Washington's Brooke Pighin named Pac-10 Conference Field Event Athlete of the Week...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--Junior javelin thrower Brooke Pighin (left/photo courtesy Pacific 10 Conference) garnered the first ever Pac-10 Women's Field Athlete of the Week award of her career, the conference office announced. Pighin is the first women's thrower to earn the award since three-time Olympian Aretha (Hill) Thurmond.

Pighin, a native of Port Alberni, British Columbia, took the javelin title at the Pepsi Team Invitational last Saturday at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field. She threw a season-best 166-feet, 10-inches (50.74m), and no other competitor from Oregon, Texas A&M, or Missouri was within 10 feet of her winning mark, which came on her second attempt.

The toss was six-feet farther than her season-opening throw just one week earlier at the Texas Relays. Pighin now moves up to sixth in the NCAA this season. In 2009, Pighin placed seventh in the javelin throw at the NCAA Championships, earning her first All-America honor. She ranks second on the UW career top-10 list with the new javelin implement.

Pighin is just the fourth Husky woman to win the weekly honor in any event, joining Thurmond, hurdler Ashley Lodree, and distance runner Anita Campbell, who won the award last season. A total of 15 Huskies have combined to win the award on 20 occasions.

NOTE: The Pacific 10 Conference and the University of Washington contributed to this report.