DENVER - Utah Valley's Nick Taylor and Seattle U's Shaddye Melu have been named Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Athletes of the week, respectively, for April 4-10.
Taylor, a senior from Pearland, Texas (Clear Brook HS) highlighted the twilight meet at the University of Utah on Friday evening setting the school record in the 200m dash. Taylor picked up his victory in the 200m dash with an impressive time of 20.74 seconds, placing him in sixth place in the NCAA Western Division.
Melu, a senior from Auburn, Wash. (Auburn Mountainview HS) broke the outdoor school record in the high jump (previously set by himself) and grabbed first-place with a jump of 2.15 meters (7'-0.5â€). He is now ranked No. 25 in Division I Outdoor, and No. 1 in the WAC in the event.
Other field nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Isaac Samuels posted a pair of top-five finishes at the Roadrunners Invitational. He posted a fifth place finish in the shot put after hitting a mark of 14.90 meters on the first day. On the final day, Samuels finished in third place in the discus as he set a new program record with a throw of 50.85 meters. He broke Isaac Ybarra's record of 50.70 meters that was set back in 2005. Utah Valley's Daven Russell posted a personal best mark in the discus throw, with a toss of 45.11m. Russell posted another career-best mark in the hammer throw with a mark of 47.25m.