DENVER – Utah State’s Steve Strickland and Idaho’s Beau Whitney have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week of April 19-25.
Strickland, a senior from Orem, Utah (Mountain Crest HS), won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Cal Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley, Calif. last week, clocking in with a time of 8:42.97. The senior’s time is the second-fastest in the nation and leads the WAC by over 15 seconds in the event this season. Strickland was just shy of his Utah State record of 8:42.71 set last year.
Whitney, a senior from New Meadows, Idaho (Meadows Valley HS), took second in the hammer with a personal-best throw of 205 feet, one inch (62.52 meters) at the Cougar Invitational in Pullman, Wash. over the weekend. The throw is second-best in the WAC this year and puts Whitney at 13th in the NCAA West First Round Championships performance list as well as fourth all-time at Idaho. He also finished fifth in the discus throw with a toss of 161-1 (49.09m) and sixth in the shot put at 52-2.5 (15.91m).
Other track nominees included: Boise State’s Michael Walrath, Fresno State’s Frank Sanders and Idaho’s Sam Michener.
Other field nominees included: Boise State’s Rolando Trammel, Louisiana Tech’s Larry Jones and Utah State’s Spencer Hall.
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