DENVER - NM State's Katara Nelson and Grand Canyon's Tarasue Barnett have been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Track & Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 12-18.
Nelson, a senior from Arlington, Texas, is now ranked first in the nation in the 400m with a school record breaking performance of 52.40. She then teamed together with her relay team and placed second in the 4x100 for a nations 21st best time of 45.30. Nelson also helped her 4x400 relay team finish fourth with a nations 42nd best time of 3:48.11.
Barnett, a senior from Kingston, Jamaica, is ranked first in the nation in the discus with a mark of 58.78. She won the event out of 26 competitors at the Willie Williams Invite in Tucson, Ariz. She also placed seventh in the hammer throw with a mark of 47.45 meters.
Other track nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Falon Wilson had a personal-best time of 14.18 in the 100m hurdles… Grand Canyon's Briana Myers placed second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.04 placing her 16th in the west region, placed tenth in the 100m (12.32) and teamed up to finish fourth in the 4x100 relay with a time of 12.32… Kansas City's Mia Jerman won the 3,000-meter steeplechase as she completed it in 11:29.40 for a personal record… Seattle U's Caylah Lunning finished second in the 400m clocking a time of 59.36 and helped her relay team finish second in the 4x100 finishing in 49.23… UT Rio Grande Valley's JoVanna Jones set two program records of 24.32 in the 200-meter dash and helped in the 47.07 record for the 4x100 relay as well as finishing the 100m dash in 12.03… Utah Valley's Lexi Shaw won the 400m hurdles in 1:02.02 placing her 25th in the west region and helped finish the 4x400m relay in 3:51.05.
Other field nominees: Kansas City's Rebecca Finley placed second in the discus with a 44.87 meter mark, sixth in the hammer throw with a mark of 42.74 meters and eighth in the shot put with a 12.09 mark… NM State's Hannah Smith placed second in the triple jump with a personal best and nation's 13th best mark of 12.34 and marked 5.04m in the long jump… UT Rio Grande Valley's Dai'ja Coleman won the triple jump with a leap of 12.17 meters for a personal record and competed in the long jump with a finishing mark of 5.19 meters… Utah Valley's Kallie Given placed second in the high jump against ten competitors with a jump of 1.63 meters.