DENVER – Idaho’s Markus Geiger
and Louisiana Tech’s Larry Jones
have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week of March 21-27. This is the first honor for Geiger and fourth career honor for Jones.
Geiger, a junior from Bad Neustadt, Germany (Rhoen-Gymnasium Bad Neustadt), won the men’s 5,000 meter run at the San Francisco Distance Carnival on Friday. He led the 90-runner field with a career-best time of 14:21.83, which is a personal best for the Vandal junior by a 32-second margin. His time is also nearly 22 seconds faster than the second-best WAC time this season, and is the fastest by a WAC runner since 2006. The time moves Geiger to fifth all-time at Idaho in the event and is the fastest 5k race by an Idaho athlete since 1997.
Jones, a senior from Ruston, La. (Ruston HS), set a pair of WAC-leading throws this past weekend at the LSU Relays. He threw a personal-best mark of 57 feet, 10.25 inches (17.63 meters) in the shot put, winning the event. His mark is more than two feet longer than his previous career-best mark and currently ranks him ninth in the nation and first in the WAC. In addition, Jones also finished fourth in the discus at the meet with a throw of 168-3 (51.28m), ranking him first in the WAC.
Other track nominees included: Justin Malnes,
Boise State; Paul Zwama,
Fresno State; and Dennis Richardson,
Louisiana Tech.
Other field nominees included: Eetu Viitala,
Boise State; and Kyle Rothwell,
Idaho.
-WAC-