DENVER - NM State's Katara Nelson and Kansas City's Jada Steele have been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Track & Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 23-29.
Nelson, a senior from Arlington, Texas, set a program in all three events she competed in at the Desert Heat Classic this past weekend. She ran 51.98 in her only individual event as she outran 23 competitors to take home the win. With her time, she is now ranked seventh in the nation and second in the west region. She then joined her relay teams and is tied for 48th in the nation in the 4x100 with a time of 44.66 and finished the 4x400 in 4:40.37.
Steele, a sophomore from Detroit, placed third out of 25 competitors in the long jump at the Bill Williams/Bob Laptad Invitational this past weekend. Her mark of 5.84 meters was a college best for the sophomore and ranks her fourth best in school history.
Other track nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Falon Wilson placed second in the 100-meter dash event with a time of 11.84 and third in the 100-meter hurdles event finishing in 14.01… Grand Canyon's Alexa Hokanson set a school record with a time of 3:10.38 in the 800-meter dash and finished the 400 dash in 56.91… Kansas City's Jada Steele placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.77… Seattle U's Olivia Stein performed a personal best of 16:58.86 in the 5,000 meter run… Utah Valley's Lexi Shaw placed second in the 400-meter hurdles tied at 76th in the nation with a new school record time of 59.70 and joined her relay team to perform another school record in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:44.71.
Other field nominees: Grand Canyon's Tarasue Barnett placed first in the discus throw with a mark of 57.24 meters before performing a personal best in the hammer throw with a mark of 49.74 meters… NM State's Hannah Smith performed a mark of 5.32 in the long jump before winning the triple jump with a mark of 12.39… Utah Valley's Olivia Neal placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.75 meters.