DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley's Abraham Chirchir and Paul May have been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Track & Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Feb 5-11.
Chirchir, a freshman from Iten, Kenya, set a new program record in the 5,000-meter run this past weekend after crossing the finish line with a time of 14:10.32 at the Husky Classic. The record dated back to 2003 and he shaved off over 15 seconds while finishing 31st out of 80 runners. The finish placed him 67th in the nation and first in the WAC. He also set a new personal record in the 3,000-meter run after posting a time of 8:24.17, which ranks second fastest in UT Rio Grande Valley's program history as he finished in 76th out of 101 total runners.
May, a junior from Bloomfield, Conn., won the shot put for the third time this season. He out threw 22 competitors at the Howie Ryan Invitational this past weekend. His throw of 17.45 meters broke his own program record and was the only thrower to surpass the 17-meter mark. May's throw ranks first in the WAC and 75th in the nation. He also added a sixth-place finish in the weight throw after a mark of 16.45 meters.
Other track nominees: Chicago State's Ricordo McKenzie broke the school record in the 300-meter dash after recording a time of 34.42 as he finished third and finished fifth in the 60-meter dash in a time of 6.91… Grand Canyon's Isaac Allanaram broke the 400-meter program record by .07 seconds with an unadjusted time of 47.45 which also placed him on top of the WAC leaderboard… Kansas City's Jason Fambrough ran a personal best in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:26.53… Seattle U's Matthew Seidel set a new school record in the 3,000-meter run after running a time of 8:20.78.
Other field nominee: Kansas City's Christopher Bryan placed seventh out of 35 competitors in the long jump with a mark of 7.12.