Olivetti also competed in the 200-meter dash and registered a time of 25.78.
Ayala, a junior from Fresno, Calif., (Fresno City College), won the weight throw at the Run for the Dream by a one-foot, seven-inch margin with a best throw of 63’ 9.50” (19.44m). Her throw is the ninth-farthest in the NCAA this season and is also a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Ayala’s throw is also currently the best in the WAC so far by more than eight feet.
Other Track nominees included: Thalia Amanakis of Hawai’i captured first-place in both the 55-meter hurdles (8.18) and the 800-meter dash (2:20.45) at the Run for the Dream on Jan. 20 ... Roxanne Sellick of Fresno State won the mile run (5:13.60) at the Run for the Dream, and her time currently ranks sixth in the WAC ... Heather Bergland of Idaho improved on her WAC lead in the 60-meter hurdles, taking second among collegiate runners and fourth overall at the Washington State Cougar Indoor Invitational with at time of 8.68 ... Amanda Moreno of Nevada finished second in the 3,000-meter run at the Orange and Blue Classic with a season-best time of 10:17.65, ranking her ninth on the Wolf Pack’s all-time 3,000-meter list ... Leah Benton of New Mexico State recorded two personal best times and etched her name onto two Aggies all-time record lists, clocking a 55-meter dash time of 7.40 and a 200-meter dash time of 25.42 ... Erin Stratton of Utah State won the mile run at the Washington State Cougar Indoor Invitational with a conference leading and personal best time of 4:59.87 and moving into eighth-place all-time on the Utah State mile run ranks.
Other Field nominees included: Eleni Kafourou of Boise State won the triple jump at the Blue and Orange Classic with a NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 42’ 3.50” (12.89m), improving her season-best mark by nearly four inches and threw 4’ 4” further than her nearest competitor ... Alice Draser of Idaho earned a first-place score of 3,388 in her first-ever pentathlon at the Washington State Cougar Indoor Invitational ... Inger Appanaitis of Nevada recorded two top-five finishes at the Orange and Blue Classic, finishing second overall in the weight throw (16.08m) and fifth-place in the shot put (12.89m) ... Jordan Veney of New Mexico State recorded a lifetime-best launch of 42’ 0.50” in the shot put, increasing her previous best by 20 inches, and placing her second in the New Mexico State all-time record book ... Sonia Grabowska of Utah State won the pole vault Washington State Cougar Indoor Invitational with a vault of 11’ 11.75” (3.65m).
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