DENVER - NM State's Katara Nelson and Grand Canyon's Kayla Finnegan have been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Track & Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 26-April 1.
Nelson, a senior from Arlington, Texas, individually won the 200 meter dash and helped her relay team win the 4x100 event at the Bobcat Invitational this past weekend. Nelson posted a personal and program record time of 23.04 as she outran 51 competitors and is tied for ninth in the nation. She also joined her relay team to post a time of 45.36 as they outran ten competitors.
Finnegan, a redshirt senior from Mooreland, Okla., placed second in the long jump event at the Texas Relays. Her mark of 6.17 meters was a personal record, ninth in the west region and tied for 14th in the nation.
Other track nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Angel Valdez placed fourth with a time of 17:23.52 in the 5,000 meter event… Grand Canyon's Briana Myers ran a personal best of 13.97 in the 100 meter hurdles… Kansas City's Carolyn Ross placed fifth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.57 and second in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.28… Seattle U's Caylah Lunning placed fourth in the 400 meter event finishing in 57.99… UT Rio Grande Valley's Idatonye Cheetham-West competed in the 100 meter dash (12.17), 200 meter dash (23.98) and 4x100 relay (46.70) at the Bobcat Invitational and also competed in the 100 meter dash (12.07) and 4x100 relay (47.23) at the Texas Relays in the same weekend… Utah Valley's Hannah Branch placed second in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 9:51.42.
Other field nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Julianne Finch finished fifth with a mark of 3.85 meters in the pole vault… Kansas City's Alexa Pint placed second in the javelin event with a mark of 38.94 meters… NM State's Hannah Smith won the triple jump event out of 31 competitors with a nation's 27th best mark of 12.64 meters and placed 11th in the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters… Utah Valley's Olivia Neal won the pole vault event with a program record mark of 3.75 meters.