DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley's Yariel Matute and Grand Canyon's Marcus Flannigan have been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Track & Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 2-8.
Matute, a junior from Mission, Texas, recorded three wins in UTRGV's dual meet with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He started off the day by helping his 4x100-meter relay team to a first place finish after they crossed the finish line with a time of 42.11 for a WAC third best time of the season and second fasted time in program history. Matute followed his performance with a win in the 400-meter dash with a WAC second best time of 47.48 seconds. He then finished the meet with another first place finish, this time in the 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 21.43.
Flannigan, a redshirt senior from Chandler, Ariz., placed second in the long jump this past weekend at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational. He finished with a mark of 7.61 meters which is a WAC-best, ranked 15th in the west region and 35th nationally.
Other track nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Curtis Threlkeld won the 800 meter event with a time of 1:53.26 out of 107 competitors… Grand Canyon's Anthony Phelps won the 400 hurdles with a time of 52.10 and placed fifth in the 110 hurdles finishing in 14.66… Utah Valley's Cade Owen placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.61.
Other field nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Paul May won three events as he had marks of 16.76 meters in shot put, 48.20 meters in discus throw and 55.48 meters in hammer throw… Utah Valley's Albert MacArthur won the long jump event with a mark of 7.55 meters.