United Athletic Conference

Grand Canyon's Jan Kral 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 March 29 through April 4.

 

Kral, a sophomore from Liberec, Czech Republic, posted the top time in the WAC in the 400m run this season, taking second at the GCU Antelope Invitational with a time of 47.53. He was also a member of the GCU 4x100m relay team that won the event in a WAC-best time of 40.37 and also won the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:15.08.

 

Harris, a senior from Victorville, Calif., won the high jump at the GCU Antelope Invitational, clearing 2.12m to set a new WAC season best. His jump also is 29th nationally and 15th in the NCAA West region.

 

Other track nominees: California Baptist's Florian LePallec set a new WAC season best in the 10,000m run at The Sound Meet with a time of 29:38.63… Seattle U's Isaiah Payne took first in both the 100m (10.78) and 200m (21.77) at the Chris Rinne Twilight in Riverside, Calif.… Tarleton's Isaac Hutchings set personal records in nine-of-10 events in the decathlon at the David Noble Relays.

 

Other field nominees: Tarleton's Oscar Rodriguez set a new WAC best in the discus this season, taking second at the UTA Invitational with a throw of 171-9.

 

California Baptist's Emilie Renaud and NM State's Dascha Robinson have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 29 through April 4.

 

Renaud, a junior from Clermont-Ferrand, France, set a new WAC season best in the 10,000m run at the Sound Running College Invite, taking fifth with a time of 34:45.11. Her time is over 13 seconds faster than anyone in the WAC this season and it ranks 38th in the nation this season.

 

Robinson, a freshman from Miami, has the top mark in the WAC this season in the triple jump, having taken second at the West Texas A&M Classic with a mark of 13.00m. In addition to being the best in the conference by over the meter, the mark is also 19th nationally.

 

Other track nominees: Grand Canyon's Alexa Hokanson set a new WAC-season best in the 800m run with a time of 2:07.65 at the GCU Antelope Invitational… NM State's Asjah Wallace tops the WAC performance list in the 100m hurdles (13.80) and 200m dash (24.24) after a strong performance at the West Texas A&M Classic… Tarleton's Emily Castleberry-Simon took fourth in the heptathlon at the David Noble Relays.

 

Other field nominees: Grand Canyon's Madelyn Lundberg finished third in the pole vault at the GCU Antelope Invitational after clearing 4.13m… Tarleton's Gentrye Munden won the high jump with a 1.68m at UT Arlington Invitational.

 

It's a busy week in the WAC track and field world with eight of nine teams in action. California Baptist will be at the Franson Invitational at Azusa Pacific, Chicago State heads to Florida for the Hurricane Alumni Invitational at Miami, Dixie State travels north to Ogden for the Weber Stat Clasic before stopping by the Utah Spring Classic on Saturday, where they will join up with Utah Valley. Seattle U takes on Seattle Pacific in a Friday dual while UT Rio Grande Valley splits up their squad between the Texas A&M Invitational and UIW Invitational. Finally, Tarleton heads to Denton on Saturday for the North Texas Classic.

 

No WAC schools were ranked among the top 25 of this week's USTFCCCA national ratings, released on Monday, April 5. Grand Canyon is the highest-ranked team in the national ratings, with the Lopes' men rating 73rd. At the regional level, however, the GCU men remain fourth in the West Region this week. The Utah Valley men are listed 13th in the Mountain Region, falling two spots this week... Two women's squads are ranked among their region's top 15 this week, with NM State listing ninth in the Mountain Region and Grand Canyon sitting in 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.