DENVER - Missouri-Kansas City's Mallory Short and Kelsey Benoit have been named Western Athletic Conference Track & Field Athletes of the week, respectively, for Jan. 4-10.
Short, a junior from Columbia, Mo. (Rock Bridge HS) showed her intentions for repeating as the WAC champion in the 60-meter hurdles, when she took second in the event at the Bill Easton Classic in Lawrence, Kansas on Friday (January 8). Short took first in her heat of the prelims with a time of 8.90 seconds. In the finals, she finished in 8.77 seconds to earn second, which has her sitting at the top of the WAC performance list early in the season.
Benoit, a senior from Centralia, Mo. (Centralia HS) took second-place in the shot put at the Bill Easton Classic in Lawrence, Kansas with a throw of 13.13 meters. Benoit also placed fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 14.95 meters.
Other track nominees: Chicago State's Alisha Wren crossed the finish line with a time of 7.21 to claim second-place honors in the 55-meter dash at the Lewis Open. Utah Valley's Alena Gillespie won the 300m dash at the BYU Invitational with an impressive time of 41.17 seconds in a loaded field.
Other field nominees: Utah Valley's Chantil Martin led the Wolverine women in the throws with an outstanding performance in the weight throw, a mark of 15.82m, good enough for second place on the day. Martin also competed in the shot put with a toss of 10.64m.