DENVER ? Fresno State’s Marina Santana and Hawai?i’s Jessica Custance have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week for the week of Mar. 31 ? Apr. 6. This is the first career WAC Outdoor Athlete of the Week honor for both Hilliard and Alexander. This is the first season that honors for both “Track” and “Field” athletes will be awarded each week.
Santana, a senior from Woodland Hills, Calif., (Birmingham), ran a WAC-leading 800-meter dash at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., clocking a personal-best time of 2:12.61. Santana took seventh out of 32 racers and her time ranks at the ninth-best in Bulldog history.
Custance, a junior from Arlington, Texas (Martin), took fourth in the pole vault at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., with a school record and personal-best vault of 13’ 1.5” (4.00m). Custance was the top collegiate finisher in the event and is the first Rainbow Wahine in school history to clear four meters. Her mark was also an NCAA Regional qualifying standard.
Other Track nominees included: Christie Gordon of Idaho finished eighth at the Stanford Invitational in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 14.12, which currently ranks second in the WAC this season ... Antoinette Cobb of Louisiana Tech took 21st at the Texas Relays in the 100-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in 14.20 ... Katie Thatcher of Utah State placed second in the 400-mter hurdles at the BYU Cougar Invitational with a time of 1:00.98, good for second in the WAC this season.
Other Field nominees included: Sharon Ayala of Fresno State took second in the hammer throw at the Stanford Invitational with an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 195’ 5” (59.57m) ... Gabriella Midles of Idaho launched an NCAA Regional qualifying throw of 179’ 5” (54.70m) in the hammer throw, winning the “B” section of the event, and is the best throw in the NCAA by a freshman this season ... Phelicia Reynolds of Louisiana Tech finished third in the discus at the Texas Relays, with an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 165’ 10” (50.56m) ... Inger Appanaitis of Nevada recorded an NCAA regional qualifying mark in the javelin 163’ 8” (49.90m), finishing third at the Stanford Invitational ... Krista Larson of Utah State placed fourth in the hammer with a distance of 182’ 9” and fifth in the discus with a toss of 144’ 0” (43.90m) at the BYU Cougar Invitational.
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