United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

California Baptist's Florian Le Pallec and Grand Canyon's Jesse Newman have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 12 through April 18.

 

Le Pallec, a junior from Kervignac, France, set a new season-best in the WAC this season in the 1,500m run, posting a 12th place finish at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a time of 3:46.51. Edging out his own teammate by just a quarter-second, the time was three seconds faster than anyone else in the WAC this season

 

Newman, a senior from Aloha, Ore., set a new WAC-best in the javelin throw for this season, winning the event at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational with a throw of 70.20m (230-4). The mark is nearly 40 feet better than any other mark in the WAC this season and also ranks 18th in NCAA Division I this year.

 

Other track nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Mariano Hernandez took fourth in the 200m dash (21.32) and was on the third-place 4x100m relay team (40.77) at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational … Utah Valley's Aaron Johnson won both the 100m dash (10.50) and long jump (7.52m) at the Bengal Invitational.

 

Other field nominees: Tarleton's Oscar Rodriguez took third in the discus (171-3) at Baylor's Michael Johnson Invitational in just his third meet competing in the event at the collegiate level … UT Rio Grande Valley's Paul May won the shot put at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational with a mark of 18.09m and also posted fifth place finishes in the hammer (57.95m) and discus (50.89m).

 

Utah Valley's Maria Blad and UT Rio Grande Valley's Desirea Buerge have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 12 through April 18.

 

Blad, a senior from Enumclaw, Wash., reset her own school record on the 100m high hurdles for the third straight meet, winning the event with a time of 13.73 at the Bengal Invitational in Pocatello, Idaho. Her time, which is adjusted to 13.77 due to altitude, ranks first in the WAC this season.

 

Buerge, a graduate student from Webb City, Mo., not only won the discus at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational with a throw of 58.90m but also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials with the throw. Her mark ranks first in the WAC, fourth in NCAA Division I, fifth among Americans and 30th in the world. She also posted a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 14.53m.

 

Other track nominees: California Baptist's Elin Brink recorded the third-best mark in program history in the 1,500m run, taking 13th at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a time of 4:23.13 … Tarleton's Jenna Brazeal set a new PR and moved within two seconds of the school record in the 800m run, finishing 29th at the Michael Johnson Invitational with a time of 2:15.42 … UT Rio Grande Valley's Tamara Woodley won the 400m run at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational, posting a time of 55.49 in the event.

 

Other field nominees: Grand Canyon's Madelyn Lundberg earned a first place finish in the pole vault at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational, clearing 4.05m … Tarleton's Jasmine McQuirter took third in the long jump at the Michael Johnson Invitational, jumping 19-9.5.

 

WAC teams will compete at six different meets this coming weekend — including two teams each at the BYU Robison Invitational and the Canyon Invitational. Utah Valley's men and women, as well as the Dixie State women, will take compete in-state at the four-day Robison Invitational in Provo, while the NM State women travel to Phoenix to take part in Grand Canyon's Canyon Invitational. Utah Valley will also send athletes to the Oregon Relays in Eugene, Ore., on Friday and Saturday while Tarleton hosts the Joe Gillespire Invitational on Thursday. NM State is also competing in the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational up the road in Albuquerque on Thursday, and Seattle U heads to the Fresno State Invitational in Clovis, Calif., on Saturday.

 

Desirea Buerge, a graduate student from Webb City, Mo., not only won the discus at the UTSA Roadrunner Invitational with a throw of 58.90m but also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials with the throw. As on April 19, her mark ranks first in the WAC, fourth in NCAA Division I, fifth among Americans and 30th in the world. 

 

No WAC schools were ranked among the top 25 of this week's USTFCCCA national ratings, released on Monday, April 19. The UT Rio Grande Valley women climbed more than 80 places in the national ratings and are the top-ranked WAC team in this week's national ratings at 57th. The Grand Canyon men also climed in the men's ratings this week, moving up 17 places to 117th. At the regional level, three teams are listed among the top 15 in their respective regions, led by the GCU men who are ninth in the West Region. The Utah Valley men are listed 12th in the Mountain Region, while NM State remains 11th among women's squads in the Mountain 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.