DENVER - NM State's Katara Nelson and CSU Bakersfield's Madison Bundy have been named Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 18-24.
Nelson, a junior from Arlington, Texas (South Grand Prairie HS) put up new season best times in both the 100m and 200m at the Ross Black Open. In the 100m, she finished with a time of 11.82. In the 200m, she finished with a time of 24.14. She currently leads the WAC in both events with these times.
Bundy, a senior from Anacortes, WA (Oregon State) improved her personal best in the javelin by over five feet with a mark of 140-11. The throw helped Bundy place fourth on Saturday and move into fourth all-time for the Roadrunners in just her first season with the track and field team after completing her softball career. The native of Anacortes, Wash. is now just seven feet short of the school record and recorded the third-best throw in the WAC this year.
Other track nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Angel Valdez was the lone ‘Runner in the 3000 and improved her personal best mark by 12 seconds to 10:34.90. The time was good enough to move the Bakersfield native in 10th all-time for CSUB as Valdez posted the fastest mark for CSUB in the last decade (Zuzana Iler, 10:25.80 2006). Chicago State's Zhate' Jackson had a big day for CSU at the Cougar Invitational as she set a new school record and helped tie another record while earning two event titles. She won the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.94 and later broke her school record in the 400-meter dash en route to a second-place finish at a time of 56.49. Jackson ran a leg on the 4x100-meter relay that equaled its school record of 48.92 and finished first in the race. Missouri-Kansas City's Hanna Miller had an impressive showing at the Kansas Relays, where she helped the women's 4x400-meter and distance medley relay teams post positive results, as well as nearly notching a new personal record in the 800-meter run. The highlight for Miller came on Thursday where she ran to a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters, clocking in at 2:17.83, less than a second off her personal-record. Miller also helped the DMR team to a second-place finish with a time of 12:07.01, and guided the women's 4x4 team to a seventh-place finish overall in finals after being part of the team in prelims that placed sixth with an impressive 3:52.71 time. Utah Valley's Samantha Sweet continues to get faster as the WAC leader in the 400m after today's fast time of 55.91 seconds.
Other field nominees: Missouri-Kansas City's Traci Mills finished first among Division I athletes at the Kansas Relays in the long jump, where she posted a jump of 5.61 meters, a season best in the event. Mills also competed in the triple jump where she landed in fifth-place among DI athletes with a leap of 11.58 meters. NM State's Akuadasou Ezenyilimba won the Hammer and finished third in the Discus at the Ross Black Open. In the Hammer, she won with a mark of 50.20m (164 ft. 8 in.). In the Discus, she finished with a mark of 44.42m (145 ft. 9 in.). She currently leads the WAC in both events. Utah Valley's Mykah Heaton-Ouderkirk had a personal record leap in the long jump with a mark of 5.72m for second place at the invitational.