United Athletic Conference

UT Rio Grande Valley's Ricardo Mendoza and Christian Hall-Gardner have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 5 through April 11.

 

Mendoza, a graduate student from La Joya, Texas, took third in the 800m run at the UIW Invitational with a time of 1:51.98 to set a new best in the WAC this season. In addition to being a WAC-best by over a half-second, it marked a new personal best for Mendoza.

 

Hall-Gardner, a senior from Bloomfield, Conn., posted a pair of top-5 finishes at the UIW Invitational. In the hammer throw, he finished third with a throw of 54.76m, which also marks the third best mark in the WAC this season. He also had a strong finish in the discus, taking fifth with a mark of 47.25m.

 

Other track nominees: Tarleton's Sullivan Sanders took seventh in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.95 at the North Texas Classic in Denton, Texas.

 

Other field nominees: Tarleton's Oscar Rodriguez took second in the discus (49.58m) and sixth in the hammer throw (49.28m) at the North Texas Classic.

 

NM State's Terice Steen and Yemisi Oroyinyin have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 29 through April 4.

 

Steen, a freshman from Hanover, Jamaica, set a new WAC season-best in the 400m hurdles, taking third at the Masked Rider Open with a time of 59.38. Converted to 59.49 for altitude, her time is more than three seconds faster than anyone else in the WAC this season.

 

Oroyinyin, a senior from Las Cruces, N.M., finished fifth in the shot put at the Masked Rider Open, hosted by Texas Tech. Her throw of 15.65m ranks second in the WAC this season and was a quarter-meter further than her previous season-best.

 

Other track nominees: Chicago State's Brenda Jepkoech set a new school record in the 800m run with a time of 2:17.61 to finish 13th at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. … Tarleton's Jenna Brazeal finished fifth in the 1,500m run at the North Texas Classic, posting a time of 4:50.14 … UT Rio Grande Valley's Aviana Goode took second in the 100m hurdles (14.17) and seventh in the 400m run (1:03.18) at the UIW Invitational.

 

Other field nominees: Tarleton's Gentrye Munden finished third in the high jump at the North Texas Classic, clearing 1.68m … UT Rio Grande Valley's Desirea Buerge won both the shot put (14.99m) and discus (52.62m) at the UIW Invitational.

 

California Baptist opens up the week's action on Wednesday at the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific. Grand Canyon and NM State will join the Lancers later this week. Grand Canyon will also be in San Antonio at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational, which will also feature UT Rio Grande Valley. Utah Valley will be at the Bengal Invitational, hosted by Idaho State, Chicago State will be at the Gibson Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. and Tarleton heads to Waco for the Michael Johnson Invitational.

 

No WAC schools were ranked among the top 25 of this week's USTFCCCA national ratings, released on Monday, April 12. Grand Canyon is the highest-ranked team in the national ratings, with the Lopes' men rating 134th. The NM State women are listed 139th nationally in the USTFCCCA ratings index. At the regional level, the GCU men remain the highest-ranked WAC team, listing seventh in the West Region this week. The Utah Valley men climbed one spot to 12th in the Mountain Region this week... Two women's squads are ranked among their region's top 15 this week, with NM State ranking 11th in the Mountain Region and Grand Canyon holding steady at 13th in the West Region.

 

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.