United Athletic Conference

UT Rio Grande Valley's Mariano Hernandez and Grand Canyon's Ethan Harris have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 19 through April 25.

 

Hernandez, a junior from Eagle Pass, Texas, placed fifth in the 400m at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight with a WAC season-best time of 47.31 and was also part of the WAC-leading 4x100m relay team that took fourth in the event with a time of 40.18.

 

Harris, a senior from Victorville, Calif., reset his own school record in the high jump, clearing 2.15m (7-0.5) on his third attempt to win the event at the Canyon Invitational. He leads the WAC in the event by over four inches and his mark ranks 16th in the NCAA West Region and 33rd nationally.

 

Other track nominees: Grand Canyon's Jacob Lewis set a new program best in the 800m, taking second in the event with a time of 1:49.79, the top time in the WAC this season … Tarleton's Dahmir Pearson won the 400m hurdles at the Joe Gillespie Invitational with a time of 54.74 … Utah Valley's Caleb Furnell won the 200m dash at the BYU Robison Invitational with a time of 20.94.

 

Other field nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Paul May had three top-5 finishes at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight, taking second in the shot put (18.01m), third in the discus (55.84m) and fourth in the hammer (60.06m).

 

Utah Valley's Hannah Branch and Grand Canyon's Madelyn Lundberg have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for April 19 through April 25.

 

Branch, a junior from Draper, Utah, ran in the 5,000m run at the prestigious Oregon Relays and shattered her own school record in the event with a time of 16:14.10. In addition to being a UVU program record, the mark is also the fastest in the WAC this season by nearly 30 seconds.

 

Lundberg, a senior from Phoenix, took second in the pole vault at the Canyon Invitational, clearing 4.15m (13-7.25) as the top collegiate finisher. The mark is the top in the WAC this season by nearly four inches and ranks 20th in NCAA Division I this season.

 

Other track nominees: Grand Canyon's Paige Hildebrandt won the 3,000m steeplechase at the Canyon Invitational with a WAC season-best time of 10:33.19 … Tarleton's Jasmine McQuirter won both the 100m (11.96) and long jump (5.87m) at the Joe Gillespie Invitational, also teaming up on the winning 4x100m relay (48.13) … UT Rio Grande Valley's Tamara Woodley took second in the 400m run at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight with a WAC season-best 54.28.

 

Other field nominees: Tarleton's Gentrye Munden tied the WAC's top high jump mark this season, winning the event by clearing 1.71m (5-7.25) at the Joe Gillespie Invitational … UT Rio Grande Valley's Desirea Buerge won the discus throw at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight with a mark of 57.51m, also taking fourth in the shot put (15.30m)..

 

Seven different meets across three time zones dot this week's WAC track and field schedule. Only one of those meets will feature multiple conference schools, as Grand Canyon and NM State will both travel to Tucson, Ariz., for the Desert Heat Classic at the University of Arizona ... This week will be the last full week of competition prior to the WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Edinburg, Texas, from May 13-15, with just one meet — the UW Ken Shannon Invitational on May 7-8 in which Seattle U will participate — on the docket between this weekend and the championships.

 

This week's USTFCCCA national ratings, released on Monday, April 26, remained relatively status quo for WAC member schools, with no teams listed among the top 25. The UT Rio Grande Valley women moved up one spot to 56th in the national ratings this week, while the league's highest-rated men's squad, Grand Canyon, fell four spots to 121st in the national ratings. Regional ratings also remained almost identical, with the UT Rio Grande Valley men cracking the top 15 in the South Central Region this week for the first time in 2021. The Grand Canyon men (ninth in the West Region), the NM State women (11th in the Mountain Region), and the Utah Valley men (12th in the Mountain Region) are the only other WAC teams listed in the top 15 of their respective regions this week.

 

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.