United Athletic Conference

UT Rio Grande Valley's Max Carmona and Grand Canyon's Jorden Okyere have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 22 through March 28.

 

Carmona, a junior from Brownsville, Texas, took first in the 800m run with a WAC-best time of 1:52.65 at the Victor Lopez Classic in Houston. He was also part of the winning 4x400m relay team which won the event in a time of 3:18.52.

 

Okyere, a junior from Phoenix, wins honors for the second straight week after posting top-three finishes in the discus throw, hammer throw and shot put at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego. Two of his marks were top in the WAC this season as he took second in the discus throw with a throw of 51.59m and third in the hammer throw with a time of 59.99. He also took second in the shot put with a throw of 16.42m, which ranks fourth in the WAC this season.

 

Other track nominees: Grand Canyon's Jacob Lewis took second in the 1,500m run with a WAC-best time of 3:49.85 and sixth in the 800m run with a time of 1:52.84 at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego … Tarleton's Brandon McKissick ran the first leg of the Texans' 4x400m relay that took sixth at the Texas Relays with a time of 3:12.14.

 

Other field nominees: Tarleton's Alan Palmer placed 10th in the long jump at the Texas Relays with a jump of 7.09m … UT Rio Grande Valley's Paul May won both the shot put (17.80m) and discus throw (5.146) and took third in the hammer throw (56.79m) at the Victor Lopez Classic.

 

NM State's Corinne Hanson and Grand Canyon's Niki Xydona have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 22 through March 28.

 

Hanson, a senior from Las Cruces, N.M., posted a personal best in the 3000m steeplechase at the Aztec Invitational, winning the event in a WAC seasonal-best time of 10:38.62. Rankings 31st in NCAA Division I this season, her time is the top time in the league this season by nearly a minute. The victory also marked just the second collegiate win for the Aggie senior.

 

Xydona, a senior from Thiva, Greece, won the heptathlon at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego with a WAC seasonal best and GCU school record of 5,073 points. In addition to leading the WAC in the event, her score is also the 13th-best in NCAA Division I this season.

 

Other track nominees: Grand Canyon's Paige Hildebrandt took second in the 1500m run at the Aztec Invitational with a school-record time of 4:24.48, the best time in the WAC this season … Tarleton's Hanna Dudley anchored the Texans' 4x100m relay team that set a WAC season-best time of 47.02 at the Texas Relays … UT Rio Grande Valley's Aviana Goode won the 100m hurdles at the Victor Lopez Classic with a time of 14.02 and also won the high jump (1.71m).

 

Other field nominees: NM State's Bailey Beene took second in the javelin with a WAC season-best throw of 43.48 at the Aztec Invitational … UT Rio Grande Valley's Desirea Buerge won the discus with a throw of 50.60m and took third in the shot put with a throw of 14.69m at the Victor Lopez Classic in Houston.

 

Tarleton will lead things off this week, heading to San Angelo for the David Noble Relays on Wednesday and Thursday before travling to Arlington for the UTA Invitational. California Baptist will compete at The Sound Meet in Irvine on Friday before heading to the Azusa Pacific Invite on Saturday. Seattle U will also be in SoCal, competing at the UC Riverside Twilight meet on Friday. NM State heads to Canyon, Texas for the West Texas A&M Invitational while Chicago State goes south to Cape Girardeau, Mo. for the Joey Haines Invitational. Dixie State will be in Orem for the UVU Invitational, hosted by Utah Valley while Grand Canyon will host the GCU Invitational on Saturday.

 

No WAC schools were listed among the top 25 of the USTFCCCA national ratings released this past Monday, March 29. However, at the regional level, the Grand Canyon men are listed fourth in the West Region to headline four WAC squads in their respective top 15 regional lists. Utah Valley is the other men's squad in a regional top 15, listing 11th in the Mountain Region... The NM State women are listed seventh in the Mountain Region, while the GCU women are 13th among the West Region's top 15 list.

 

The 2021 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships are headed to Edinburg, Texas as UT Rio Grande Valley will serve as the host after last year's championships were canceled due to the pandemic. This year's meet is set for May 13-15.

 

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its 2020 All-Academic Teams for the 2020 season and seven different WAC schools were honored.

 

Among those teams that received the award, both the men's and women's programs from California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Seattle U and Utah Valley were honored. The women's programs from NM State and UT Rio Grande Valley also earned recognition. In addition, WAC newcomer Tarleton was also honored at the Division II level with the Texans' men's team garnering the award.

 

For the second consecutive year, the CBU women's team claimed the highest grade-point average among WAC teams, posting a 3.726 cumulative GPA.

 

In total, 264 different women's programs and 199 different men's programs were honored across Division I.

 

Several individual student-athletes were also honored, earning All-Academic honors by holding a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA and either finishing the season ranked in the top 96 nationally or in the top 48 in any championship relay event during the most recent indoor season.

 

The Grand Canyon, Tarleton and Utah Valley men's teams each had one honoree as Grant Carpenter represented the Lopes, Larry Still earned recognition for the Wolverines, and Colton Troutman was honored for the Texans.

 

On the women's side, GCU had three representatives while two members of the Tarleton State team were recognized. The Lopes' Madelyn Lundberg, Alyson Schwartz and Niki Xydona earned the honor while Jasmine McQuirter and Kylee Ponder represented Tarleton.

 

Across Division I, 452 men and 659 women received honors.